Brian Lindenmuth reviews: The Crimes of Dr. Watson by Duane Swierczynski
As the tale opens, Dr. John Watson, steadfast companion of the legendary detective and recently vanished Sherlock Holmes has been framed for a grisly murder! Writing from a damp cell in Coldbath Fields penitentiary, the falsely convicted prisoner recounts the events leading to his arrest . . . and provides twelve removable, facsimile clues that point to the true culprit.
When you see this book for the first time, you just want to admire it. This is a gorgeous book that has to be one of the best looking books that I have seen in a long time. It does something that most books fail to do it demands to be handled. You immediately flip through it just to see everything from the beautiful illustrations to the inserts to the clues. The sealed solution even taunts you a bit from the back. Quirk books just did as fantastic job.
When you are presented the opportunity to actually interact with the book your reading the reading experience is taken to a different level. Its one thing to read about a protagonist finding clues then their interpretations of them. There is an inherent distance in this time-tested method. Even the most fair play of stories relies on you buying into a certain series of events. When you are given the opportunity to really handle the clues and to examine them fully and freely the distance between the reader and the detective is bridged. More so then a simple suspension of disbelief the reader actually becomes the detective.
All of which begs the question, which is also a selling point of the book, of solvability. Is the mystery, as it's presented, with the clues presented, able to be solved in a fair manner, without resorting to trickery? I'm happy to report that it is. Some of the connections between the clues are pretty easy, but assembling the web of clues WILL take work but it is doable.