Jeri Westerson, author of the Crispin Guest series as well as the new King’s Fool one, takes a different direction with The Isolated Seance, “An Irregular Detective Mystery”. Remember Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street irregulars, the street urchins who ran errands and spied for him? What do they do when they outgrow that stage? In the case of Timothy Badger, he decides to become a consulting detective like his mentor. In fact, Timothy has his own Watson, Benjamin Watson, a Black man who has turned his hand to a little of everything.
Badger and Watson are barely keeping their business together by 1895. They do have a potential new client, a valet named Thomas Brent. Brent’s boss, Horace Quinn, had been looking for something left behind by his deceased business partner. Hoping to find an answer, he held a seance. Brent was required to attend, along with Quinn’s housekeeper, maid, and the medium. But, partway through the seance, the oil lamp went out. By the time Brent was able to find a light, Horace Quinn was dead with a knife in his chest. Now, Thomas Brent is a suspect, on the run from the police. He hopes Badger and Watson can find the actual killer.
Badger and Watson take turns narrating the story. It’s Watson who watches Badger bumble his way through the case, and sees him caught up in the wiles of a reporter for The Daily Chronicle, Miss Ellsie Littleton. Watson can only commiserate with his friend when Badger reveals too much of his past to the attractive woman. Watson admits that Badger tries, and he does manager to stumble upon a clue now and then.
What would Badger and Watson do without Sherlock Holmes, though? He bails Badger out of jail, sets them up in a new place to live, and even sent them the Brent case. It takes a while for Badger to realize that Holmes has sent him clues throughout the case.
Westerson’s pastiche is enjoyable, although nothing lives up to Doyle’s treatment of “The Great Detective”. Westerson’s characters? Badger certainly couldn’t make it as a consulting detective without his mentor and his partner. Benjamin Watson is much smarter than Badger, but how many clients would hire a Black detective in Victorian London? And, I have the feeling Miss Littleton will be trailing the detectives for many cases in the future.
There’s mystery, a little comedy, and Westerson’s always informative Afterword. The Isolated Seance is an enjoyable pastiche for fans of Sherlock Holmes.
Jeri Westerson’s website is http://www.jeriwesterson.com/
The Isolated Seance by Jeri Westerson. Severn House, 2023. ISBN 9781448310746 (hardcover), 224p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher allowed me to download a copy from NetGalley, with no promise of a positive review.
