The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls by John R. King

Thomas Carnacki is an Englishman of Russian ancestry in Reichenbach on a tour, but he's fallen on hard times, penniless and starving, trying to argue with a rat for a piece of moldy cheese discarded by the proprietor of the cheese shop in town. Yet, when he sees a beautiful blonde woman come by with a picnic basket full of bread and cheese and wine, he tries to ingratiate himself with her so that he can share her wonderful feast and even possibly seduce her.

The girl, whose name is Anna, takes him to picnic by the falls, but as they do so, spots two men quarrelling on the other side of the falls. One man is pushed over the side, and the two of them see the other go as well. They manage to rescue one of the men, who they pull out from the tidal pool, and found that, due to his injuries, he can no longer remember his name or who he is.

Then the other man appears and starts shooting at them, forcing them to try and escape with this man, who they call Harold Silence, in deference to the Tailor's nametag found in his coat. The three of them try to get away, but the man continues to show up and follow them, until they bury him under an avalanche of snow and are forced to spend the night in a small cave, high up on the mountain.

Who is Harold Silence? And why is this man seeking him so viciously? Silence tells Thomas that the girl is with the man trying to kill them, but Thomas won't believe it... until Anna confesses that this is true. We then get to see that the man is a professor, lately of Mathematics, named James Moriarity, and how he came to be the head of a crime syndicate, involving a demon and Jack the Ripper, along with a female prostitute whom Moriarty rescued from the street, educated and who later became his wife and mother of his child.

Silence and Carnacki have gone to the local sanatorium, hoping to find a cure to Silence's amnesia. But the doctor there is in the pay of Moriarty, and with the help of Anna, who may be Moriarty's daughter but is by no means in league with him, they rescue Silence and help him discover that he is Sherlock Holmes, who came to Reichenbach to capture his nemesis.

But can they set a trap for Moriarty, who seems one step ahead of them all the way? And when they do, and manage to drive the demon from Moriarty, it enters into Holmes, who takes up crime in Moriarty's place, but in Paris, not London. But with Anna and Moriarty both dead, can Thomas do the unthinkable and outwit not only Holmes, but the demon inside him?

This was an unusual book, adding real live demons to the Holmesian canon, but it worked for me. The story is taut, well-written and engaging, and makes you believe in the circumstances of the story, no matter how far-fetched they may seem on the surface.

Carnacki is a reliable narrator, if somewhat of a would-be con man. The story is told from both his point of view and that of Holmes/Silence, albeit in third person, limited subjective format. The story has Holmes believing in the Demon, but eventually reverting to his more normal "no supernatural things" belief within a few pages of being rescued and the demon driven out of him. This is necessary if the story is to be considered part of the Holmesian canon, but comes out looking a bit ridiculous, as if Holmes is now discarding his "Whatever remains must be the truth" saying. Either that, or Holmes is reacting hysterically to the fact that even someone with his intellect and cold logic, could be taken over by something as irrational and unbelievable as a demon, which is also not a good fit with Sherlock Holmes's mind as is usually portrayed.

Aside from this, I found the book to be wonderful and well worth the read. Despite not exactly fitting the Holmesian canon, anyone who is able to read it will find it a gripping story that carries you along until the very last page. Definitely recommended.