SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE REMAINING IMPROBABLE by Susanne M. Dutton **REVIEW** **GIVEAWAY**

Notes From a Romantic’s Heart is pleased to welcome Author Susanne M. Dutton to the blog. We’ll be discussing and reviewing her new release, Sherlock Holmes and the Remaining Improbable. You can find all of Susanne’s tour stops at Goddess Fish Promotions. And, don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter draw for your chance to win an Amazon or B&N gift card. The entry form is at the bottom of this post.

GENRE: Mystery Fiction

About the Book

The game is not afoot. The Better-Every-Day world of 1895 is gone, even hard to recall as WWI ends. From his rural cottage, Holmes no longer provokes Scotland Yard’s envy or his landlady’s impatience, but neither is he content with the study of bees. August 1920 finds him filling out entry papers at a nearly defunct psychiatric clinic on the Normandy coast. England’s new Dangerous Drugs Act declares his cocaine use illegal and he aims to quit entirely. Confronted by a question as to his “treatment goal,” Holmes hesitates, aware that his real goal far exceeds the capacity of any clinic. His scribbled response, “no more solutions, but one true resolution,” seems more a vow than a goal to his psychiatrist, Pierre Joubert. The doctor is right. Like a tiny explosion unaccountably shifting a far-reaching landscape, the simple words churn desperate action and interlocking mystery into the lives of Holmes’ friends and enemies both.

Get your copy from Propertius Press in either e-book or print.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Holmes speaks, Watson answers:

“It’s clear, Watson, that you have come to trust this man, never mind your fancy knot work.” He let a hand rest briefly on Joubert’s shoulder, and then snatched it away. “The charade you two gentleman have just now performed causes me to question myself. You are evidently in collusion.”

I said, “We were that obvious?”

“I’m afraid so,” Holmes said. “In fact, when I have time, I will publish a monograph on what I will call ‘body language.’ Today’s performance will serve as a prime example. I watched you usher this Frenchman across the cottage—your hesitation, your caution lest you cause him the least pain, was evident. Your care was exactly as you would grant a lifelong patient going through a complicated procedure. You watched his every backward step, lest he trip. I noted the commiserating tilt of your head—and the lines of concern on your brow. Without a single word, you managed to signal your sympathy. To sum up, between the gun and the man you pointed it at, I detected at least a hundred yards worth of high-grade Watsonian scruple.

Holmes glared down at the top of Joubert’s head. “No doubt the entire Punch and Judy was your conception, Pierre, but you could not hide your concern for Watson, how you sought to assure him that it was all for a worthy purpose. Indeed, I saw you shudder and sweat, but you were in no fear for your life—in no dread of John Watson, at least. I submit to you both, that what I have witnessed just now was more a dance than an arrest.”

My Review

4-stars

Sherlock Holmes and the Remaining Improbable is one of the most interesting books I’ve read in ages. However, in order to get the full experience, you have to be a Holmes fan. Otherwise, it might be difficult to follow along.

Fortunately, I am a fan, and so I enjoyed this character driven story very much. I enjoyed the setting, the detail to time period, and especially the references to familiar characters and stories.

Susanne Dutton has done a wonderful job of sharing a possibility of what the esteemed detective’s later years might have to offer. And, as always, Dr. Watson played the perfect foil for the aging sleuth.

For those who are fans of both mysteries and the Holmes’ effect, you’ll likely enjoy this novella-length attempt to revive our favorite detective.

Meet the Author

Susanne Dutton is the one who hid during high school gym, produced an alternative newspaper and exchanged notes in Tolkien’s Elfish language with her few friends. While earning her B.A. in English, she drove a shabby Ford Falcon with a changing array of homemade bumper strips: Art for Art’s Sake, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, Free Bosie from the Scorn of History. Later, her interests in myth and depth psychology led to graduate and postgraduate degrees in counseling.

Nowadays, having outlived her mortgage and her professional counseling life, she aims herself at her desk most days; where she tangles with whatever story she can’t get out of her head. Those stories tend to seat readers within pinching distance of her characters, who, like most of us, slide at times from real life to fantasy and back. A man with Alzheimer’s sets out alone for his childhood home. A girl realizes she’s happier throwing away her meals than eating them. A woman burgles her neighbors in order to stay in the neighborhood.

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Susanne grew up in the SF Bay Area, has two grown children, and lives with her husband in an old Philadelphia house, built of the stones dug from the ground where it sits.

Susanne's Blog

Enter the Giveaway

Susanne M. Dutton will be awarding a $75 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thank you for joining me today. Please come back all week for more authors, books, and giveaway.

Nancy