A SAMBA FOR SHERLOCK

by JÃ’ Soares ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 1997

This feverish first novel by Soares, a Brazilian TV talk-show host, transports Sherlock Holmes to Rio de Janeiro and into the welcome clutches of a beautiful mulatto actress whose charms divert him from his assigned purpose: to recover a stolen Stradivarius whose strings are being employed in a most unpleasant manner by an ""assasino serial."" Holmes never does get his man (though the woman gets him), and his conversations with an unconvincingly dull-witted Dr. Watson are, to put it mildly, uninspired. The many digressions, intriguing secondary characters, and colorful evocations of 1880s Rio are in fact far more appealing than its plot. A pleasant entertainment, but if it's skillful Holmesian pastiche you're after, the norteamericanos do it better.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997

Categories: FICTION