Dust and Shadow

Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Lyndsay Faye which pits Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. This book was Faye's first novel, and was written with the blessing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's heirs.
== Title ==
The book takes its name from Horace's epigram, "We are but dust and shadow" (Pulvis et umbra sumus), which Holmes quotes in the novel.
== Summary ==
In a foreword, writing in 1939, the elderly Dr. Watson decides to leave his manuscript account of the Ripper killings to his estate for publication after his death. The account was confidential until then, but Watson feels its important that the facts be known, since the deceased Sherlock Holmes, for once in his life, was wrong when he predicted that "the world has already forgotten [the Ripper]."
== Canon characters ==
* Sherlock Holmes
* John Watson
* Mycroft Holmes
* Inspector Lestrade	
* Dr Moore Agar
* Inspector Gregson
* Mrs Hudson	
== New characters ==
* Mary Ann Monk
* Stephen Dunlevy
* Edward Bennett
* Annie Chapman
* Johnny Blackstone
* Catherine Eddows
* Mary Jane Kelly	
* George Lusk
* Mary Ann Nichols
* Baron Ramsden
* Elizabeth Stride
* Martha Tabram
* Leslie Tavistock
* Sir Charles Warren
== Reception ==
Reviews of Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H Watson have been largely positive.
Tim Rutton, writing for the Los Angeles Times, stated "she gets the critical component – Watson's voice – right."
Caleb Carr, who himself penned a Sherlock Holmes pastiche entitled The Italian Secretary, remarked "Where others have failed, Lyndsay Faye's extremely impressive debut novel succeeds, on every level, providing thrilling entertainment without blatant exploitation."
The Chicago Center for Literature and Photography gave the novel an 8.9 out of 10.
==Canon references==
* Watson mentions that Sir Charles Warren once attempted to relieve a hero of his, Major-General Charles Gordon, when he was surrounded by the enemy at Khartoum. Watson's admiration for Gordon is a reference to The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, where Watson hangs a newly-framed portrait of the general on his wall.
* When Lestrade questions Holmes' interest in the Tabram case, he muses it would be just as useful for Holmes to investigate the Drebber case.pg. 270 This is a reference to Enoch Drebber, the victim in A Study in Scarlet.
==Trivia==
* Mary Monk's nonsensical assertion to the police that Jack the Ripper is really Prince Albert Victor is a reference to a popular theory for the murders first printed in 1962.pg. 232
==References==
Category:Adaptation: novel
Category:Crossover