The Druid of Death

A Sherlock Holmes Adventure

De: Richard T. Ryan

Narrado por: Nigel Peever

On the morning of the vernal equinox in 1899, Holmes is roused from his bed by Lestrade. The inspector has received a report of a girl brutally murdered at Stonehenge.

Upon arriving at the famed site, Holmes discovers the body of a young woman. On her forehead, painted in blood, is a druidic symbol. On her side, also in blood, is a message written in a strange language that neither Holmes nor Lestrade can decipher. The girl was also eviscerated and her organs placed around her body. As a final touch, branches from yew trees had been artistically arranged around the corpse.

Holmes senses a malevolent force at work, but without data, he is powerless. As the weeks pass, he slowly gathers information about the ancient druids and Celtic mythology and begins to assemble a small army of experts to assist him.

Expecting the killer to strike again on the summer solstice, Holmes and Watson travel to the Nine Ladies in Derbyshire, the site of another stone circle that harkens to druidic times. While they are holding their vigil, Lestrade and his men are off keeping watch over the stone circles at Avebury and several other locations.

The Great Detective's worst fears are realized when on the morning of the summer solstice, he learns that the body of a young man has been discovered in the eye of the White Horse of Uffington. Like the first victim, he too has been marked with a druidic symbol and his body bears a message. Aside from the symbol and the message, the only other difference appears to be that his body and organs have been surrounded by willow branches.

Realizing full well that a maniac reminiscent of the Ripper is on the loose, Holmes and Watson find themselves in a race against time as they try to locate the cult, identify the killer and prevent another tragedy.

©2018 Rich Ryan (P)2018 MX Publishing

Weakest Richard Ryan entry yet

This is an odd book for many reasons. it takes place over the course of 9 months, with tremendous gaps of time between movements of frenetic action. Its best quality is the many journeys our heroes take to places in England that are legendary (Bath, Dartmoor, etc).

The actual story is quite thin. It is saved by the voice talents of Nigel Peever, who has scaled back the Romanian voice of Holmes found in the first two installments (although when he laughs the Dracula voice comes out again).

Historically it is an interesting book, exploring the Druidic past of the British Isles. Beyond that the plot is simple and the outcome easily guessed.

Engaging Holmes story with ritualistic symbols

The Druid of Death is another terrific Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson book by Richard T Ryan. A young girl is found sacrificed at Stonehenge in the Spring equinox, surrounded by strange symbols and other items. Holmes and Watson are called into the investigation by Inspector Lestrade, and are soon immersed in Druid symbols, practices and societies. Expecting another murder to occur on the Summer solstice, Holmes is staking out other stone circles, but alas, the ritualistic murder happens elsewhere. Since it’s hard to predict an outcome without sufficient data, Holmes, Watson and their experts continue to gather enough information in a race against time before the next murder. I enjoyed the well written story, the characters and Victorian settings. The narration by Nigel Peever is outstanding. He always uses his tremendous talents to create unique voices for each character. Listening to the audiobook, it’s amazing to realize that all the voices are from the same narrator! I received a free audiobook code for my honest review.

true to the author

This was my first experience with a new author for the Sherlock Holmes character. As in an author taking up the pen in an effort to capture the nuances of ACD writing. I've always wanted to read or listen to another authors take on the first consulting detective so I was happy to grab a copy of this.

I've listened to quite a few of Sherlock Holmes and often on repeat. I've also watched a few of the movies and TV shows dealing with this duo. I always find it interesting to see how other's choose to portray the famous duo. Even the gender bending. I think the only version I didn't care for was Nigel Bruce and that was more the way Watson was screen written and therefore, portrayed. I listened to Nigel Bruce on many of the radio plays he did and quite liked his character there.

I think the Richard T. Ryan does a very good job with capturing Watson's voice and explaining the finding of this "new" story. In this new adventure Holmes and Watson experience deal with murders that involve Druid-paganism. There is some explanation of pagan related beliefs and tools that is done very well.

There are other reviews that complain about Nigel Peever's version of Holmes. Peever has chosen to portray the character as a person who speaks carefully and much slower than the cocaine-fueled versions we've experienced in the cinema. It does take some getting used to. His voice does capture the arrogance of Sherlock Holmes very well and his Watson is superb.

Definitely an enjoyable listen.

Where next

An interesting story, great who done it, lots of interesting historical facts adding to the interest ,Loved it!

Good story, bad narration

I think the story would be so much better with better narration, since when doe,s Sherlock have a lisp.