The Druid of Death

A Sherlock Holmes Adventure

By: Richard T. Ryan

Narrated by: Nigel Peever

Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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.

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.

Great Story

I've never read any of the stories about Sherlock Holmes but if this book is where close to those books I have been missing out. Great story, good leads I recommend this book.
I received this free for an honest review from the author or narrator

very descriptive

I felt I was present in every chapter. Many good moments of theater of the mind

Great Story!

I received this audio book for free in exchange for my honest review. The writing and narration in this excellent Sherlock Holmes mystery story are both impeccable. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm sure that you will as well.

Druids

Nigel Peever did a very good job of narrating this book only one thing sort of bothered me and it was his laughter. Yes every time he came to a place where he had to laugh for Sherlock Holmes his laughter sounded very nearly demonic to my ears. I bet he would do a great job of narrating a horror story. So on to the story SH and JW worked hard at trying to save lives of innocent people and when we finally get to the part when the killer or killers are revealed we discover who the unlikely perpetrator is....... well I guess you should listen or read the book to find out who done 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.

Cackleberry Sherlock

I was hoping for more atmosphere in this story, but the druid element is pretty much window dressing. Watson seemed deftly drawn, although a bit slow at times, but the Sherlock character cackled like a madman. It's super creepy and not at all in character. I will admit that the narrator did a good job in keeping the various characters separate, and his female voice was pretty good, but the cackling ... no. Just no.

There are a few places where it seems like the author is trotting out information to show that he's done some historical research and the result is that Holmes is performing for Watson. It got a little off topic for me and drew attention to itself rather than keeping my attention on the story.

The story is OK. It's not that involved or mysterious and we're given clues that are pretty much spoilers. I would not call the story complex or stunning, but if you can get past Cackleberry Sherlock the story is worth a listen. Just don't expect the moon.

An interesting trek into British history and death

Ryan has a real talent for catching the style and mannerisms of Victorian writing! This book blends perfectly into my existing BBC Holmes radio drama collection. The author's one digression is in the scenes where we see through the eyes of the criminal, a convention which Doyle never used. It does work here, but it somewhat disturbs the impression that this is another work by the redoubtable Watson :) But I was charmed by Ryan's approach to creating a plausible setup for new Holmes stories coming to light, and as a student of Celtic lore and the Ogham I really enjoyed the twists and turns of the lore used. Peever captures the speech patterns of this genre and period with consummate skill. Brava!