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

Holmes returns in the vein of Sir Arthur himself

I am without a doubt a Holmesian. It is in my core. I grew up watching Basil Rathbone movies with my grandmother, and as soon as I could I dug into his own material, the good stuff so to speak, and immersed myself in the writings of a brilliant man. I have been hooked and find myself drawn to any incarnation of Holmes that I can find, with the exception of the travesty of a tv show that has Lucy Liu as Watson. I don't care about Watson being Asian or female, only that the show ranks in the worst way. Until Cumberbatch came along I would have told you my definitive Holmes was Jeremy Brett, now I have two favorites. I endure the Downey films. Anyway, that is a list of my bona fides. I cannot tell you how many times I have read Doyle's words, and I am drawn to new stories whenever I can find them.

Thankfully, I can report that the Druid of Death has the feel of a Holmes story crafted by ACD himself. It has all the requisite elements, and the characterizations of Holmes and Watson are spot on. I really couldn't ask for more, but thankfully, Ryan provides a stunning mystery for Holmes to solve and a villain up to Holmes standards. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute that I listened to this tale, and sincerely hope that Master Craftsman Ryan opts to do more Holmes in the future. That is the best compliment I can provide. The writing reflects Doyle's but doesn't stagnate on it, and is complex and thought provoking.

Peever provides the voice of Watson (as well as the rest, but since he is the one to tell the stories . . ) an is impeccable at it. I enjoyed listening to him tell the tale, and believed that he carried the story along at a fine pace, and that he provided all the shock and awe that Holmes inspired in his friend. I had not heard him do any readings up till now, but I have to say that I think he is a fine narrator.

If you are any kind of a Sherlock Holmes fan then this is the place for you to go to get a new "fix", and the story is just long enough that you mind find it to be a three pipe tale! Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. Getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

When you eliminate the impossible.

I have always been a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and while there have been many attempts to recreate the magic of Sherlock Holmes, few have been successful. This story was really in the vein of the original and I think Richard Ryan did the legacy justice. The plot and setting were as if Arthur actually wrote it and everything was in place. There were a few Holmesian things I was looking for and they showed up. The author clearly knows how to do Sherlock Holmes. If I hadn't already read all of his stories I would absolutely believe this was one of his.

The plot was done quite well and the mystery is afoot. I really like the setting of historic places while Holmes tries to solve the case. Everything felt like a classic Holmes story and I was really impressed. Every Holmes story makes me try figure out the ending before it happens, this one was easy. Like Scooby Doo this laid out the information to decide who done it. It was still a solid story and I want more. The fact that this it is still told from Watson’s POV made me happy. Any Sherlock Holmes fan will enjoy this story.

I have always thought Basil Rathbone was the voice of Sherlock and Nigel Bruce was Dr. Watson. I have to say that Nigel Peever did a great job for both. His ability to switch voices for the different characters immediately was amazing. For a bit I thought there were different narrators. I am totally on board with Nigel being the voice of SH. Nigel nailed Dr. Watson and I hope he stays his voice.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher

Holy Crap the narrator is bad

I waited until i'd listened to the entire story before writing this, I didn't want to miss anything. The story was actually good; however, the narrator..............
I don't know how to begin. The narrator does Holmes in, what I best describe as a Dracula Accent. YES, you read that right, he sounds like Dracula down to and including the Dracula laugh (which he does quite a few times). Its crazy. When I first heard Holmes I was dumbstruck , sitting there for a few minutes staring off into space. I thought I'd bought a parody book by mistake. It was difficult to sit through the whole thing. The closest thing I can relate this to is a video I saw with Gilbert Gottfried reading excerpts from 50 Shades of Grey. I didn't know whether to laugh or throw the phone.
And.... to make matters worse the story is good. So you're forced to sit and listen to this craziness in order to learn what happens next. I may buy the book so that I can read it and experience the story sans Dracula.

Someone approved this reading.
I dont even know what to say about it. It's like watching a 1940's B movie.

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.

Excellent.Plot & Narration

Lestrade summons Holmes to a murder of a young girl with druids symbols.
A grisly murder at Stonehenge. The author’s knowledge of medieval literature played an important part. Giving us history of Stonehenge as well as a story with murders. Excellent plot, greatly enhanced by the audio narration of Nigel Peepers..Given ARC audio for my voluntary review review and my honest opinion.

Realistic and Entertaining

The Druid of Death doesn’t contain quite the clever repartee between Holmes and Watson found in the original stories, and I thought the villain was obvious, but I found the plot and atmosphere of the story reminiscent of the writing of Doyle. The narration of Nigel Peever was excellent for a Sherlock Holmes story, but the maniacal laugh of Sherlock was distracting.
Overall, I thought the Druid Of Death was a realistic and enjoyable addition to the Sherlock Holmes mythos.

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.

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.

Good story, bad narration

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

Great addition to the Holmes Universe

Well written and well narrated. The story very much captured the Doyle essence of Holmes
And Watson. I love listening/reading all the great additions to the universe of Sherlock Holmes. This is a must for all fans of Sherlock tales. Highly recommend.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.