Dashiell Hammett vs Sherlock Holmes: In Search of Jack the Ripper - Paperback

by Gregory Urbach (Author)

On the verge of becoming a successful mystery writer, Dashiell Hammett travels to London researching his new novel, The Maltese Falcon. There he encounters a strangely garbed woman peddling potions. The next morning, he awakes in London, but it's no longer 1929-it's 1888.

With the money in his pocket featuring King George V instead of Queen Victoria, Hammett decides he must find a job, and the nearest pub, happy to learn England doesn't have Prohibition. There he meets his new drinking buddy, Dr. John H. Watson, who also has an interest in detective stories. While visiting the British Museum, Hammett meets a Maryland socialite investigating an ancient artifact, finding Miss Elizabeth Cochran enchanting. He does not realize she has a secret of her own. And when gruesome murders are committed in Whitechapel, Hammett is hired by The Daily Telegraph as a reporter, soon encountering Waston's enigmatic roommate, Sherlock Holmes. Roaming foggy byways, seedy taverns, glitzy theaters, and posh restaurants, we follow Hammett and Holmes as they search for Jack the Ripper through the streets of Victorian London.

As with the author's previous Dashiell Hammett novels, this installment features guest stars such as Mark Twain, Sir Randolph Churchill, H.G. Wells, Richard Mansfield, Nellie Bly, and Queen Victoria. The social context of the murders is also examined; the newspaper coverage, suspects, police officers, and the deplorable conditions of life in the East End that kept the Whitechapel murders on the front pages.