Somoza is back and at his best with the first book in a trilogy inspired by the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
England, 1900s. Nurse Anne McCarey, weary of life in London and fleeing a stormy relationship, accepts a job caring for a patient at an exclusive clinic for the mentally ill in Southsea, in the coastal city of Portsmouth. For someone with her experience, the work couldn’t be easier.
But what she finds there isn’t what she expected. The patient, identified simply as “Mr X”, can discover the deepest secrets of the people around him without leaving his room, which is always dark.
Added to this duo is the young Dr Arthur Conan Doyle, who comes to the clinic to attend to Mr X. He’s practicing medicine in Southsea and developing a character for his next novel: the most famous fictional detective of all time. Only Anne and Dr Doyle will be prepared to decipher the enigmatic Mr X’s riddles. These appear to be the key to solving the murders just beginning to rock the city of Portsmouth, with its outrageous plays, underworld of clandestine theatres, and illicit performances.
“Simply fascinating, Doyle himself would be proud” Crónicas Literarias
“José Carlos Somoza inquires in the deepest holmesian myth to dive into the origins of the charachter created by sir Arthur Conan Doyle through a superb reinterpretation of the famous detective” ABC