The Moor

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Oddly enough I came across this book whilst researching the Lych Way, it was first published in 1998 so it's by no means a new piece of work. The author, Laurie R. King came up with the idea of resurrecting Sherlock Holmes and giving him a wife who it appears has replaced the trusted Dr. Watson on his adventures. One of the preambles about his exploits goes as follows:

'Long-time fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, might think that their favourite sleuth met his fate at the hands of Dr Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. Anyone who believes that, however, obviously hasn't read Laurie R King's delightful series featuring Holmes and his wife (!), Mary Russell. In 'The Moor', Holmes and Russell are summoned to Devonshire to solve a tin miner's mysterious death. Lonely Dartmoor provides plenty of opportunities for King to both relate the haunting legends of that part of the world and offer some amusing revisions to one of Holmes's most famous cases, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Though Holmes purists might resent the liberties taken with their hero, readers in search of a strong female protagonist, some fascinating local history, and spooky ambience will enjoy The Moor.'

Set in the 1920s, not only does the novel present the strange combination of Mr and Mrs Sherlock Holmes it has them being summoned to Dartmoor by a 96 year old Sabine Baring Gould. As is known, amongst many other things Baring Gould was an avid collector of traditional moorland folk songs, many of which he collected from local moormen and women. In this book one of these sources was a tin miner by the name of Josiah Gorton who was found near to death on the moor. Before he died he managed to tell of how the ghostly carriage of Lady Howard had carried him across the moor to where he was later found, with her was a huge, one-eyed black dog. Concerned by both Gorton's death and intrigued as to the reported sightings of Lady Howard's spectral coach, Baring Gould summons Holmes and his wife to investigate. The plot twists and turns its way across the moor and apart from the mysterious death of Gorton involves secret weapons tested on the Okehampton Range, gold, a spectral hound, Baskerville Hall, local folk songs, the Mary Tavy Witch, another murder and the infamous moorland bogs. The story also weaves wefts of Dartmoor legends into the main warp of the plot along with some nice cameos of moormen and their traditions.

The author has clearly researched the life and times of Sabine Baring Gould who is ever central to the plot both in terms of his vast knowledge of Dartmoor and his influence upon the moorland dwellers. There are also some leads to interesting avenues for any Dartmoor lover to explore outside of the book, personally speaking I had never heard of the Okehampton gold fraud. One also gets the impression that Laurie King was at first none to impressed with Dartmoor but gradually it found a place in her heart.

You can certainly tell that the book was written by a female as the whole story is told by Mrs Holmes/Miss Russell who at times appears to be grudgingly standing on the periphery of her famous husbands' limelight. For some strange reason there are several references to her dependency on glasses and the concern for their wellbeing? The other question that arises is why the author chose to use Baring Gould as one of, if not the central character? According to Laurie King:

" I first came across Baring Gould as soon as I started researching Dartmoor, because of the numerous novels and guides he wrote about his home. When I discovered that he was still alive in the autumn of 1924, I began seriously to consider using him as a minor character. And then I read his memoirs, and bells went off: His grandson, William S. Baring-Gould, wrote the definitive biography of Sherlock Holmes, making generous use of many details of his grandfather's life. How could I not borrow the old man? ".

For those who are not fully conversant with Dartmoor it would be handy to have an Ordnance Survey map in order to follow the story as it wanders over the moor. Also there is mention of some folk ballads throughout the text and just to put things in perspective the music and words to one of these can be found by clicking the thumbnail below, all will become obvious when reading the book. Baring Gould states how both were collected from a blacksmith called John Woodrich who in turn learned them from his grandmother when he was a child:

Broom, Green Broom

All in all an interesting concept and read, it's very rare for me to finish a novel in less than two months, this one was read in two weeks. For anyone wanting a spot of light relief that will fire the imagination then this is a define read.

For anyone who would like to read more of Sabine Baring Gould's works, many of them can be download for free in pdf format on the Internet Archive - HERE