SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RED DEMON

Narrator Steve Hendrickson deftly captures the tone of this story, based on a real 1894 event, the raging fires in Minnesota's piney woods. Sherlock Holmes is asked by railroad tycoon James J. Hill to investigate threats to his Great Northern Railway by an unknown person who's nicknamed the Red Demon. Millett's characters are wonderful eccentrics who come alive in Hendrickson's lively presentation. Most entertaining is his rendering of the good-natured sparring between Holmes and Watson as they "go native" in dress and speech. When they close in on the perpetrator, they must visit Mother Mary's brothel, which is Hendrickson's finest moment. The closing battle between Holmes and the Red Demon on a railroad trestle offers listeners a delicious sense of déjà vu. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2016]