I have a great distrust of modern authors who use a Victorian setting for their novels, particularly where science and technology is involved. It is too easy to use to make twentieth-century knowledge critical to the plot. And even when the science is accurate (or at least unobtrusive) twentieth-century wording or political correctness can totally destroy the Victorian atmosphere. So I was wary when I picked up Michael Kurland's 'The Infernal Device', but he fell into none of these traps and I soon found myself engrossed in the story.
Set in 1885, and told from the perspective of a young American journalist, 'The Infernal Device' sees Professor Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes joining forces to track down an anarchist intent on striking a devastating blow against Great Britain.
Despite having Holmes and Moriarty as his central characters, Kurland still can't resist further name-dropping on occasion, but it's more rather more subtle than in the Castle Falkenstein novels. We have a brief, passing reference to Oscar Wilde for example: but perhaps the most grating such allusion is to Henry Higgins (of My Fair Lady fame) because it actually intrudes on the plot to a degree, fortunately not excessively.
All the main characters are rather cold and distant: Moriarty is aloof in his intellectual superiority, Holmes in his single-minded determination to expose Moriarty as a criminal; and the villain Trepoff is rarely encountered. Conversely the journalist, Benjamin Barnett, is likeable and very human, while there is a warmth and a depth to the minor characters with their quirks and foibles that brings the story to life.
Exotic locations, secret agents, a diabolical villain, death-traps, and the infernal device of the title provide all the staples of dramatic fiction. There are plot holes to be sure, but the story gallops along giving the reader little time to notice the flaws. The action is fast-paced, and moves from the palaces (and prisons) of Constantinople to the underlife of London to the Queen's Cup Regatta at Portsmouth. Despite some of the settings, the novel reveals little about 19th Century high society; but there's plenty of underworld colour. The frequent use of underworld jargon adds to the picture of the dark underbelly of Victorian society that Kurland portrays.
Kurland is the winner of an Edgar Allan Poe fiction award, so I would expect something better than average from him; and he doesn't fail to produce the goods.
Rating : 4 out of 5