"Entertainingly brilliant"
In 1878, a bored Arthur Conan Doyle is a second year
medical student in Edinburgh when the brilliant but
unbearable megalomaniac Dr. Joseph Bell becomes his mentor
(or perhaps tormentor). Though no one likes Dr. Bell
everyone agrees he is a genius. His pioneering work in
forensic medicine has fascinated law enforcement and
academia alike and has led to a success criminal
investigation career. Arthur actually surprises himself when he realizes he
relishes solving mystery puzzles and even more shocking at
least to him working with or perhaps better put, for the
frustrating Dr. Bell. Arthur solves several mysteries and
soon needs to protect Heather Grace, a victim of nightmares
following the mass murder of her family. An obsessed
Arthur believes that Heather remains in jeopardy from a
killer who plans to finish the job unless he can protect
the woman he cherishes. This reviewer's first reaction to this novel was oy vey not
another Holmes/Doyle novel. However, that quickly changed
from the beginning to thoughts of how entertainingly
brilliant is the one sitting read THE PATIENT'S EYES.
Holmes fans and historical mystery readers will enjoy the
plot that also enables the audience to solve a puzzler.
However, the key to what makes this a wonderfully
refreshing novel is Doyle, whom David Pirie depicts as a
clever intermixing of the ingenious Holmes with the awed
Watson. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted April 9, 2002
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"It is to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes."-Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle to his mentor, renowned forensic scientist Dr. Joseph
Bell
As a young medical student, Arthur Conan Doyle, famously
studied under the pioneering forensic detective Dr. Joseph
Bell. Taking this as a starting point, author David Pirie
has woven a compelling thriller which partners Bell (widely
believed to be the model for Sherlock Holmes himself) and
Doyle as innovators in criminal investigation, exploring
the strange underworld of violence and sexual hypocrisy
running below the surface of the Victorian era. When the impoverished young Arthur Doyle opens his first
medical practice, he is puzzled by the symptoms presented
by Heather Grace, a sweet young woman whose parents have
died tragically several years before. Heather has a strange
eye complaint, but is also upset by visions of a phantom
bicyclist who vanishes as soon as he is followed. This
enigma, however, is soon overshadowed as Doyle finds
himself embroiled in more threatening events-including the
murder of a rich Spanish businessman-that call for the
advice of the eminent Dr Bell. But despite coming to
Doyle's aid, Dr Bell dismisses the murder of Senor Garcia
as a rather unimportant diversion from the incident which
Bell considers to have real criminal implications: the
matter of the patient's eyes and the solitary cyclist. David Pirie gained rave reviews for his screenplay
depicting the "real" Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Joseph Bell, in
the two part, Edgar-nominated TV series "Murder Rooms."
Treading that same critically acclaimed ground, The
Patient's Eyes is the first in a stand-alone cycle of
novels written from Doyle's point of view that include a
whole new perspective on the adventures of Bell and Doyle
and the genesis of the best-known detective in all of
mystery literature. Tense and dramatic The Patient's Eyes
marks the debut of a brilliant new crime novelist.
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