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The Night Calls
Product Group: Book
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur (2003-08-08)
ISBN: 0312291043
EAN: 9780312291044
Dewy Decimal #: 823.92
Hardcover: 360 pages
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
As a young medical student, Arthur Conan Doyle-the creator of Sherlock Holmes-studied under one of the pioneers in forensic medicine, Dr. Joseph Bell. While details of Doyle’s actual relationship with the Doctor remain shrouded in mystery, author David Pirie has created an engrossing series that pairs the two as partners in criminal investigations in the dark underworlds of Victorian Edinburgh.
The Night Calls chronicles their most frightening and disturbing case, the encounter with the man who prefigures Holmes’ archnemesis Moriarty. A series of bizarre and outlandish assaults on women in the brothels of Edinburgh has caught the attention of Bell, who calls on Doyle to assist in the investigation. At the same time, however, there’s a violent struggle for women's educational rights taking place at the university’s medical school where Doyle is a student. There he meets young Elsbeth Scott, a fellow student with an unfortunate list of enemies, among them a crazed misogynist student name Crawford, and the smiling hypocritical patron of the university, Henry Carlisle.
Bell slowly begins to realize that the increasingly freakish crimes indicate a heretofore unknown and terrifying kind of criminal, one who is not susceptible to the Doctor’s old methods. The Night Calls takes them from the evil heart of old Edinburgh into what Bell calls their “fight against the future” and to London itself, where Doyle again faces a villain with terrifying results.
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Amazon.com Review
Inspired by the discovery that Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle attended medical school in Scotland with one of the 19th century's most notorious serial killers, David Pirie's The Night Calls reels out a grim but engrossing tale that suggests a model for Holmes's foremost adversary, Professor James Moriarty. A series of bizarre assaults on women in the brothels of 1878 Edinburgh draws the attention of Dr. Joseph Bell, a surgeon, charismatic teacher, and forensic expert who periodically applies his deductive skills to solving crimes. Together with a young Conan Doyle, his "trusted clerk and pupil," Bell follows the trail of an elusive attacker who leads them on crepuscular chases through gloomy Victorian streets and to a blood-filled room where the puzzle of his motive becomes deeper. However, Conan Doyle is occupied with other matters, as well. He's fast developing a fondness for fellow student Elsbeth Scott, whose interest in promoting educational rights for women has made her many enemies, and whose sister, the wife of a hypocritical philanthropist, grows sicker by the day--either as a result of disease or deviousness. The future author is disturbed, too, by his father's deteriorating mental condition. Assisting Bell offers Conan Doyle some release from worry--at least until their controlling quarry becomes a threat to Miss Scott. Pirie's plot only gains more perplexity and darkness as its action shifts to London, forcing the logical Bell and his impetuous amanuensis to contend with opium fiends, disappearing corpses, a severed head with "horrifying power," and continuing taunts by a murderer who believes that "evil is freedom." While British author Pirie's previous Bell-Conan Doyle novel, The Patient's Eyes, was more of a whodunit, liberally employing Sherlockian investigative techniques, the rather more smoothly constructed The Night Calls concentrates equally on drama and the morally incongruent psychology of its principal players. This novel blends fact with fiction in a mesmerizing tale that boasts a frightening, cliffhanger ending. A sequel is planned. --J. Kingston Pierce
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Customer Reviews
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psychological thriller
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-07-12
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
another in the series of books about Arthur Conan Doyle and his mentor Dr Bell. Dark, brooding and filled with labyrinthine scenarios. I loved it
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An Unsatisfactory Read
Rating  (2)
Date: 2005-12-03
3 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
I got through this book by gritting my teeth. Why I put myself through the thankless task is the true mystery of this novel of suspense. A mystery compounded by the fact that there is no resolution at the end - just a referal to the next volume in The Murder Room Series and I won't be reading that any day soon - make that never. I have never felt so conned.
It's an odd book. The narrator is an irritating, petulant twerp who constantly lets his emotions rule his behaviour and I quickly lost any sympathy for him. The novel is within shouting distance of a resolution half way through but the author then spins the novel out and on to its detriment.
The second half of the novel turns on an increasingly preposterous series of coincidences that would put Amistad Maupin to shame. The predictability of the ensuing events is equally annoying. As for the "surprise" at the end? What surprise - I could see it a mile away!
The author's notes makes it clear that he was inspired to write this particular novel due to a coincidence he discovered in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's background history - that he had studied medicine with a notorious serial killer - but he took that idea and just got carried away. The "idea" didn't warrent a second (or third?) novel. In deed, it didn't deserve one novel of this length. The first half could have been developed into one interesting, self-contained novel but it wasn't and more's the pity.
All in all, an unsatisfactory read.
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Thoroughly captivating suspense!
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-06-15
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I just finished reading this book, and I absolutely LOVED it, I couldn't put it down. Thanks to a friend in Edinburgh who sent me this book, I am now an avid fan of the series, and having never read any Sherlock Holmes novels (I know, shame on me!), not only did this book fascinate me, but it also made me want to read Doyle's works, and learn more about the man. Anyone who loves literary fiction or who is a Holmes fan (obviously), or just likes a good suspenseful horror novel, will LOVE this book!
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Killer and sleuths match wits in this exciting thriller.
Rating (5)
Date: 2003-09-21
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
David Pirie's excellent novel, "The Night Calls," features a young Arthur Doyle, who is a medical student, and his mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell. Bell's sharp powers of observation and clever methods of detection were an inspiration for Doyle's fictional character, Sherlock Holmes. It is the late 1800's in Edinburgh, Scotland. Arthur Doyle and Dr. Joseph Bell combine their resources to investigate a series of grisly assaults on women. Ultimately, Bell fears that the assaults are the work of an unhinged individual whose crimes may soon escalate to murder. It turns out that Bell's fears are well founded. Their antagonist is a sadist who has tremendous intelligence, imagination, cruelty, and daring. With his skilled description and vivid characterizations, Pirie has done a marvelous job of capturing the mood of the times. He tackles several feminist themes, including the discrimination that faced young ladies who wished to attend medical school, and the wretched exploitation of impoverished women who sold their virtue in order to survive. The characters of Bell and Doyle and sharp and well-drawn. Bell's incisive mind, no-nonsense approach, and tenacity when faced with a difficult problem are indeed reminiscent of the great Sherlock Holmes. The central villain of the piece is a vile individual who will make your blood run cold. Pirie includes several intriguing subplots, including one about a chauvinistic and cruel husband and another about an arrogant scientist who believes that the ends of scientific discovery justify unethical means. "The Night Calls" is a chilling, fascinating, and expertly written novel, and I recommend it highly.
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Atmospheric and absorbing
Rating (5)
Date: 2003-08-28
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Sherlock Holmes. Very few names are as evocative as that one. And yet there are many questions and speculations surrounding the creation of that marvelous fictional detective. It has been said that the only way to gain any true knowledge of Holmes is through his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. David Pirie must subscribe to that train of thought as well and has therefore devised a background for Doyle. In so doing, Pirie gives us an imaginative glimpse into the relationship between the writer and Dr. Joseph Bell, the man credited with being the inspiration for Holmes himself. `The Night Calls' is first and foremost a thoroughly atmospheric, not to mention a completely absorbing, story. Each setting and scene is described in careful detail, which lends the prose a rich density that manages to escape any sense of being cumbersome. The reader is allowed to take to the streets of Edinburgh and London right alongside Doyle and Bell. Yes, those streets are dark and unsavory, but you would never think of turning back. And even though Pirie takes the mystery on a couple of tangent jaunts that may seem unnecessary, the heart of it remains compellingly close and "concludes" in a highly chilling manner. After reading the Historical Note included at the end of the novel, I was surprised to find just how much of Doyle's real life had been snuck into the narrative. Pieces of the man's history that you think must have been part of the fiction turned out to be true and you appreciate the way the story was crafted even more for it. This is the type of novel that makes you want to learn more. More about Doyle himself, about the real-life serial killer that plagues Bell and Doyle throughout, and more about the women's movement that rose up during the time. I thoroughly enjoyed `The Night Calls' and have since purchased `The Patient's Eye' which actually precedes this novel. I am also anticipating the dvd release of `The Murder Rooms', a miniseries upon which the novels were based.
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Retail Price: $24.95
Amazon.com's Price:$1.66
That's 93% Off!
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