Holmes Coming

By: Kenneth Johnson

Narrated by: Kenneth Johnson, Francesca Ling, Rory Barnett, Jenny Gago, Thom Rivera, Cary Hite

Dr. Amy Winslow tells the story: in foggy, nighttime San Francisco a jogging SFPD captain is savagely attacked by a Bengal tiger which then vanishes. In her ER, Amy labors unsuccessfully to save the captain’s life, then consoles his aggrieved closest friend, Lt. Luis Ortega. Neither suspects their lives will intertwine in a life-or-death mystery.

The next day, checking on former patient Mrs. Hudson at her Victorian house isolated in Marin County’s forest, Amy discovers in the cellar a secret, cobweb-covered 1899 electrochemical laboratory containing a Jules Verne-esque steam-punk sarcophagus out of which springs a wild-eyed, half-mummified, crypt-keeper-like man who injects himself with something before falling dead at her feet. Amy barely revives him.

He claims to be a real-life Victorian master chemist and detective named Holmes, who allowed Conan Doyle to write stories based on his cases, though was slightly annoyed when Doyle changed his real first name to the catchier Sherlock. Becoming uninspired by 1890s crime, Holmes devised this method to hibernate for a century to investigate future mysteries.

Amy assumes he’s a lunatic. His Scotland Yard identity papers were stolen while he slept, so it takes her a while to realize his amazing story is true.

Respectably handsome when cleaned up, Holmes is still the same brash, egoistic, uber-English, cocaine-addicted, non-feminist genius—but now a century out of sync—so his still-brilliant deductions are sometimes laughingly or dangerously wrong. Holmes and Amy, his reluctant new Watson, find themselves unexpectedly attracted to each other while perilously involved in reclaiming his proof of identity, aided by cybersavvy street teen Zapper. It’s all connected to the horrific death-by-tiger, only the first of several bizarre, mystifying murders being committed by an exquisitely fiendish descendant of Holmes’ Victorian archenemy, Professor Moriarty.

The tone is classic Holmes—plus a refreshing twist of fish-out-of-water humor with a surprising spark of real romance.

©2021 Kenneth Johnson Productions, Inc. (P)2022 by Blackstone Publishing

A Fun Read

Loved the Holmes style brought into the 21st century with a female doctor. The only con was the voice of the doctor. To my ears, it didn't fit the character. Otherwise, a fabulous listen.

3 for 3 Kenny!

Lover of all things Holmes! Sherlockian thru-&-thru! Kenny’s other 2 [audio]books are amongst my top favorites too!

I loved this book!

Should definitely be a series and maybe something on Netflix! Very entertaining, and I loved the multiple voices for each character.

Very entertaining!

What a entertaining story. A smidge of sci-if in the beginning to get our hero in place and then it rolls right into a Holmes story that breathes new life into a trusted old friend. I especially enjoyed the incorrect observations and Holmes surprise at being wrong! Any fans of Holmes should enjoy this story.

The similarities between Conan Doyle‘s Holmes and this Holmes

I found the story very Holmes like and hope for more more such stories. Also enjoyed the pace of the novel.

This reading/book kept my attention from start to finish!

Every single part of this book kept wanting to hear more. Kenneth has a way of keeping the reader in the book, wanting to know more. And I loved that there multiple voices in the audio book. Write another novel Kenneth!

great start of a series

very much what I like in a novel. unexpected ideas even if the story has been told a million times.

Wow! Just WOW!

Most of my 'reading' now is done by ear: I'm on the 24 book/year plan and regularly get more than that. I'm glad I ignored that first wholly negative review: I found NOTHING of the sort. In fact (production spoiler alert) unlike nearly all other audiobooks, the multiple speakers were actually together when this was done rather than doing their parts separately. Yes, there were little things that might have bothered a dyed-in-the-wool Sherlockian, unable to accept anything but the 'purity' of ACD but this is darn good. I physically read half of Mr. Johnson's "The Man of Legends" which I'd bought several years aso and then restarted after some eye problems. That was just super and without hesitation, I immediately jumped into this (my Book Buddy app shows that I've got 264 Holmes-Doyle works so it was pretty easy.

Anyway, Kenny (as he is known by his friends - of which I'm now one at his invitation) is now one of my top authors and I look forward to much more.

Great story, I can't wait for the next one.

Love the story line. it's a great start. Hope to hear it soon. Great job!

well done performance

liked all of the characters and suspense that is this great novel. i have been a Holmes lover for many years.