Over My Dead Body by Dave Warner

Publisher's Synopsis

Cryogenicist Dr Georgette Watson has mastered the art of bringing frozen hamsters back to life. Now what she really needs is a body to confirm her technique can save human lives.

Meanwhile, in New York City, winter is closing in and there’s a killer on the loose, slaying strangers who seem to have nothing in common. Is it simple good fortune that Georgette, who freelances for the NYPD, suddenly finds herself in the company of the greatest detective of all time? And will Sherlock Holmes be able to save Dr Watson in a world that has changed drastically in 200 years, even if human nature has not?

My Review of Over My Dead Body by Dave Warner

Dave Warner has come up with the wonderfully quirky concept of resurrecting none other than Sherlock Holmes to set him to work in 2020 New York. He does a good enough job of putting the concept together that I was happy to go with the flow and enjoy the genius of Holmes in one more case.

Dr Georgette Watson is an up-and-coming expert in cryonics who has demonstrated success in bringing hamsters back to life from their frozen state. She hopes to win funding to further her work which might one day enable her to progress to using her techniques on humans.

A visit from a Scottish relative results in the diary of her great-great-grandfather Dr John Watson ending up in her hands. The diary hints at pioneering cryogenics work undertaken by Watson as well as the location of a frozen body - in Switzerland. She is compelled to find the body and attempt her own techniques on it.

“Her breath caught. Her great-great-grandfather was John Watson, living in London in the eighteen-nineties. Of course. It seemed so obvious now but how? It was a fiction. Or perhaps not. Like a child following a rolling ball she let its path drag her onwards.”

The result is the reanimation of Sherlock Holmes. And, as luck would have it, Georgette’s work with police as a time of death expert puts them right there in the midst of a serial killer case.  

As you might imagine, the huge attraction of any Holmes mystery is the insight he brings to his investigations. This is no different, but when you add the wrinkle of forcing him to adapt to 21st century life at the same time, an extra level of intrigue and entertainment is added.

Warner does an outstanding job of combining modern policing methods with good old-fashioned detective work in this absorbing case. Plot twists are thrown in at regular intervals to a) throw the reader off the scent, and b) stretch Holmes’ powers to their very limit.

Over My Dead Body provides a tantalising trip into the world of ‘what if’. Along the way we’re treated to a perplexing string of murder that somehow revolve around Georgette herself. To add to the excitement, their orbit appears to be closing in tighter and tighter. The superior powers of Holmes along with some well-timed assistance from some modern day “irregulars” pulls off a breathtaking conclusion.

This is a well-plotted, fast-paced murder mystery that also provides just a hint of romance and plenty of wry humour. It worked for me on many levels.