Gardner, John (Edmund) - Charles G. Blewitt

CHARLES G. BLEWITT

Believe it or not, [The Revenge of Moriarty] is agonizingly slow and uninteresting reading. Neither the theft of the Mona Lisa nor the "bawdy" sexual matters add anything like life to this work. One feels as though he is reading an arithmetic equation—Moriarty will systematically bring all betrayers in line with his Alliance, by doing A, B, and C. Yet, there are a number of bright spots along the way. Certainly, some of the descriptions of the fogged-in London underworld of the Victorian era, with its "lurkers," "toolers," and "cracksmen," create the desired eeriness. It's also heartening to see that some honest-to-God human beings emerge, like the concupiscent Inspector Crow. But, all things considered, $8.95 is a lot of capital for a novel which is so elementary.

Charles G. Blewitt, in a review of "The Revenge of Moriarty," in Best Sellers, Vol. 36, No. 1, April, 1976, p. 3.

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