I suppose there may be a literary cynic or two who might say, among other things, ‘What a dereliction of duty,’ ‘What a dodge,’ ‘What an easy way out,’ referring to an author who places previously celebrated characters from other books into his own. That’s what Timothy Miller does in The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle.

The concept has been done before, many times, and will be done again. But this critic is not that cynic, solely because I find it an intriguing challenge. In other words, I’m always eager to see if an author, despite the occasionally implied dereliction of duty, can come up with a plot fresh enough, and characterizations of already-famous characters compliant enough, to make me want to be an active participant in the literary experiment. It has to be exceedingly engaging for me to come along for the ride.

Miller’s novel, in which Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes investigates a potential crime involving George Bernard Shaw’s Henry Higgins, is darn close to just such an engaging experiment. A novel idea for a novel. Intriguing. Relatable enough (through knowledge of many applicable books, plays and movies) to spark fun and interesting comparisons. To wonder how these iconic characters will interrelate. Not just the two characters mentioned above, mind you, but five in general, for included in the story are Holmes’ associate Dr. Watson, Higgins’ friend Colonel Pickering and, of course, Eliza herself. (The housekeeper Mrs. Pierce also pops in and out.) Ultimately, that’s the part that holds the most delicious fun of all—watching and listening to all these familiar characters from two separate literary universes interact. I suppose it’s not unlike imagining how Holden Caulfield would intermingle with, say, John Boy Walton. Or Captain Kirk with Barbarella. 

So it’s quite easy to get into the mirthful mystery with as much anticipation as one needs to be engaged with any novel, particularly an unconventional one by a first-time author. (Miller had already penned two independently-produced screenplays, “Scanned” and “At War with the Ants”). After that, it’s up to the story, the characterizations, the writing, and the reasonableness of the entire enterprise to make it an entirely fulfilling adventure. Miller hits many of those notes head on—but misses a few. That might not even be worth mentioning if not for the fact that many readers (present company included) may pine for another similar effort one day by the same author in which all the notes are hit. Call it the value of reviews, if you will.

Perhaps even more importantly, in my view it is the role of the reviewer to do whatever he or she can do to protect the art, craft and business of good writing. With the plethora of self-publishing platforms, vanity presses, and editor-less products, good writing is rapidly being devalued. To be clear, The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle is not among those to which I have just referred; it has a legitimate publisher and a professional editorial team. I am merely trying to stress that authors of bad books need to be shamed into using professionals (or getting out of the business), and that authors of not-bad-at-all books need to be encouraged to do whatever they can to take a step into the realm of the really-really-good. 

The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle is close to that realm. In it, Holmes is now retired. Watson learns from an old friend, Pickering, that something may be awry in the Higgins household. Higgins had, of course, been attempting to teach the Cockney-tongued Eliza to speak like a lady of British society. But Picketing suspects that somewhere along the line she has, for some reason, been replaced by an alternate Eliza. Hence, Holmes temporarily comes out of retirement. 

Roughly using a decorative Edwardian-era literary style, Miller tells his story with a smile on the edge of his lips and a gleam in the corner of his eyes. That comes across—not a bad way at all to spend a few leisurely literary hours. But what Miller seems to have overlooked is that, given the based-on-past-works specificity of the characters and setting, many in his reading audience may intentionally or unintentionally search for ‘gotcha’ moments. There are several such moments in the book, which take just a bit away from all the smiles and gleams, albeit just for a moment or two.

For example, in the middle of a scene that’s unfolding very well—in 1912 England, mind you—Holmes uses the phrase ‘in a New York minute,’ which just doesn’t seem right. (A quick check indicates that the phrase wasn’t coined until the Nineteen Sixties.) It severely interrupts the flow because… well… because it made me want to stop reading to look it up! Also, I found myself questioning why Higgins never says “By George” or Pickering “By Jove,” or why Holmes never utters the famous phrase “It’s elementary” to Watson or anyone else. Had some rich characteristic humor like that been thrown in for good measure, it may have created an even stronger wink-wink-nod-nod to our revisiting of these iconic folks. 

Miller’s generally fine writing seems to have required just a bit more tender loving care in order to support readers who may find it a tad taxing to keep up with the story’s many twists and turns and, perhaps more significantly, its timeline which, in fact, never seems set in stone. There are very few references to a decisive time of the year (although its placement in 1912 is never in question). We know through dialogue that the Titanic sank a few months before the main action—but more specificity than that seems absent, thereby making it difficult to imagine the season, the trees, the smell of the air, the look of the sky… I mention this only because, once again, I was compelled to stop my engagement with the story to try to figure out what the scene would look like in the movie version! One does not want to stray too far from the plot when reading a complex whodunit (or whodunwhat, as the case may be). One just wants to continue riding along. I was compelled to stray.

Alas, these are minor issues indeed, which I have every faith most readers will agree to overlook in order to take this literary journey. There are worse ways to spend time than tagging along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Henry Higgins, Colonel Pickering, and Eliza Doolittle. After all, what they’re involved with here is a brand new and very original adventure, by George!