Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
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?
To be honest, I took one look at the blurb for OVER MY DEAD BODY and wondered whether or not it sounded ... quite right (well to be brutally honest, I thought to myself, it sounds as daft as a brush), but if there's one thing I've learnt in quite a lot of years of crime fiction reading, it's expectation and outcome are out the back having a bloody good argument most of the time.
Reading the Author Note at the back of this book is probably something that would be advisable for any readers having an insurmountable WT moment with this one - understanding the thinking and the motivation behind the idea should help, although I ploughed ahead mostly on the belief that Dave Warner could write a shopping list and I'd read it.
Modern day Dr Watson (Georgette / female / Cryogenicist / bringer of frozen hamsters back to life), has a spot of luck with hitherto unknown family connections when she is desperately trying to find a human subject to try her lifesaving techniques on. You're going to be presented with a scenario that might stretch your "believability" capacity just a bit; from the idea that there was more to "The Reichenbach Falls" then originally revealed in that story (but seriously - you're about to deal with the idea that Sherlock Holmes was real); to how he gets into the current day, investigating a series of killings of young women. For this reader, most of the unbelievable bits became somewhat extraneous to concerns as this story started to gain legs.
Mostly because, despite Sherlock Holmes now being a real person, despite him surviving Reichenbach Falls and somehow being kept in a state that a current day Cryogenicist could step in, despite him adjusting to modern day life with nary a blink, and despite there being a violent and nasty killer lurking around killing young women, seemingly getting closer and closer to Dr Watson, what OVER MY DEAD BODY has in spades is a fun, entertaining story, with great supporting characters, a weirdly believable (or maybe excusable) central premise, and a heap of pathos and yep, emotional pull.
Nobody, but nobody could pretend for a moment that anything in OVER MY DEAD BODY is socially aware, introspective consideration of the human condition. You could possibly get it into your head that this could be cutting edge science, but ultimately what it turned out to be was hugely entertaining and thoroughly engaging, and, well ... daft as a brush in a really good way.
Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and is a Judge of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel. She kindly shares her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by New Zealanders on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction.
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