Book 21 for my 2025 goal of 30 books for the year! As is now default for me, my link to the book is through my bookshop dot org affiliate account.

Some books look intriguing to me when I first get them, but end up sitting on my shelf for ages before I finally get around to reading them. This is the case with The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The White Worm, by Sam Siciliano, first published in 2016.

This is one of a series of pastiches published by Penguin/Random House by a variety of authors, usually mashing up Holmes with some other classic literary story of the era, often of a supernatural form. In this case, Siciliano has placed Holmes into Bram Stoker’s infamous 1911 novel, The Lair of the White Worm.

This was presumably an interesting challenge. As I’ve blogged about before, The Lair of the White Worm was Stoker’s last novel, written when he was dealing with severe health challenges and possibly cognitive decline. The result is that the novel is extremely disjointed, incoherent, and difficult to read. There are, however, flashes of brilliance in its telling that show what might have been if Stoker had been in better health.

Let’s say a few words about the original story before turning to Siciliano’s interpretation. The protagonist, Adam Salton, returns to England after a trip abroad in order to live with his uncle in their his home at Lesser Hill, in a remote and rural part of the country. He meets an insightful local archaeologist named Nathaniel and also the sinister and eccentric Edgar Caswell, a man recently returned to his ancestral estate. He also encounters Lady Arabella March, who lives at the manor in the area known as Diana’s Grove and who immediately sets her sights on wooing and marrying Salton.

Salton also learns about the local legend of the White Worm, a monstrous creature that has supposedly lived for ages and has developed a sinister intelligence during its lifespan. As the story progresses, the White Worm rises from its slumber, and it seems to have a connection to Lady March, who has her own diabolical plans…

Knowing at least some of this background is worthwhile before reading The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The White Worm, because part of the fun of the story is seeing how Siciliano ties together the genuinely incoherent plot lines that Stoker threaded through his book. I don’t recommend reading Stoker’s original book, however, which I’ve noted is somewhat of a slog; my blog post on the subject is probably sufficient to enjoy the meta-context of Siciliano’s tale. (I myself read the Holmes book first and then went back to read my blog post afterwards, and immediately realized I would’ve had more fun if I had done it the other way around.)

In Sciciliano’s The White Worm, all the same characters are present, though their roles are adjusted slightly; they often keep the same bizarre quirks of the original novel. Holmes is approached by the awkward young man Adam Salton, who has received a mysterious letter warning him to steer clear of his love interest Diana, who lives with her aunt Arabella at Diana’s Grove. The letter warns of a connection between Diana and the White Worm, and the case intrigues Holmes enough to travel to the country to try and find the letter writer and their motives. (Diana takes the place of two young women, Lilla and Mimi, who Adam has an interest in in the original novel.) Holmes finds that rumors of the awakening of the White Worm are rampant, especially as livestock have recently begun to go missing in the area. The focus of all activity seems to be a massive pit in Diana’s Grove, rumored to be the ancient lair of the beast. Along the way, Holmes and his cousin Dr. Henry Vernier must deal with an eccentric cast of characters and criminals to save Adam and Diana from an awful fate.

Surprisingly, Holmes’ companion and narrator in this story is Dr. Henry Vernier, and Watson is not present. It is said that Watson had written sensationalized and unauthorized stories of Holmes’ exploits, leading to a falling out between them. At least one character confuses Vernier for Watson along the way! I’m not entirely sure why the change was made, other than to distinguish the new stories from the classic stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

One significant spoiler is worth mentioning here, which is good to know about going into the book and is anyway made very clear early on. (Feel free to stop reading here if you want to avoid it.)

The original book by Stoker is truly a tale of horror fiction involving a monstrous worm. One might expect that this would also be true of Siciliano’s story, since other books in the series feature Holmes against various fictional enemies — Dracula, Dr. Jekyll, and even the Martians from The War of the Worlds; I’ve blogged about the latter adaptation by Manly and Wade Wellman previously. Siciliano makes it quite clear early on, however, that this is very much a traditional murder mystery, and that the monstrous Worm of the title and local folklore is a hoax and a distraction set up by the would-be perpetrators of the crimes to be uncovered. That isn’t to say that a “white worm” doesn’t make an appearance by the end of the story, but it has a more natural explanation than an ancient, intelligent, and gargantuan serpent or dragon. I found the revelations a little disappointing — I want a giant worm, dammit — but overall satisfying.

So, overall, The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The White Worm is a fun book that will primarily appeal to people who are already fans of Holmes and his quirky style of detective work. As I’ve already noted, this book can be enjoyed more by reading the plot of the original novel to see how Siciliano took a quite incoherent tale and wove the pieces into something sensible and enjoyable.

Also, reading this has “Stoked” my curiosity about other books in the series. I am considering whether or not I want to explore Holmes versus Dracula, or Holmes working with Harry Houdini!