History Literature / DustAndShadow

* MissedHimByThisMuch: Holmes figures out [[spoiler: that Bennet is the Ripper, only to learn he quit the force the day before]].

** Watson mention that Holmes has begun to narrow in on Prof. Moriarty's criminal operations setting up the events in "''The Final Problem''".
** The story features Holmes and Watson's introduction to Dr. Moore Agar, who is mentioned in "''The Adventure of the Devil's Foot''".

* ShoutOut: Holmes uses the alias of [[Literature/BasilOfBakerStreet Basil]] at one point, while disguised as a sailor like the character was in the [[WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective Disney film]].

** Watson mention that Holmes has begun to narrow in on Prof. Moriarty's criminal operations that will lead to events in "''The Final Problem''".

** Watson mention that Holmes has begun to narrow in on Prof. Moriarty's criminal operations that will lead to events in "''The Final Problem''"
** The story features Holmes and Watson's introduction to Dr. Moore Agar, who is mentioned in "''The Adventure of the Devil's Foot''"
** Holmes uses "Escot" as an alias, a name he will use again when infiltrating Milverton's household in "''The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton''"

-->'''Watson''':At first it seemed the Ripper affair had scarred my friend Sherlock Holmes as badly as it had the city of London itself.

* TheProfiler: Holmes extrapolates his usual SherlockScan to attempt to build the identity of a man he's never met. Naturally, he's shaken by the hitherto-unimagined psychological profile .

* RealityEnsues: Holmes mentions repeatedly in the original stories that he uses unusual facts in crimes to unravel them. The Ripper's crimes are noteworthy only in their savagery, without any victim pattern for Holmes to unravel, and all the descritions of the Ripper are frustratingly non-descript. Therefore Holmes struggles far more than usual to solve the mystery.

%%* {{Foreshadowing}}
* FrameUp:[[spoiler:This was the Ripper's plan to defame Holmes, using Tavistock to destroy Holmes's public reputation and leaving Holmes' stolen cigarette case by the final victim's mutilated body to incriminate him. Thankfully Lestrade steps in to prevent this.]]

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The book is an account of Jack the Ripper's spree by Dr Watson.

%%* HistoricalDomainCharacter

* IntrepidReporter

%%* VictorianLondon

* RealityEnsues: The facts of Holmes's involvement with the case and his own abilities shed an unfavorable light upon him, thanks to the efforts of a muckraking reporter. Having once barely escaped with his very life from a growing mob, Holmes goes into hiding for his own safety.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Averted. [[spoiler: Jack is just an ordinary beat policeman.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The Ripper is dead, but so are his six victims. Holmes’s reputation is salvaged, but Mary Ann Monk’s memory has received some damage. Holmes himself feels the case a failure, but Lestrade provides a moment of profound gratitude that mirrors the ending of “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” quite closely.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The soldier Holmes initially suspected of being the Ripper kills himself over the shame of having stabbed the first victim, Martha Tabram, in an angry passion. He did not kill her, though no one but Holmes would have worked that one out.]]
%%* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin

* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Bennett acts almost friendly when Holmes and Watson confront him, but his loathing of the world still slips out.]]

** [[spoiler: Bennett's father was a brute who beat his family- the details are unknown, but the man cut the family cat's tail off piece by piece. Bennett mentions having a flashback to seeing the cat's torture when he saw Tabram.]]
** [[spoiler:The Ripper's ignorant mother relates her son's childhood to Holmes and Watson, explaining that her husband was abusive and that her son eventually "acquired his gift of strength." At the age of eight, he stopped crying, and his mother held that he could no longer be hurt.]]

--> Holmes: "I'm very proud of you."

-->At first it seemed the Ripper affair had scarred my friend Sherlock Holmes as badly as it had the city of London itself.

* IconicOutfit: Ironically, Holmes and Watson borrow Jack's popular outfit of tophat, cape and cane to explore Whitechapel when dressed as dandies. [[spoiler: Jack hunts out of uniform to hide his identity.]]

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Several re: the Ripper's identity, but most glaringly Johnny Blackstone.]]

* TheSociopath: Holmes comes to believe that the killer is this, despite it being a radical notion for its time. [[spoiler:He’s later proven horribly right when he ‘’meets’’ the Ripper face to face.]]

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Bennett's father was a brute who beat his family- the details are unknown, but the man cut the family cat's tail off piece by piece. Bennett mentions having a flashback to seeing the cat's torutre when he saw Tabram.]]

* MonsterSobStory: [[spoiler:The Ripper's ignorant mother relates her son's childhood to Holmes and Watson, explaining that her husband was abusive and that her son eventually "acquired his gift of strength." At the age of eight, he stopped crying, and his mother held that he could no longer be hurt.]]

''Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson'' is a historical fiction novel by Lyndsay Faye, one of the most recent Literature/SherlockHolmes pastiches in which the Great Detective investigates the [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper Whitechapel Murders]]. Unlike many Ripper novels, however, no conspiracies and no fantastical culprits are posited. The result is a dark and gut-wrenching tale as Holmes grows increasingly frustrated with his failure to find the Jack the Ripper and blame for the murders begins to fall upon his shoulders…

----

* ContinuityNod

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin
* ExplainExplainOhCrap

* {{Foreshadowing}}

* HiddenDepths
* HistoricalDomainCharacter

* SerialKiller: Jack The Ripper.

* VictorianLondon

* ZeroApprovalGambit

* GovernmentConspiracy: Of a more benevolent kind than in most Ripper fictions, as [[spoiler: Mycroft covers up Bennett's identity to avoid public unrest.

* AloofBigBrother

* FriendToAllChildren: Holmes. His IntergenerationalFriendship with the Baker Street Irregulars is present, and he comforts one of them after he [[spoiler: finds one of The Ripper's victims.]]
--> Holmes: "I'm very proud of you."

* TheNondescript

* FriendToAllChildren: Holmes. His IntergenerationalFriendship with the Baker Street Irregulars is present, and he comforts one of them after he [[spoiler: Find one of The Ripper's victims.]]

* WorldWarII: Watson writes the introduction in the July of 1939, grieved at the onslaught of a new war.

* ZeroApprovalGambit

* PetTheDog: When questioning a prostitute on whether or not someone would have a motive for killing her friend, she replies that it was probably just some random John, and that their clients would just as well kill them as they would kiss their hand. Holmes than states that if any of her clients ever try to harm her, to let him know, so they she could be [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown"Rid of his company"]]

''Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson'' is a historical fiction novel by Lyndsay Faye, one of the most recent Literature/SherlockHolmes pastiches in which the Great Detective investigates the [[JackTheRipper Whitechapel Murders]]. Unlike many Ripper novels, however, no conspiracies and no fantastical culprits are posited. The result is a dark and gut-wrenching tale as Holmes grows increasingly frustrated with his failure to find the Jack the Ripper and blame for the murders begins to fall upon his shoulders…

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than the original Sherlock Holmes stories.

* ItsAllMyFault
* MonsterSobStory
* MythologyGag

* PoliceAreUseless: Not quite but close enough, as per real life.

* UnreliableNarrator

* HeroicBSOD

* NotSoStoic
* PoliceAreUseless
* RealityEnsues
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure
* RedHerring
* ShownTheirWork

* WorldWarII

‘’Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson’’ is a historical fiction novel by Lyndsay Faye, one of the most recent Literature/SherlockHolmes pastiches in which the Great Detective investigates the [[JackTheRipper Whitechapel Murders]]. Unlike many Ripper novels, however, no conspiracies and no fantastical culprits are posited. The result is a dark and gut-wrenching tale as Holmes grows increasingly frustrated with his failure to find the Jack the Ripper and blame for the murders begins to fall upon his shoulders…

* HeroidBSOD

‘’Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson’’ is a historical fiction novel by Lyndsay Faye, one of the most recent Literature/SherlockHolmes pastiches in which the Great Detective investigates the [[JackTheRipper Whitechapel Murders]]. Unlike many Ripper novels, however, no conspiracies and no fantastical culprits are posited. The result is a dark and gut-wrenching tale as Holmes grows increasingly frustrated with his failure to find the Jack the Ripper and blame for the murders begins to fall upon his shoulders…----!!This novel provides examples of the following tropes:*AloofBigBrother*BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The Ripper is dead, but so are his six victims. Holmes’s reputation is salvaged, but Mary Ann Monk’s memory has received some damage. Holmes himself feels the case a failure, but Lestrade provides a moment of profound gratitude that mirrors the ending of “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” quite closely.]]*ContinuityNod*DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The soldier Holmes initially suspected of being the Ripper kills himself over the shame of having stabbed the first victim, Martha Tabram, in an angry passion. He did not kill her, though no one but Holmes would have worked that one out.]]*ExplainExplainOhCrap*{{Fanboy}}: Dr. Moore Agar, who later goes on to be the physician who puts Holmes on vacation in “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot”.*ForegoneConclusion: Whether Sherlock Holmes finds Jack the Ripper or not, six women will still be murdered and mutilated.*{{Foreshadowing}}*HeroidBSOD*HiddenDepths*HistoricalDomainCharacter*IntrepidReporter*ItsAllMyFault*MonsterSobStory*MythologyGag*TheNondescript*NotSoStoic*PoliceAreUseless*RealityEnsues*ReasonableAuthorityFigure*RedHerring*ShownTheirWork*TheSociopath: Holmes comes to believe that the killer is this, despite it being a radical notion for its time. [[spoiler:He’s later proven horribly right when he ‘’meets’’ the Ripper face to face.]]*UnreliableNarrator*VictorianLondon*WorldWarII*ZeroApprovalGambit‘’Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson’’ is a historical fiction novel by Lyndsay Faye, one of the most recent Literature/SherlockHolmes pastiches in which the Great Detective investigates the [[JackTheRipper Whitechapel Murders]]. Unlike many Ripper novels, however, no conspiracies and no fantastical culprits are posited. The result is a dark and gut-wrenching tale as Holmes grows increasingly frustrated with his failure to find the Jack the Ripper and blame for the murders begins to fall upon his shoulders… ---- !!This novel provides examples of the following tropes: *AloofBigBrother *BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The Ripper is dead, but so are his six victims. Holmes’s reputation is salvaged, but Mary Ann Monk’s memory has received some damage. Holmes himself feels the case a failure, but Lestrade provides a moment of profound gratitude that mirrors the ending of “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” quite closely.]] *ContinuityNod *DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The soldier Holmes initially suspected of being the Ripper kills himself over the shame of having stabbed the first victim, Martha Tabram, in an angry passion. He did not kill her, though no one but Holmes would have worked that one out.]] *ExplainExplainOhCrap *{{Fanboy}}: Dr. Moore Agar, who later goes on to be the physician who puts Holmes on vacation in “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot”. *ForegoneConclusion: Whether Sherlock Holmes finds Jack the Ripper or not, six women will still be murdered and mutilated. *{{Foreshadowing}} *HeroidBSOD *HiddenDepths *HistoricalDomainCharacter *IntrepidReporter *ItsAllMyFault *MonsterSobStory *MythologyGag *TheNondescript *NotSoStoic *PoliceAreUseless *RealityEnsues *ReasonableAuthorityFigure *RedHerring *ShownTheirWork *TheSociopath: Holmes comes to believe that the killer is this, despite it being a radical notion for its time. [[spoiler:He’s later proven horribly right when he ‘’meets’’ the Ripper face to face.]] *UnreliableNarrator *VictorianLondon *WorldWarII *ZeroApprovalGambit