The Great Detective versus the Un-Dead
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula; or, The Adventure of the Sanguinary Count is a Crossover between the two great literary icons of the Victorian Era, written by Loren D Estleman.
The story follows Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson as they are summoned to Whitby to investigate the mysterious affair of the Demeter, only to become drawn into the mystery of Count Dracula.
Contains examples of:
- Another Side, Another Story: Retells Dracula from the outside perspective of Watson, revealing that more went on than Stoker told.
- Direct Line to the Author: According to Estleman's (fictional) prologue, he found the crumbling manuscript down the side of a case he bought at an auction of Watson's personal effects.
- Either/Or Title: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula; or, The Adventure of the Sanguinary Count
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Dracula is genuinely confused as to why Watson went to so much trouble to help Holmes oppose him, to the extent that he went to considerable risk to confront Watson and ask why he took part in recent events when the count could have just gone back to London to start making his way to Transylvania/
- Hero of Another Story: The original heroes of Dracula, play this role in the story with their final confrontation taking place off-screen.
- I Have Your Wife: Dracula kidnaps Mary Morstan in the climax of the book, forcing Holmes and Watson to chase after the vampire and rescue her.
- Look, a Distraction!: Holmes does this when Watson is going to rescue his wife, deliberately drawing Dracula's attention until Watson can retrieve his wife and the rising sun deprives Dracula of his main advantages.
- Our Vampires Are Different: It's explicitly stated that sunlight isn't harmful to Dracula but just deprives him of the advantages he possesses at night (consistent with the original novel) , such as needing to don a disguise to enter a hospital rather than infiltrate the building using his more elaborate powers.
- Outside-Context Problem: Naturally the idea of facing the supernatural is a surprising one for Holmes and Watson, although Watson is bemused that Holmes is so quick to turn to superstition as an explanation for the current situation after their first close call with the "Bloofer Lady".
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When hunting for the "Bloofer Lady", Holmes correctly identifies a connection to the Demeter due to the similar neck wounds in both cases, and also deduces that there are two different culprits involved. However, this deduction was initially based on the idea that the individual responsible for the deaths on the Demeter was a very strong human and such strength would come with a considerable size that would prevent the man responsible disguising himself as a woman, as Holmes hadn't yet realised that he was dealing with vampires.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Van Helsing has no interest in allying with Holmes, feeling Holmes is too much of a public figure for this work. He's still grateful for Holmes' assistance in stopping Dracula's escape to America after the situation has been dealt with.
- Unreliable Narrator: Watson accuses Bram Stoker of this in omitting the key roles played by him and Holmes in preventing Dracula's flight to America to the point of fudging dates. He speculates that Van Helsing was deliberately trying to promote himself as an expert in vampires, though he does admit that Holmes disagrees with him on this.
- Villain Over for Dinner: Dracula at one point comes directly to Baker Street just to observe Sherlock Holmes, even having a relatively polite conversation with the detective.
