Seance for a Vampire (The Dracula Series)

Vladimir Kulakov returns from his hanging with a sore neck and an axe to grind, and when Sherlock Holmes vanishes, Dr. Watson suspects a connection and summons Holmes's cousin, the vampire Prince Dracula, to help.

From Publishers Weekly

In a confection featuring both Rumania's most famous legend and England's greatest detective, a stolid prose style could have been a virtue, an understated elegance. Yet the two voices of this novel--Prince Dracula's and Dr. Watson's, narrating events that befell Sherlock Holmes--are virtually indistinguishable and far too plodding to spice up a rather drab story. It is 1903, and Holmes has been engaged to investigate the drowning death of Louisa Altamont, fiancee of the young American journalist Martin Armstrong. During a seance conducted by the sister-brother team of Sarah and Abraham Kirkaldy, Louisa appears--and Holmes vanishes from sight. Meanwhile, Vladimir Kulakov, a pirate hanged in London 38 years earlier, has made a startling reappearance in St. Petersburg. Watson quickly enlists the aid of Prince Dracula, here Holmes's vampire cousin, to find Holmes and put matters to rights. Saberhagen (the Berserker series, The Holmes - Dracula Files ) intertwines his invented characters with existing literary personalities to an empty, if pleasant, effect: none of the made-up figures seems more than a caricature, although Sarah Kirkaldy's affair with Dracula does have its moments. Ardent Holmes and/or vampire fans may enjoy seeing their heroes in new situations, but others are advised to read the originals. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When Sherlock Holmes disappears during an investigation involving a fraudulent spiritualist, Dr. Watson reluctantly summons the famous detective's distant cousin-Count Dracula-to save Holmes's life and solve a mystery centered around a legend of pirates and buried treasure. Fans of Saberhagen's "Dracula" series will applaud the return of the immortal count, while Victorian aficionados will appreciate this tidy mystery's fidelity to period detail. Recommended for most libraries.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Saberhagen's revisionist Dracula series (A Question of Time, 1992) features the count as a sharing and caring New Vampire who also happens to be a relative of Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Watson, capably assisted by the count, relates how, in 1903, Kulakov, a mad Russian vampire of 18th-century origin, sets in motion a plan to recover some missing jewels from the prosperous Altamont family. After the elder Altamont daughter, Louisa, drowns in a bizarre boating incident, her ghost appears in tangible form during a s‚ance--or so avers Martin Armstrong, Louisa's distraught American fianc‚. Her father, Ambrose, isn't so sure (he suspects an extortion attempt) and calls in Sherlock Holmes, who identifies the revenant Louisa as a vampire before he himself is abducted by Kulakov. Watson immediately summons Dracula to rescue the entombed but uninjured Holmes. Louisa dies again, this time permanently, so the frothing Kulakov kidnaps the younger Altamont daughter, Rebecca, and bears her off to Russia. Finally, in St. Petersburg, the czarina's weirdly compelling confidant, Rasputin, will play a crucial part in resolving the affair. A clever idea, appealingly and persuasively set forth, but about halfway through, the uncomplicated plot subsides into aimless twiddling. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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