Winter at Death’s Hotel

Arthur Conan Doyle takes a backseat to his strong-willed but devoted first wife, Louisa, during an 1896 American publicity tour in this gripping tale of mass mayhem from Cameron (The Bohemian Girl). No sooner does the famed couple settle into their suite at Manhattan’s New Britannic Hotel than a young woman, somehow familiar to Louisa, is found savagely murdered in a nearby Bowery alleyway. Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt proves slightly inept as he strives to control a crime wave in a gang-ridden city where women are frequent victims of assault. New Yorkers begin to fear that they might have their own version of Jack the Ripper on the loose after another butchered body turns up. Louisa assumes the detective role when an injury prevents her from accompanying her husband to Buffalo and beyond on his book tour. The action builds to an enigmatic and harrowing resolution. The explicit sex and violence may not be to the taste of every Holmes fan. (Aug.)