The Angel of the Opera: Sherlock Holmes Meets the Phantom of the Opera

In 1890 Sherlock Holmes and his cousin Dr. Henry Vernier are summoned to France to rid the great Paris Opera House of an ``opera ghost.'' Readers familiar with Gaston Leroux's story will be on safe ground in Siciliano's retelling. An elusive phantom threatens the management of the Opera with unnamed disasters unless he's paid ``several thousand francs a month'' and young and beautiful Christine Daae is cast as the lead in their productions. Under the tutelage of the ``Angel of Music,'' a fearfully disfigured musician living in the cellars of the Opera house, Christine becomes the rage of the Paris Opera. Holmes is hired by both the theater's management and the pompous and immature Viscount de Chagny, who adores Christine, to remove the Phantom's threat to profits and love. Although Holmes does little but interact with the other characters, through him and Vernier, the author re-examines the relationship of goodness and beauty. Siciliano's tale, while not original, is wonderfully atmospheric and moves briskly. (June)