Thursday, December 18, 2014

Crossover Cover: The Cabinet of Curiosities


F.B.I. Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast investigates a series of killings that ultimately prove to be the work of his great-grand-uncle Antoine Leng Pendergast, aka Enoch Leng. Among the items in Leng’s cabinet of curiosities is a giant rat from Sumatra. Archaeologist Nora Kelly also appears.
The giant rat from Sumatra is an implicit connection to the Sherlock Holmes stories. Calpurnia Pendergast, a relative of Aloysius, appears in Matthew Ilseman’s Arsène Lupin story “A Theft of China,” confirming Agent Pendergast’s inclusion in the CU. Nora Kelly first appeared in Preston and Child’s novel Thunderhead, which also featured reporter Bill Smithback, a supporting character from the Pendergast books. With this novel, Nora becomes a supporting character in the series as well. Most of Preston and Child’s other collaborations are also connected to the Pendergast series by recurring characters, including Mount Dragon, The Ice Limit, and the Gideon Crew series, which so far consists of Gideon’s Sword and Gideon’s Corpse.

3 comments:

  1. There's a third Gideon Crew novel, The Lost Island.

    A Count Fosco appears in Brimstone.

    Sherlock Holmes is referred to as fictional in White Fire and a "lost" Holmes story by Doyle appears. My theory is that, of course the comment about Holmes being fictional is incorrect, and the lost story was a fictional account which Holmes did not allow Watson and/or Doyle to publish. Holmes disliked Watson sensationalizing (according to him) his cases. He certainly would not have wanted a fictional case to be published.

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  2. Thanks; I didn't realize there had been another book since I did my initial writeup.

    Yep, and this Fosco has the same full name as Wilkie Collins' character, and even mentions having read The Woman in White at one point. For CU purposes, he's obviously a descendant of the earlier Count.

    Works for me!

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  3. I don't remember Fosco saying he read The Woman in White. That must have been an interesting moment for him to read about his ancestor.

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