Last week, I published a review about “The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings”, a book by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace. I loved it for the villainess and for the structure. “The Sorceress of the Strand” is, in many aspects, very much like this book - was also written by the same author team -, but somehow was a little more lacking. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun to read - it was a highly enjoyable read -, but it didn’t quite catch me the way Brotherhood did.
For some reason, Mme. Koluchy is more of an original to me than Madame Sara. Perhaps I thought so because I read her story first and then found Madame Sara to be too similar to her. Both villainesses are similar in character - female masterminds with a focus on selling beauty products to inveigle themselves in society. Yet, when all is said and done, Mme. Koluchy is more of a threat, has a more personal connection to the hero of the piece, and has the better send-off as well.
This is spoiler territory for everyone who hasn’t read the stories, so be careful!
When Mme. Koluchy’s name in society has been destroyed and she’s hunted from pillar to post after killing the hero’s friend and co-hero, she returns back home and faces off against the police and the hero in her basement. When one of the policemen jumps into her laboratory to grab her, she triggers a trap which immediately incinerates her and burns down the laboratory - an impressive send-off, no doubt. Madame Sara, on the other hand, is killed by a co-conspirator’s Siberian wolf after she has decided to change sides in the conflict when offered a worthy price. Not much of an impressive end, is it?
End of spoiler territory.
It feels, at least to me, as if Mme. Koluchy is the original and at some point Madame Sara was created as a copy for more stories. The stories are still good and some of Madame Sara’s tricks are quite impressive and intriguing, but they don’t quite carry the same strength for me.
In general, Mme. Koluchy gives the impression of being more dangerous and harder to defeat - she is the head of a criminal organisation (the Brotherhood of the Seven Kings the book is named for) and has her minions everywhere. It seems logical for her to have her minions situated well before she moves from Naples to London and for her to rely on whatever powers she has at her disposal whenever she sees fit. Madame Sara does have helpers and she is behind a large amount of crime as well, but that ‘based in a long history of a powerful organisation’ impression her colleague gives off is missing from her.
Mme. Koluchy is personally connected to the hero of the tale - years ago, in Naples, he fell for her and became a member of the Brotherhood. It was only when he was drawn into crime that he made a cut and fled back to London. The hero of “The Sorceress of the Strand” merely has connections to the victims of Madame Sara’s crimes - none are as close as relatives, either-, he has no prior history with her, which makes his focus on defeating her much less reasonable. Apart from the righteousness of a pulp hero, there’s not much there - it’s neither his job nor some kind of personal mission. There’s also no personal attack on him, whereas the hero of Brotherhood almost gets executed in a very inventive and cruel way - after all, he has deserted the Brotherhood and inconvenienced the leader before that happens.
So, does that mean that I don’t like “The Sorceress of the Strand”?
No, that’s not the case. I did enjoy the book, I did enjoy Madame Sara’s methods, and I was definitely entertained by all of it. I was missing the rising threat level there (very much like the third cooperation of the authors, “A Master of Mysteries”, Sorceress has no rising stakes), since there’s no real change in relationship between Madame Sara and the hero - no suggestions that she thinks about moving against him to stop him from more interventions. As a story with a female criminal mastermind committing interesting crimes, “The Sorceress of the Strand” is a great example which has certainly earned being in “Moriarty’s Rivals - 12 Female Masterminds” (it’s the only e-book source for the book and also includes “The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings” and more great stories of female masterminds). In direct comparison with “The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings”, it is lacking in tension.
I would probably have loved the book more had I not read it right after Brotherhood. Madame Sara is no bad character, the stories are well-written, the methods are interesting, yet grounded in science and not just thought up for pulp-adventure reasons. As with the other books of the author team I have reviewed, the writing is fluent and easy to read. The stories have a good length for a read at the pool or on the couch or even, if you retire early, in bed. The tension within each story is well-created - it’s only the rising stakes which are missing. As a collection of short stories with the same main characters (heroes and villainess), the book is excellent and a lot of fun.
I will revisit it at some point, I’m sure, but then I won’t read “The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings” beforehand. I will simply read this book, enjoy the stories in it, be gleeful about those strange methods of killing (such as a tooth filling that will dissolve and release poison within a month), and have a good time with it. I won’t compare it to another book by the same authors and spoil my own fun.
Until then, there’s ten more female masterminds in “Moriarty’s Rivals - 12 Female Masterminds” which also contains “The Sorceress of the Strand” which I can amuse myself with, including Mrs. A.J. Raffles and Irene Adler (more about her soon), so I am well-entertained in that aspect.
“The Sorceress of the Strand” by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace is a great book to read, either in one go or a story at a time. I enjoyed myself very much with it, even if I expected something different. It’s another example of a good female mastermind going up against two male heroes and it’s filled with interesting criminal ventures which said heroes are set to stop. The writing is fluid and the stories are well-composed. If you enjoy late Victorian settings and crime stories, “The Sorceress of the Strand” will certainly deliver for you - even with illustrations.
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