The Canary Trainer
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 First edition cover |
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| Author | Nicholas Meyer |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Mystery novels |
| Publisher | W.W. Norton |
| Released | 20 September 1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-393-03608-1 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | The Seven-Per-Cent Solution |
| Followed by | The West End Horror |
The Canary Trainer: From the Memoirs of John H. Watson (1993) is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche by Nicholas Meyer. Like The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, of which this novel is a direct sequel, The Canary Trainer was published as a "lost manuscript" of the late Dr. John H. Watson. This novel describes Holmes's adventures during the "Lost Years", when (according to the Sherlockian canon) he was traveling the world, trying to escape the minions of Professor Moriarty. The bulk of the novel is a first-person narrative, in which Holmes recounts a visit to Paris where he played the violin in the Opera Garnier and became entangled with a mysterious "phantom". Although Dr. Watson appears only in the novel's 1912 bookend scenes, a significant sub-plot concerns Holmes trying to replace his familiar companion with a young Parisian, who, while useful, is not nearly as brave or devoted as Holmes' British roommate.
This novel was published after but takes place before Meyer's third Holmes pastiche, The West End Horror.
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[edit] Plot summary
In 1912, Dr. Watson visits the retired Sherlock Holmes, who is happily cultivating bees on the Sussex Downs. Holmes seems mostly concerned about interesting Watson in his new hobby, but Watson prefers to interrogate Holmes and fill some of the gaps in Sherlockian history. For example, Watson says, Holmes's account of how he spent the "Lost Years" (1891 to 1895) was laden with contradictions. Finally, he persuades Holmes to retell one episode of his adventures.
The narration switches to Holmes, who describes how he escaped Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls and then began to travel Europe, slowly realizing that the entire world believed him dead. Wandering mostly aimlessly, he finds himself in Paris, where (after a short-lived stint as a violin instructor) he obtains a position at the Paris Opera. From the very beginning, his job has ominous undertones: the vacancy only appeared because the previous violinist ran into the street, swearing that he would never work in the place again. This does not daunt Holmes, who interviews with and favourably impresses the conductor, Maître Gaston Leroux.
Holmes gradually becomes accustomed to the Opera's distinctive culture. He learns that all minor mishaps are attributed to the Ghost, a spectral personage who haunts the Opera's labyrinthine passageways, sometimes appearing to ballet dancers wearing an evening suit but without a head.
All goes reasonably well until the prima donna soprano, La Sorelli, falls ill and is replaced by Irene Adler, an old adversary almost alone in her ability to outwit Holmes. His admiration for her provokes uncertain emotions, largely foreign to his calculating nature—but he soon realizes that torment is secondary, when the opera rehearsals subject him to her incomparably beautiful singing. He suffers in silence until Adler sees his profile in a Degas painting, whereupon she realizes that he is alive, and enlists his help. She has taken the young coluratura Christine Daaè "under her wing", and is fearful that the innocent singer may fall prey to intrigue once Adler has left.
Irene Adler blackmails Holmes into assisting her, promising that she will remain silent about his survival. While investigating the melodramas which surround Christine, Holmes appears to run afoul of the Opera Ghost.
[edit] Characters in "The Canary Trainer"
- Sherlock Holmes – the detective, protagonist
- Dr. Watson – initial narrator
- La Sorelli – the prima donna soprano
- Irene Adler – also a singer
- Christine Daaè – the young coluratura
- Maître Gaston Leroux – the conductor
[edit] Allusions/references to other works
In the novel's afterword, Meyer acknowledges the two most obvious influences, Conan Doyle's vast Sherlockian opus and Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, which Meyer terms an "absurdist masterpiece". Furthermore, the "facts" of the story shift about in a way reminiscent of Pynchon: Holmes openly states that he was traveling Europe to escape Moriarty's henchmen, yet small clues indicate that he may have been convalescing after his treatment by Sigmund Freud (in The Seven Per Cent Solution). On one level, The Canary Trainer is a detective story with doses of action-adventure, but Holmes's thoughts about building a new identity bring in a much more contemplative, almost philosophical element, much like the mystery-story parodies Vladimir Nabokov constructed (compare Lolita, Pale Fire or The Real Life of Sebastian Knight). Meyer nods at these more "literary" concepts, inserting a tongue-in-cheek footnote (supposedly by the "editor" who is publishing Watson's manuscript). The priceless Degas in which Irene Adler saw Holmes's portrait, says the footnote, was purchased by the Marquis de Tour et Tassis—a clear allusion to The Crying of Lot 49.
[edit] Release details
- 1993, USA, W W Norton ISBN 0-393-03608-1, Pub date 20 September 1993, hardback (First edition)
- 1995, USA, W W Norton ISBN 0-393-31241-0, Pub date ? March 1995, paperback
| Nicholas Meyer's Sherlock Holmes pastiches |
|---|
| The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (novel and film) | The Canary Trainer | The West End Horror |
