"The Horror of the Many Faces"

by Tim Lebbon
originally published Shadows Over Baker Street, Del Rey, 2002

Dr. Watson is suprised one night to come across a man being surgically butchered in the street - by none other than Sherlock Holmes himself!  Despite being an accomplished detective, soldier, and man of action, Watson stands watching in disbelief as Holmes takes the victim's heart and bails.

 Watson reports the incident to Inspector Jones of the Yard, who informs him that there have been six other similar murders - all with organs taken, and many with witnesses, who each claim that they saw the murder committed by someone they knew and trusted.

Watson confronts an ill-looking Holmes at gunpoint.  Holmes speculates and seems to be playing mind games, and is visibly afraid of something he refers to as "they".

Holmes' doppleganger enters.  Holmes and his double struggle.  The double transforms into a man-shaped swarm of bees.  Watson shoots and finally kills it.

Holmes explains that he believes the murders are being committed by an entity, or entities, from "outside", which take the form of trusted friends by reading the minds of witnesses (Holmes himself saw a man murdered by Irene Adler).  He suspects they may be studying humans, possibly preparing the way for an invasion.

 Tim Lebbon is an author who has made a name for himself among hardcore horror aficianados.  Myself, I've found his stories grim, brutal, and puzzling, but not particularly satisfying.  This one is no exception.

The story admirably upends the usual Holmes pastiche cliches - in the other stories in the Shadows Over Baker Street collection, Holmes is either fully knowlegeable of the Mythos already, or quickly learns enough about it to triumph over it. Here, he is genuinely shattered to encounter something so utterly alien to his own ways of thinking.  Also intriguing is the story's lack of resolution in this department.  Holmes hasn't exactly saved the day, nor does he know if he's going to, or how.

Despite this, the story can't overcome its own absurdities.  It's honestly hard for me to believe that Watson would be frozen into inaction, even by the bizarre sight of Holmes murdering someone.  Why does the doppleganger transform into a swam of bees?  Is this an in-joke reference to Holmes own bee interests?  Did it pluck the shape of bees from Holmes mind as it did the other identities it assumed?  The thrust of the story is supposed to be that the beings and their actions are beyond our ken, but, especially for a writer of Lebbon's caliber, the lack of clarity here just seems like a cop-out.