Review | BONES OF THE APOSTLE Needs More Muscle

The Bones of the Apostle (Petrie and Pettigrew #3)
Written by John Amos
Published by River Grove Books
October 29, 2024
Paperback, 224 pages

Historical fiction is sometimes pretty tricky to get right.

We join Flinders Petrie and Thomas Pettigrew as they’re stewing in their place on Baker Street, just across the street from the Holmes residence (yes, that Holmes). It’s a Victorian era tale of two detectives who’ve grown bored and are needing one more adventure. And in between the witty repartee — such as it is — and the redecorating, Petrie and Pettigrew spend a great deal of time doing… nothing.

Until the case comes along. It’s an unusual one: the mortal remains of the Apostle Thomas have been stolen, and our two heroes are hired to retrieve them. In the course of their preparation, they pick up assistance from one Gazelda Jones, a retired witch with a lot of book knowledge but little field experience.

Now, on the surface, that’s a pretty interesting premise, and I even interviewed John Amos about the book a while back on Live From The Bunker:

Unfortunately, most of the book is spent totally ignoring the main point of the book. Instead, we spend a lot of time — a lot of time — inside Petrie’s head as he ruminates about things in the present that remind him of things in the past. He and Pettigrew also spend a great deal of time talking about events from the last time they went to the Arabian Peninsula, much of which doesn’t really impact their actions on the current case.

There’s a lot of banter. A lot of dialogue that feels like it was lifted from a film made in the 1940s, witty quick single sentences and such. Only it feels like a lot of that dialogue is there to show how Amos has studied the films of the period without digging too deep into the substance of them. It brings to mind Trelane, the Squire of Gothos, from Star Trek, as he recreates the forms and designs of Ye Olde Earth without knowing anything more about it (the fireplace has no heat, for instance).

While it’s a pretty easy read, much of the book is spent on things that, to me, seem pretty pointless to the case at hand. And that case — the retrieval of a precious religious artifact — is given criminally short shrift. The main plot of the book almost doesn’t even really exist except as a McGuffin to start their travels. The resolution of the case is extremely brief, happens pretty much off-stage, as it were, and isn’t even accomplished by either of the two main characters.

So, too, is the villain of the piece given negligible time and attention. This Veiled One of which they speak in dreaded tones is nothing more than a wraith who appears and disappears within a few pages.

I have to say I was mostly disappointed after reading this one, although I actually like the characters of Petrie and Pettigrew, on the whole. I could have done without all the name-dropping of other characters such as Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, T.E. Lawrence, and the like. I would have preferred more time spent on the case they were investigating rather than the reminiscing that dominates the narrative.

This is one of those books I could recommend, ish, but I won’t not recommend it. If you’re looking for stuff in the style of the Holmes stories, this is in that wheelhouse. Your mileage may vary on how much you enjoy reading a travelogue memoir over a thrilling mystery.