Christopher Milner, born in 1960 in Drumheller, has published a novel entitled The Giant Rat of Sumatra, a Sherlock Holmes Fan Fiction.
The novel is about Sherlock Homes and relates to an adventure that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle alluded to in his short story, The Adventure of The Sussex Vampire, but never wrote about.
In Milner’s novel, Holmes partner for this adventure is not Dr. Watson, but a veterinarian named Fred Clegg. Clegg was a real person, in fact the author Milner’s great-grandfather who moved to Canada and specifically southern Alberta in 1904.
Chris Milner spoke with inSide Drumheller, “Fred Clegg was the man who built the log cabin, between 1905-1920, near the Morrin Bridge, that still stands today. My great-grandfather ran the livery stable in Carbon for many years and he also put the town of Munson’s first and only town constable, Levi Bone in jail back in 1912 so the town could enjoy a rip-roaring New Year’s Eve party.”
Milner continued, “My father, George Milner, taught high school in Morrin and his father’s godmother, Mrs. Germaine Perreal, was also a well known Drumheller resident.”
Milner expressed, “I thought the readers in the Drumheller area might be interested in reading my book, since one of the central characters in the Sherlock Homes adventure, veterinarian Fred Clegg, would come to have a Red Deer River-Badlands connection.
