Ross K Foad’s video book reviews are becoming legendary. Here he tackles the new book from Sherlockian heavyweights Philip K Jones and Bob Burr. Great review of The Punishment of Sherlock Holmes – he concludes that to get the most our of the book you need to be familiar with the canon. Presumably if you are reading this, you are.
The Punishment of Sherlock Holmes is available through all good bookstores including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Classic Specialities.
Philip K Jones (aka The Ill Dressed Vagabond) is one of the USA’s leading Sherlock Holmes Reviewers. Here he reviews ‘Baker Street Beat’ by Dan Andriacco – a collection of Holmes items that the Sherlock Holmes Society of London describes as “it gives you the same sort of feeling as when you’re chatting over a drink with a knowledgeable fellow-Holmesian”.
“This is a collection of personal reminiscences, early fiction and literary commentary by a long-time Sherlockian. It contains a personal history of one man’s lifelong fascination with the Canon. It also presents glimpses of other Sherlockians, their personalities and foibles, their whimsies and their exploits. From my point of view, it provides the added benefit of listing the earlier publications of the items presented. This make their entry into the database of Sherlockian pastiches, parodies and related fiction all the easier for me.
The first two items are personal expositions of the author’s fascination with the world of Sherlock Holmes; a history of his Canonical reading and a description of a pilgrimage to the Reichenbach Falls. Both items are unique and are also typical of the commentaries of other devotees of the Canon. The general trend of the discussions actually describes the process many hobbyists go through in picking up a lifelong interest, especially a literary one.
There are two other items of literary commentary included. The first is a discussion of the mysteries of Doctor Thorndyke, created by R. Austin Freeman, and the influences of Sherlock Holmes evident in those tales. This is most interesting. I have collected and read the Thorndyke mysteries for years and I was aware of some of those influences, but the author’s depth of detail was most impressive. The final literary commentary discusses writing a Sherlockian pastiche, using articles by various Sherlockians and examples of effective and ineffective methods. I found myself torn on reading this segment, for I feel that the author has missed an important aspect of the Canon and I am in the process of writing an article of my own on this very subject. In any case, this item should give ‘newbies’ an idea of what depths experienced Sherlockians can plumb in their efforts to understand the fascination they have with Sherlock Holmes.
The author has included four of his own efforts at writing fiction in this collection. The first is an early pastiche, “The Peculiar Persecution of John Vincent Harden.” This is an interesting effort to relate one of the “Untold Tales,” those cited in the Canon, but never told by Watson. This was one of two such tales cited in “The Solitary Cyclist.” There have been at least ten other efforts to tell this tale, but then some of the “Untold Tales” have been written scores of times. The second tale, “The Adventure of the Amateur Players,” is a mystery surrounding the presentation of a play about “Sherlock Holmes” by an amateur acting group, many of whom are Sherlockian hobbyists.
The final two items presented are scripts for radio programs. The first, “The Wrong Cab,” stars a real life detective in a quasi-Sherlockian adventure with odd results. The second is “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” and it presents a Canonical tale in format for a radio broadcast. I am unfamiliar with the requirements of such compositions and cannot judge the effectiveness of these efforts.
This book concludes with a bibliography that includes all the sources mentioned in the various items. It is not exhaustive, but it does provide a useful starting point for persons new to the world of Sherlockian fixation. All in all, this is an interesting book with items worth re-reading. It gives a good picture of the progress of the Sherlockian affliction, but offers no real promise of a cure for the disease.”
Baker Street Beat is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, and in many formats including Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books and iTunes for the iPad.
“It’s a powerful subject, and Mr McMullen handles it well.”
The final edition of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London newsletter of 2011 reviews Kieran McMullen’s 2nd novel about the Easter uprising in Ireland – ‘Sherlock Holmes and The Irish Rebels’.
“Kieran McMullen has once more combined his expertise as a military historian and former soldier with his devotion to Sherlock Holmes, and he’s added a third element – his own heritage – in Sherlock Holmes and the Irish Rebels.
Two years into the Great War, Dr Watson is called away from his post with the Royal Army Medical Corps and instructed to join Holmes in Dublin, where, under the alias of Liam Altamont, he has infiltrated the Irish Volunteers, who, believing that ‘England’s extremity is Ireland’s opportunity’, are a rebellion against British rule.
As we know, the Easter Rising was crushed, saving Britain from war in the west as well as the east, but disgust at the speedy execution of the leading rebels only intensified the desire for Irish independence. It’s a powerful subject, and Mr McMullen handles it well. How would Arthur Conan Doyle have tackled it, I wonder?
Sherlock Holmes and The Irish Rebels is available from all good bookstores including Book Depository (free worldwide delivery), Amazon UK, and Amazon USA and electronic formats including Kindle UK and Kindle USA.
Watson’s Afghan Adventure is available from all good bookstores and on Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, iBooks (iPad and iPhone) and other formats.
Kieran’s own blog is very popular – especially his series of articles on the different actors that have played Dr.Watson.
Ross Foad’s video book reviews seem to be getting better and better and this week he tackles Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror. The first edition was a bestseller with Holmes fans around the world – the new edition gains another 100 pages and some more short stories complementing the main Lyme Regis based novel. The review is the highest scoring one we’ve had.
Part 1
Part 2
A very detailed video review from Ross Foad, of the definitive record of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s life by Brian W Pugh. A Chronology of Arthur Conan Doyle is available through all good bookstores, including Amazon UK, Amazon USA and in electronic format such as Amazon Kindle and on iTunes/iBooks for the iPad.
“Overall this is an exciting and entertaining read which will definitely appeal to both Sherlockians and fans of Bram Stoker.”
The Bookbag is the one of the world’s largest book review sites and we are always excited to receive the email from them that a review of one of our books is ready. Their review of Gerry O’Hara’s first novel Sherlock Holmes and The Affair in Transylvania was a great one to read.
“I normally start reviews with a brief plot summary, but it seems almost besides the point to do so for a book entitled Sherlock Holmes and the Affair in Transylvania. From those seven words, the reader will have no doubt guessed that this is a Holmes meets Dracula story, and so we may as well move straight on to the burning question – is it any good?
Yes, in many ways, it is. The substitution of Holmes and Watson for Van Helsing is the main change in a story which follows the original fairly closely – other minor characters are removed or changed a bit, but we get Renfield, Lucy, Mina, and of course the Count himself drawn fairly faithfully. Most notably, Holmes and Watson themselves are extremely close to Conan Doyle’s originals; no real surprise as this is almost always a real strength of authors signed by MX Publishing.
Having said that, if I have a minor fault to find with it, it’s that it perhaps sticks a little bit too closely to the original Stoker novel; if anything; maybe a few more surprises would have made it even better. Nevertheless it held my attention from start to finish and will stick in the memory thanks to a few especially effective scenes and the great characterization of the central pair. I should also point out that I’ve read so many Holmes books recently that I’m perhaps harder to impress than the average reader, and while this doesn’t quite rank up there with the very best (which I’ll mention below), it’s a solid first novel and I would definitely be interested in reading more by Gerry O’Hara.
Overall this is an exciting and entertaining read which will definitely appeal to both Sherlockians and fans of Bram Stoker.”
You can read the full review on The Bookbag site.
Sherlock Holmes and The Affair in Transylvania is available through all good bookstores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle and iBooks for the iPad.
Described by The Sherlock Holmes Society of London as “An exciting and witty romp” Dan Andriacco’s first novel No Police Like Holmes has been a big hit with Holmes fans around the world. It’s not a pastiche though, it is a mystery featuring Holmes fans rather than the great detective himself.
His first book was Baker Street Beat which is also the name of his blog, contained essays, a pastiche and some radio plays. It’s fiction though that Dan really likes to write.
Here, one of the main Sherlock Holmes reviewers in the USA, Philip K Jones (aka The Ill Dressed Vagabond) gives us a detailed overview of the book.
“This is a modern day detective mystery, set in Erin, Ohio, a College town some forty miles up river from Cincinnati. The protagonist is Jeff Cody, the public relations director at St. Benignus College. The College is hosting a Sherlock Holmes colloquium as part of celebrating the presentation of the Woolcott Chalmers Collection of Sherlockiana to the school.
The small town of Erin seems overrun with deerstalker-clad oddballs and nuts, including a number of professors and other, prominent Sherlockians. To the reader who has associated with Sherlockians and collegiate types, this book will be a constant exposure to thoughts of ‘but isn’t that Professor …?’ or ‘isn’t she an oriental?’ or “I thought he was younger’ moments. The cast is familiar, if a bit scrambled and the opinions are even more familiar and far less scrambled.
The story moves along steadily, with the customary useless police presence and the plethora of amateur ‘Sherlocks.’ Everybody has an opinion, or two or thirteen. Deductions are a dime a gross and some are even sensible. The chief police detective has issues with most of the principals and most of them reciprocate, heartily. Some of the police staff are actually competent, which is more than can be said for the enthusiastic amateur detectives. Of course, Jeff Cody’s boss is blaming all negative publicity from the various crimes perpetrated during the weekend on his public relations director. As the crime tally mounts from theft to murder and onward, his blood pressure climbs and Cody’s position teeters nearer unemployed than tenured.
The solution is fairly easy to figure out, but character and personal histories keep getting in he way. Every layer of past relations uncovered leads to more motives and more suspects. It also changes the views of the various players as their foibles are uncovered and their histories revealed. In truth, as I am sure Sherlock once remarked, most of it is irrelevant. The process of accurately defining what is and what is not relevant is the real ‘trick’ in solving a crime.
This is a pleasant novel. The characters are familiar and real, the characters experience the events, mostly, as a bewildering set of circumstances with multiple causes and a variety of possible explanations. Most have some understanding of crime solving, but are unable to make any sense out of events or are blinded by personal preconceptions and prejudices. All in all, this is quite typical of the witnesses and associates in such a set of crimes, so confusion is common and various persons pursue their own agendas and views, no matter what goes on around them.
Sherlockians will find many familiar persons in this crowd. The names and descriptions will be different, but they will all be familiar. Both villains and bystanders will seem like old friends or acquaintances and the setting sounds like a good place to convene or to collogue (what does one DO at a colloquium?).”
The book is available through all good bookstores including Amazon UK, Sherlock-Holmes.com , Amazon USA, and in ebook form including Amazon Kindle , Barnes and Noble Nook, and many others. The next one in the series is complete and the third is underway.
The British Library was the venue yesterday for a very special event – a live interview with Anthony Horowitz the author of the first new ‘approved’ Sherlock Holmes novel since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stopped writing Sherlock Holmes books nearly a century ago. The interviewer was Roger Johnson, the editor of the journal of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London and one of the world’s leading experts on everything Holmes.
The audience thoroughly enjoyed the 90 minutes of questions and answers and Anthony answered dozens of very well prepared questions from Roger (with a little help from his wife Jean) and took a lot from the audience. In the audience were a number of young Alex Rider fans who had brought along their favourite books for Anthony to sign. Two of the young gentlemen were in fact the two remaining male descendents of the Conan Doyle family. It was wonderful to see Anthony at the signing with the two explaining that, with such talented blood lines they could do nothing but be very successful at whatever they choose to do. The grins on their faces as they got their Alex Rider books signed was great.
The signing afterwards, as you can imagine was a sellout with a huge queue and Anthony staying to the very end – alongside Roger who was also signing copies of his new book ‘In The Night, In The Dark’ which includes several collections of ghost stories including Tales from The Endeavour which won the Dracula Award when it was originally published – the award first won by Terry Pratchett with Mort.
As all the audience members will I am sure agree, it was one of the most interesting book events I have been to in many years. Roger was an excellent host and handled the joint signing with Anthony very well – even if the sale count was a little in Anthony’s favour.
In The Night In The Dark is available from all good bookstores, and in all good formats including Amazon Kindle and iBooks for the iPad.
There is allegedly a recording of the event coming out and will be well worth a listen – including the question of who Anthony would like to see as Holmes and Watson. One of the final questions came from me. Shortly after Anthony suggested that the Holmes bandwagon might even see someone try to make Holmes a woman I thought I had better interject.
I pointed out that we are about to publish a novel in which Holmes reveals just that secret – My Dear Watson – which caused much amusement to Anthony and the audience. I then asked who he would like to see as a female Holmes. Suggesting that not many could carry it off, he settled on Dame Judi Dench. So, if Dame Dench’s agent gets a call this week about a new movie – you know who to blame.
“he tells a good story”
There is something special about reading the Sherlock Holmes Society of London’s monthly journal when you know there is a review of one of your books in there. The Case of The Russian Chessboard appears in this month’s edition.
The book is proving very popular in the USA in particular and is unusual in length in that it sits between the traditional Holmes short fiction and novel length.
“The Case of the Russian Chessboard by Charlie Roxburgh packs quite a lot into its 110 pages. Not for the first time, Holmes and Watson are caught up in international politics – the ‘chessboard’ is a metaphor for the deadly tussle between Russian revolutionaries and the Tsarist secret police, and the historical background is accurate. (The anarchist community that Holmes visits was only ten miles from my house.)
Mr Roxburgh’s writing is occasionally clumsy, and he hasn’t, I think, quite mastered Watson’s style, but he tells a good story, and his subject – terrorism and the control of people’s minds – remains sadly topical.”
The Case of the Russian Chessboard is now out in paperback on Amazon USA, Amazon UK, and through all good bookstores. The book is also available on Amazon Kindle and all other ebook formats.
A two part video review of Dan Andriacco’s Sherlock Holmes novel – No Police Like Holmes – from Ross K.
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