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No Better Place: Arthur Conan Doyle, Windlesham and Communication with The Other Side (1907-1930)

Following his second marriage in 1907 Arthur Conan Doyle was looking to the future. The years ahead would see the birth of three children, fresh literary success and the discovery of his new faith. Those same years would also see the First World War, the final adventures of Sherlock Holmes and ridicule from the religious and scientific communities for his beliefs.

I think that the strength of Duncan’s book is that instead of looking at Doyle’s entire life, it is focused on a specific period. This allows the author to bring up things less likely to be included in other biographies. For example, it mentions George Newnes’ passing and Arthur Twidle’s illustrations for The Strand. In not attempting to be comprehensive, it instead is a more directed thorough. Many are not delved into, but it gives a fuller look at what occupied Doyle’s time and attention at the time… In reading No Better Place, one is impressed at just how active Arthur Conan Doyle was. He was constantly “doing something” or involved in some activity or other. Dunan’s book really conveys this sense of busyness. I’ve got a quite a few books about Doyle himself and I learned quite a bit from this one, which makes it a good addition to your library.” –  Robert A. Byrne

No Better Place is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine,  Amazon USAAmazon UKWaterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In ebook format it is in KindleKoboNook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

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First Place in the Steampunk category in the 2018 IPA Awards

The alternate history/fictional memoir novel featuring Arthur Conan Doyle, Silent Meridian, won First Place in the Steampunk category in the 2018 IPA Awards.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is obsessed with a legendary red book. Its peculiar stories have come to life, and rumors claim that it has rewritten its own endings. Convinced that possessing this book will help him write his ever-popular Sherlock Holmes stories, he takes on an unlikely partner, John Patrick Scott, known to most as a concert musician and paranormal investigator. Although in his humble opinion, Scott considers himself more of an ethereal archeologist and a time traveler professor. Together they explore lost worlds and excavate realms beyond the knowledge of historians when they go back in time to find it. But everything backfires, and their friendship is tested to the limits. Both discover that karmic ties and unconscionable crimes have followed them like ghosts from the past, wreaking havoc on the present and possibly the future. Silent Meridian reveals the alternate histories of Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Houdini, Jung and other notable luminaries in the secret diaries of a new kind of Doctor Watson, John Patrick Scott, in an X Files for the 19th century. Stay tuned for A Pocketful of Lodestones; book two in the Time Traveler Professor series by Elizabeth Crowens.

Silent Meridian – Time Traveler Professor – Book 1 is available from all good bookstores including The Strand MagazineAmazon USABarnes and Noble,  Amazon UKWaterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in KindleKoboNook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone). Available on Audio.

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Memoirs From Mrs. Hudson’s Kitchen

Mrs. Hudson is possibly the most famous landlady in literature.  Presiding over the comings and goings at 221B Baker Street, she saw many clients, villains and Baker Street irregulars during the tenancy of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This series of columns, thoughts, recipes and memoirs are from a long-running column in the Sherlockian journal, Canadian Holmes. In it the author, Wendy Heyman-Marsaw, puts herself in Mrs. Hudson’s shoes, up and down the 17 steps and recounts not only the time and era but the food, dining and eating habits of Victorian England. This book explores the meals Mrs. Hudson would have prepared and served her two famous lodgers, what food they would have had while on rail journeys or eating at hotels around London or inns around England.  You will also learn about Mrs. Hudson herself, her husband and even her views towards women’s roles and rights in Victorian times. With many illustrations from the Strand Magazine, readers will get a rare peek inside Victorian life.

“Ms. Heyman-Marsaw has done an incredible job of gathering Mrs. Hudson’s comments and recipes, and editors JoAnn and Mark Alberstat have assembled the pieces into a very pleasing whole. I’m very glad to have this volume in my collection, both for Mrs. Hudson’s own thoughts, and also for the chance to try some of the recipes.” – David Marcum

Memoirs from Mrs. Hudson’s Kitchen is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine,  Amazon USABarnes and Noble USAAmazon UKWaterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Kindle KoboNook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone). Available in Audio .

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Review of The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Part IX: 2018 Annual (1879-1895)

David Marcum has put together another exciting volume that is Holmes to the last drop! This is volume 9 in this ongoing series that has brought great stories, poems and radio/stage plays to a willing and waiting fan base! This latest volume has something for every Holmes fan, from the truly dedicated reader to the neophyte!… I sincerely hope this series continues strong for many more books to come! The book is definitely worth five stars plus!

Read the full review here.

Reviewed by Raven’s Reviews

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part IX is available for pre order from all good bookstores including The Strand MagazineAmazon USABarnes and Noble USAAmazon UKWaterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. Also available on Kindle.

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The Druid of Death

Geri Schear's avatarGeri Schear

I don’t like to play favourites, but I have to admit, Rich Ryan is on my very exclusive list of preferred Sherlockian authors. News of a new book by him is cause for dancing in the streets. What do you mean, at my age?

Rich’s debut novel Vatican Cameos was an international bestseller earning several NY Times bestselling endorsements. (Nope, not jealous at all. Purely a coincidence this is in green.)

At the time of writing, the book has over 100 reviews on Amazon USA averaging 4.7 stars. The sequel, The Stone of Destiny, came in 2017.

“Somewhere Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is smiling. Ryan’s The Stone of Destiny is a fine addition to the Canon.” – Reed Farrel Coleman

Now Rich brings us The Druid of Death. Apologies for the drool on the keyboard, but check out this synopsis:

On the morning of the vernal equinox…

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Posted by on April 25, 2018 in Uncategorized

 

Publishers Weekly reviews The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part VII: Eliminate the Impossible

Marcum continues to impress with the quality of his selections, many from little-known authors, in his seventh anthology of traditional pastiches (after The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part VI: 2017 Annual). The 23 entries all contribute to this volume’s goal, as Marcum states in his introduction, of assembling “what seemed to be supernatural tales, but with real-world endings.” Consistent with Conan Doyle’s depiction of his hero as a hard-headed rationalist, these stories pit Holmes against ghosts, vampires, and fairies. Apart from the clever solutions to puzzles involving a seemingly haunted clock (Gayle Lange Puhl’s “The Case of the Cursed Clock”) and spirit photographs (James Moffett’s “The Blank Photograph”), contributors have not hesitated to deepen the depictions of Holmes and Watson. Some entries focus on minor characters and relatively trivial concerns. For example, Mike Hogan is open to the idea that not all of Mrs. Hudson’s cuisine was appealing in “The Tranquility of the Morning.” The standout, Thomas A. Turley’s “A Ghost from Christmas Past,” offers moving insights into Watson’s tragic family life. Sherlockians eager for faithful-to-the-canon plots and characters will be delighted.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Eliminate The Impossible is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine,  Amazon USABarnes and Noble USAAmazon UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository – volume VII is also available in KindleKoboNook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone) formats.

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Review of The Demon of the Dusk

This is a truly great Holmes story! Kudos are given for the remarkable final reveal. I found the book to be fast paced but the characters very well developed. Action adventure, mystery and a hint of a ghost story combine to create a tale well worth the reading!

I give the book five stars…

Reviewed by Raven’s Reviews

The Demon of the Dusk: The rediscovered cases of Sherlock Holmes Book 1 is available from all good bookstores including The Strand MagazineAmazon USAAmazon UKWaterstones UK  and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in KindleKoboNook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

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Out on Audio: Watson – My Life

Out on Audio: Watson – My Life: An Autobiography of Doctor Watson, Comrade and Friend of Sherlock Holmes

In 1936, an elderly Doctor Watson sits at his desk with a dictation machine and, over a two week period, recounts the significant moments in his life. The expected publication of his autobiography never materialized. But in 2017 the wax cylinders containing Watson’s words appeared and have at last been made available to the general public. This, then is the life of Doctor John H Watson.

Now 144 books on the Pinterest Sherlock Holmes Audio Books Board

Watson – My Life is available from all good bookstores including The Strand MagazineAmazon USABarnes and Noble USAAmazon UKWaterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository.

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Review of The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street

Let us suppose that Holmes was not the consulting detective of the canon and bitter enemy to Professor Moriarty. Picture him instead as a “consulting criminal,” head of a vast criminal empire spreading its wings over London, Britain, and creeping into the rest of the world. Moriarty is a rival, trying to push Holmes out as “the Napoleon of Crime.”

That is the premise of this book. Nunn has taken the entire canon, including the cases mentioned in passing by Watson, but unrecorded.  He even brings in one of the stories from Doyle’s Tales of Mystery and Horror, The Lost Special!” Each adventure is woven into the story from the viewpoint that Holmes masterminded them with Watson as a Lieutenant in Holmes’ operation…

It really is a well thought out plot and the inclusion of some many cases doesn’t stop the flow of the story at all! Nunn has been extremely successful in his makeover of the Holmes canon.

Reviewed by Raven’s Reviews

The Criminal Mastermind of Baker Street is available from all good bookstores including  The Strand MagazineAmazon USAAmazon UKWaterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in KindleKoboNook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone). Available on Audio.

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The Vatican Cameos is the winner of the Underground Book Reviews’ Novel of the Year – Readers’ Choice Award.

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THE VATICAN CAMEOS was selected as a Pitch Perfect Pick and voted for the Reader’s Choice award. It is “A Sherlock Holmes adventure that finds the great detective trying to solve a mystery created by Michelangelo, 400 years earlier.” Author Richard T. Ryan is a graduate of medieval studies and a Sherlock Holmes aficionado; the perfect man to resurrect one of literature’s favorite sleuths.

The Vatican Cameos is available from all good bookstores including The Strand MagazineAmazon USAAmazon UK,  Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in KindleKoboNook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone). Also available on Audible.

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