Mxpublishing's Blog

“Anybody who has ever read the Sherlock Holmes mysteries knows that there were two constant companions of the great sleuth, Dr. Watson and his tobacco pipe. This book covers in detail the pipes and tobacco that Holmes enjoyed throughout his fictional lifetime. If you enjoy the stories you will also enjoy the simplicity and straightforward facts that are laid out by the writer. To put it simply, I really enjoyed this book and would suggest this to anyone who is a fan of the series.”  5 stars [Amazon USA]

Sherlock Holmes as a Pipe Smoker is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine,  Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository .

“It is high time someone made real people of the Scotland Yard detectives, rather than mere foils to be outshone by Sherlock Holmes. Marcia Wilson accomplishes the task brilliantly in her novel You Buy Bones. Set at the beginning of the Canon, it creates backstories for Gregson, Bradstreet, and Lestrade that show them to be conscientious, caring men, faithfully performing an often thankless job despite their private troubles. Yet, the book’s lead character is not Lestrade or Holmes (who is around just long enough to set impossible deductive standards) but Dr. John H. Watson. Here is the Watson of A Study in Scarlet: physically shattered by his wounds at Maiwand, emotionally scarred by family woes that mirror those of Bradstreet and Lestrade, robbed of his profession as a soldier, but (for reasons central to the novel’s gruesome plot) unsure of his new calling as a doctor. It is Watson who provides the driving force as he and two of the Yarders pursue a mystery rooted in their pasts to a truly horrifying end. The novel’s payoff is a long time coming, but its thrilling conclusion rivals anything in Conan Doyle. Marcia Wilson offers atmospheric Edinburgh settings and commendable research, thoughtfully footnoting those niggling details I was too lazy to look up. She writes with empathy, a wicked sense of humor, and a style that—if perhaps too breezy to be authentically Victorian—moves the action at a lively pace. By its end, she has given us both a memorable tale and a deeper understanding of the characters we love. One can ask no more of a pastiche. Let’s hope that there are many more to come.” –Thomas A. Turley

You Buy Bones is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine,  Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository .  In ebook format it is in Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

“David Ruffle’s latest takes our heroes to New York, after Holmes accepts a commission to train its police detectives in his methods.   Before long, however, he and Watson journey to Fall River, Massachusetts to reinvestigate the Borden Mur­ders, still officially unsolved five years beyond.   Complicating their task is a series of new slaughters, for it seems the notorious Lizzie has not ground her last ax.  Ruffle’s research is com­mend­able; he quotes extensively from transcripts of the famous trial and enlivens his text with contemporary photographs.  The minor characters are all well drawn (some are also interestingly named!); and Lizzie Borden confirms her reputation as a mystifying “sphinx of cold­ness.”  Without revealing the result of Holmes’ deductions, the novel’s chief delights remain (as always) Ruffle’s meticulous recreation of the late Victorian world and his obvious affection for the great detective and his Boswell.”   – Thomas A. Turley, author of ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Tainted Canister’

Holmes and Watson – An American Adventure is available for pre order from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine,  Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In ebook format it is in Kindle, Kobo,Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

“James Carlopio’s SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE JULY CRISIS (London: MX Publishing, 2015; 148 pp.) is a story created with an interesting approach: he has used words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs taken from the Canon to devise a new pastiche, resulting in a tale told very much in the style of Conan Doyle; some of the plot devices will be familiar, but Carlopio has succeeded in achieving what he calls “creative editing.”  The author has a web-site at <www.jamescarlopio.com>.”

Sherlock Holmes and the July Crisis 2nd Edition is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository .

“This novel re-imagines Dr. Watson’s marriage to the ill-fated Mary Morstan, after their daughter (also Mary) confronts her aging, absent father with her mother’s long-lost diary. Hamish Crawford creates a pair of sympathetic heroines and offers an original perspective on a period that is undoubtedly the apex of the Canon. Yet, it is difficult to know whom he considers “the best and wisest man” referred to in the title. Mrs. Hudson’s comment that Holmes and Watson ought to “have married each other” summarizes Crawford’s thesis. Hitherto one of the most consistently loyal characters in literature, here the doctor vacillates between his marital responsibilities and his passion for adventure. Toward Mary, he is alternately loving and neglectful, with ultimately dire results. Determined to do better with his second family, he eventually deserts Holmes altogether. Such psychological undercurrents were always implicit in Watson’s relationships with Holmes and Mary, and Crawford’s interpretation provides some fascinating insights. The result, however, is that his characters’ conduct is often bafflingly inconsistent. While nicely written overall, the book is marred by modernisms (as when Mary describes her husband as “gung-ho”). Despite its minor flaws, The Best and Wisest Man remains a touching, thought-provoking novel. I recommend it both as a worthy addition to Sherlockian literature and as a meditation on the perils of marriage for a man of action.”

Reviewed by Thomas A. Turley, author of ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Tainted Canister’

The Best and Wisest Man is available from all good bookstores including   Amazon USA,Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In ebook format it is in Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).