5 hours to go: Sherlock Holmes – The Final Problem. The 3rd Petr Kopl graphic novel on Kickstarter.
Released today (18th May) – The first in the ‘Before Watson’ series.
It is Spring, 1874, and twenty-year-old Sherlock Holmes is a lonely, mopey, friendless Oxford student. He attends classes and spends countless solitary hours conducting chemical experiments, reading, and playing his violin. Suddenly, his life changes because of a serendipitous moment on campus. While walking on the grounds of the university and practicing fencing moves with his foil, he encounters Victor Trevor and his sweetheart, Poppy Stamford, younger sister of the man who will one day introduce Sherlock to Dr. John Watson. Having just attended the final rowing contest of Eights Week, Victor and Poppy are also walking with her bull terrier. When the dog decides he doesn’t like the looks of Sherlock, he sinks his teeth into Sherlock’s ankle. This dog bite incident becomes a life-changing event for all of them. Through his new friendship with Victor Trevor and encouraged by Victor’s father to use his genius for detective work, Sherlock discovers his uncanny abilities as he and Poppy are thrust into a dangerous investigation into England’s notorious baby-farming industry. Be an eyewitness to the emergence of how Sherlock became the man and the legend we know today….
When the Song of the Angels is Stilled: A Before Watson Novel is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble 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).
“ For anyone in love with Sherlock Holmes, this story must be savored, not merely read”Clarion 5* review.
“The author writes out of a deep knowledge of the Canon” Dan Andriacco
10 Untold Sherlock Holmes stories
I set myself half an hour to come up with ideas for ten new Sherlock Holmes stories. Who knows if any of them will ever be written? Which ones would you like read? Thanks to Penguin for the image of their rather beautiful editions of the original Conan Doyle novels.
The Adventure of the One Eyed Fish
Holmes and Watson are presented with a damaged glass ornament, which provides an unusual clue to a lost fortune.
The Adventure of the Missing Moon
A distressed astronomer arrives at Baker Street convinced that the recently discovered moon of Neptune, Triton, has disappeared.
The Adventure of the Three Astronomers
A set of triplets, all astronomers, present a star chart pertaining to show an undiscovered galaxy; Holmes discovers it is a map showing the location of lost Welsh treasure.
The Adventure of the Spice Ship
A merchant who has made his fortune transporting the spices…
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Kirkus review of When the Song of the Angels is Stilled – A Before Watson Novel
“Before Sherlock Holmes meets John Watson, the young detective solves crimes with a bright lady friend in this delectable ‘before Watson’ novel.
In Croyle’s (The Caretaker, 2009) new series, Holmes is a loner college student at Oxford in 1874 when he’s bitten by a dog visiting the campus with its owner, Priscilla ‘Poppy’ Stamford…”
Read the full review here.
Pre publication copies are available from The Strand Magazine.
Philip K Jones reviews Sherlock Holmes: The Skull of Kohada Koheiji by Mike Hogan
“This is an anthology of tales involving Holmes with conventional Nineteenth Century supernatural occurrences. The ‘Holmes Agency’ has always stood firmly behind the motto, “Ghosts need not apply,” but any number of questionable events pop up in this collection.
The lead story, a novella called “The Skull of Kohada Koheiji,” presents Holmes and Watson with ghostly happenings at a Japanese exhibition village in Knightsbridge. The appearance of a Japanese specter in the midst of London does not promote amicable relations between the Japanese Empire and that of Great Britain.
In the next novella, “The Ratcliffe Oracle,” an oracle has arisen that makes accurate predictions at no cost to inquirers. The oracle apparently resides in the walls of the house and the owners are allowing in four visitors at a time. Donations are accepted, but are not required and predictions seem to be highly accurate. There also seems to be some connection between the Oracle and some recent crimes but the police are, as usual, baffled.
In “The Impulsive Vampire,” Holmes is asked by an old friend of Watson’s to rid her Majesty’s Battleship, Impulsive, of an infestation of Vampires. This task requires many twists and turns, simply to identify the culprits and the results are unexpected, at best.
The novella, “The de Gascoigne Mummy,” has Holmes being offered twenty pounds for a twenty-minute consultation by he widow of an Egyptologist. As he and Watson have just finished their Christmas shopping, he accepts the offering and learns of the missing mummy. It seems that his bequest to the British Museum of his collection of Egyptian artifacts is missing one mummy. His widow wants Holmes to “clear the matter up.” The results are surprising all around.
The final novella, “The Reckoning of Kit Marlowe,” involves Holmes and Watson with Arthur Conan Doyle. Both Doyle and Inspector Lestrade require Holmes’ help in dealing with the murder of the elder son of Admiral Marlowe. Lestrade has lost the corpse and Doyle wants Holmes to attend the séance at which they will ask the deceased who stabbed him. Events progress and Doyle volunteers to act as literary agent for Watson who wants to write up some of Holmes’ investigations.
All of these tales present supernatural aspects. The solutions may or may not rely on ‘dark powers,’ but all require a great deal of thought and effort. Read it and see whether it is still ‘Ghosts need not apply’.”
Sherlock Holmes and the Skull of Kohada Koheiji is available from all good bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon and Barnes and Noble, in the UK Amazon andWaterstones. Fans outside the US and UK can get free delivery from Book Depository.
Review of The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper
“Diane Gilbert Madsen has given readers another winner in the DD McGill Literati Mystery Series. The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper is a marvelous tale of DD McGill who is an investigator for insurance fraud and her bookseller friend, Tom Joyce, who is asked to assess the value of the literary estate of a wealthy Chicago estate owner. McGill immediately alienates herself from those associated with the estate and Tom experiences a nasty fall down a flight of stairs. Even though the police believe the fall to be an accident, McGill is convinced it was an attempted murder. In a move to gather evidence illegally, McGill is discovered and arrested. Her antics don’t end there as Tom convinces her to become even more involved in the estate owner’s diary, which has now mysteriously disappeared.
McGill’s personality is so lovable that any reader will immediately forgive her illegal activities in the name of justice. And Tom’s persistence in pursuing clues that might lead to the identity of Jack the Ripper is nothing short of pathological but in a charming way! The secret to the mystery just might lie in long-lost notes taken by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Neither McGill nor Tom will rest until things are set straight. The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper is a great mystery read by itself but Madsen’s characterizations make the reader bound and determined to make this a one-sitting reading experience. This one has it all: a stalker, attempted murder, murder and a fire that threatens to undermine the two sleuths’ abilities to solve their own mystery.”
Reviewed by Karen Pirnot for Readers’ Favorite
The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper paperback edition 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 Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nookand Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).
The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper hardback edition is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository.
Released today
The Best and Wisest Man – Being A Reprint of the Reminiscences of Mrs. Mary Watson, née Morstan
1888: Dr. John H. Watson, Army Corps surgeon turned colleague of the celebrated consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, decides not to assist in future cases as he is engaged to Mary Morstan. 1926: Mary Forrester discovers her mother’s diary, covering the years 1889 to 1893 — her marriage to Watson. What occurred in those years? How was the quintessential male friendship of Holmes and Watson seen through a woman’s eyes? How stable was a marriage where Watson was liable to abandon Mary at Holmes’s summons? Who, ultimately, was Mary Morstan — a figure seldom referred to in Arthur Conan Doyle’s sixty Holmes stories? This blend of fact and fiction sheds light on a virtually unexplored dimension of the Great Detective’s exploits. It is a perspective Sherlock Holmes —who elevated “true, cold reason … above all things” – would probably not appreciate. But for all its warmth and irrationality, there is just as much truth in the heart.
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 .
Help needed!
Help needed! Noted Sherlock Holmes author, David Ruffle would like some views, whatever they may be, on the subject of the ‘Lizzie Borden murders’ to be published in a new Holmes adventure where he is asked to look into the case. Please feel free to email me on lymelight53@aol.com. Thank you.
The Conan Doyle Notes is shortlisted for Best Suspense novel in the LOVEY Awards
The Conan Doyle Notes is shortlisted for Best Suspense novel in the LOVEY Awards
BEST SUSPENSE
Black Stiletto: Secrets and Lies / Raymond Benson
Once Upon a Crime / Evelyn Cullet
The Conan Doyle Notes / Diane Gilbert Madsen
Titania’s Suitor / C.L. Shore
The House on the Dunes / Nancy Sweetland
Murder Across the Ocean / Charlene Wexler
Winners will be announced at the Love Is Murder Conference in Chicago on February 7th.
The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper paperback edition 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 Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).
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