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Philip K Jones aka The Ill Dressed Vagabond Reviews Holmes Sweet Holmes

“This book is the second Sebastian McCabe – Jeff Cody mystery, following his earlier No Police Like Holmes.  This book lacks the impressive character set of eccentric Sherlockians encountered in the first, but it does present a dandy mystery and a new set of eccentrics.  This group are a bit more difficult to categorize, but they tend to come from the world of entertainment, if anywhere in particular.

Much of the narrative concentrates on academic in-fighting, with our heroes in medias res.  We are treated to a double murder with theories obscured by facts and suspects just oozing both motives and lies.  Telling the white hats from the black takes more than an eye for color.  Our hero, Jeff Cody, worries his way through the entire process and professor McCabe claims to have every thing almost in hand for most of the book.

Personally, I miss the rich Sherlockian atmosphere of the earlier book, but the author did come up with at least one good line from The Maltese Falcon as well as few other mystery references.  Jeff’s true love, reporter Lynda Teal, turns out to have an educated taste in Bourbon but the chief of police seems to be a “throw ‘em back” fisherman.  The femme fatale of this little opus seems to have an uneducated taste for whatever or whoever is offered.  The battle between Jeff and his boss, Ralph, moves into new territory and the seamy side of the ivory tower gets exposed for all to see.

This is a worthy second volume and it continues the tradition of crimes in an academic setting.  The venue, a small town on the Ohio River, with a small private University and a semi-rural population continues to provide enough contrasts to maintain interest.  Large cities are close enough to hand to add contrast to the mix and the faculty and student bodies offer a wide selection of characters for manipulation.”

Holmes Sweet Holmes is available from all good bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle and Kobo.

 

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Blogcritics Interview with Amy Thomas, Author of The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes

” Sherlock Holmes seems to be on everyone’s mind lately… including Amy Thomas’. She’s recently released a book entitled The Detective and the Woman, a tale of Holmes’ interactions with Irene Adler. Following my review of her novel, I got to chat with Amy, who provided some brilliant insights into Doyle’s stories.

The Sherlock Holmes stories seem to be experiencing a particular boom of popularity lately, with the films and numerous TV series. Why, do you think, is Sherlock Holmes so popular, and why has he endured?

Sherlock Holmes has always had a wide fanbase, even during the years when he wasn’t quite as much of a cultural trend as he is right now. I think the current boom has to do with the excellent job the BBCSherlock series and the Guy Ritchie films have done of introducing the character to a new generation.

I believe one reason the Sherlock Holmes stories are enduringly popular also applies to Shakespeare, in that both contain a great deal of truth about human nature and the human condition, and that truth is timeless. In the case of Holmes, the presence of suspense, clever solutions, and humor makes the stories and characters irresistible for all time.

Relating to the first question, what is it about the Holmes stories that drew you in and attracted you to writing about the detective?

I re-read the Holmes canon in 2010 after having not done so for many years, and I was captivated by the detective’s character—his cerebral, logical nature that somehow coexists with a dreamy, musical side and a bitingly dry wit. I have also been a fan of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell series for a long time, and she was my entrance into the world of pastiche and the realization that an entire genre of Holmes-based derivative fiction exists.

Both of these things, my love for the character and the realization that Holmes pastiche exists as a literary genre, gave me the push I needed to write my own story about Holmes and The Woman. “

Read the full interview here.

The Detective and the Woman is available from all good bookstores worldwide including in the USA AmazonBarnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle and Kobo.

 

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New York City writer lifts the lid on the Mystery of Charles Dicken’s murder in his new novel

John Paulits has been writing fiction for over thirty years but rarely has his writing caused as much controversy as his latest novel – The Mystery of Charles Dickens. History records that on June 9, 1870, Charles Dickens died of a cerebral haemorrhage. History, says Paulits, however, is wrong. June 9, 1870, is the day on which Emile de la Rue murdered Charles Dickens. His publishers have said that they’ve never had so many review copies requests – mainly from Dickens clubs and societies around the world.

The novel suggests that during a stay in Genoa in 1844-45, Charles Dickens, an accomplished mesmerist, used his mesmeric abilities to treat a young Englishwoman, Augusta de la Rue. He was  attempting to cure a years’ long malady of hers that included facial spasms and phantom-filled dreams. During her trances she revealed to Dickens a horrible truth she had long suppressed about her husband. Dickens, at that time, was helpless to act on the devastating admission, but twenty-five years later Emile de la Rue shows up in London, and Dickens finally seeks justice.

The introduction to the story describes the final four days of Dickens’ life.  The author, a Dickens scholar, explains how he came across a tucked-away John Forster (Dickens’ closest friend and first biographer) manuscript of a tale told him by Dickens–a tale of mesmerism and murder–and the old diary of Emile de la Rue, the man who murdered Charles Dickens.  Finally, since mesmerism plays such a crucial role in the story, a brief afterward gives a concise history of mesmerism and how it reached Dickens.

Paulits has won several awards for his fiction in the past. His science fiction novel HOBSON’S PLANET was an Eppie award nominee in 2009.  His children’s novel PHILIP AND THE BOY WHO SAID, “HUH?” won the Mayhaven Publishing Award for Fiction in 2000.  His children’s novel PHILIP AND THE SUPERSTITION KID was voted best children’s book of 2010 in a readers poll conducted by Preditors and Editors.

Paulits formerly taught elementary school in New York City and now writes full time. A born and bred Philadelphian, he lives in New York City and Brigantine, New Jersey. He is married and has one daughter.

The Mystery of Charles Dickens is available from all good bookstores including:

USA –   Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

UK  – Waterstones and  Amazon .

And in electronic formats including the Nook and Kobo.

 
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Posted by on June 20, 2012 in Book Publishing

 

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Resolving Conflicts With Your Father Using NLP 06/15 by The Organic View | Blog Talk Radio

Resolving Conflicts With Your Father Using NLP 06/15 by The Organic View | Blog Talk Radio.

Great interview with author of ‘Psychobabble’ Donna Blinston on resolving conflict with NLP.

 

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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

Kieran's avatarKieran McMullen

As a Watson fan I had to read a book with the fine title of “The Secret Journal of Dr. Watson”. Especially, when Watson and Holmes are to be involved in something as thrilling as the Russian Revolution. This is an adventure story more than a mystery, although it encompasses mystery as well.

It is the latter part of the Great War. The Czar has abdicated, Kerensky has lost his position to Lenin and Russia has pulled out of the war. Russia’s action has released a hundred German Divisions to fight the Allies on the Western Front. The Romanovs are still alive and the English King wants his cousin the Czar and his family saved from the Bolsheviks. But how can this be done and by who? The British government cannot be seen as interfering in the internal politics of the new Russian state. The rescue must be done by…

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Posted by on June 11, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

olivehickmott's avatarOlivehickmott

Being a learning coach, you have a perspective that those you coach can achieve anything they want once they know some essential “how to’s”. This is a bold statement but one that has been proved to work time and time again.

The job of a learning coach is to help adults and children to firstly understand their own experience better, how they do things and why some parts of their experience work better than others. You also focus on the skills, often exceptional skills,  people already have and work from there.  Note this is not to assess people against a set of national standards that show where they are under or over performing, this is to help people and their families better understand specific aspects of their own experience and how their mind works best.

The next steps is for the learning coach to identify skills and strategies that the person…

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Posted by on May 27, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

barefootonbakerstreet's avatarBarefoot on Baker Street

Yesterday’s court hearing to decide the fate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home, did not prove as decisive as everyone had hoped.  The judge has postponed the outcome and will not give a verdict until the end of July.

This must be so frustrating for all the fans and supporters who gave up their day to sit in court.  To me, the decision is clear – this historic building absolutely must be protected from unsympathetic development.  It will be a national disgrace if we, as a country, fail to take action against plans to destroy the home of one of our greatest writers and turn it into a housing development.

I don’t understand why the judge has delayed the decision (unfortunately I couldn’t attend court myself due to my husband being in hospital) and hope that ultimately sense will prevail.

At least no decision is better than the wrong…

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Posted by on May 25, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

olivehickmott's avatarOlivehickmott

I was reading a post recently on Facebook about autistic children who talk for hours at a time and I thought I would bring together the threads from my experience and the parents that contributed to try and shine a little light on why a child does this and what might help them change their experience, when it is causing them or their families distress.

1. When non-autistic people feel stuck with a problem, just explaining it to someone else, helps them get more clarity. Autistic people have explained that talking aloud helps them sort out their thoughts, perhaps this is just a much more intense version, of the above.

2. When people are ungrounded, which many autistic people are, with high levels of stress, people often talk very fast, sometimes without drawing breath.

3. When an autistic person is talking about their “pet” subject, then they are totally engrossed…

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Posted by on May 24, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

olivehickmott's avatarOlivehickmott

We’ve listened to your request to make the Empowering Learning programme available online and here it is!

You can now learn the skills to coach people to improve literacy and numeracy in a series of 4 evening online sessions, from the comfort of your own home.

As you know we at Simply Changing, are totally focused on getting simple ‘transformational’ skills across in an easy to understand way. We have our feet on the ground and our approach is very ‘real’. We love Olive Hickmott and her work because it reflects our own no nonsense let’s get these skills out to everyone’ approach.

Olive and I have got our heads together and listened to your requests and so therefore we are now offering her exceptional Empowering Learning Practitioner programme on-line, and every module is recorded so you can also listen later.

This is the first opportunity for those around the…

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Posted by on May 20, 2012 in Uncategorized