Mxpublishing's Blog

“The Treasure of the Poison King” is written by Paul D. Gilbert and published by MX Publishing.

Mithradates VI, the King of Pontus, in the first century BCE is known to history as “The Poison King” due to his habit of dosing himself with poisons to prevent anyone killing him in that way. He was also fabulously wealthy. After his defeat by the Roman legions led by Lucullus, his treasure was taken back to Rome, but one of the ships sank, never to be seen again…until a small group of Greek sponge divers found a mysterious ship wreck. Now, rumour has it that the treasure is coming to London. But what is no rumour is the death that it leaves in its wake.

Sherlock Holmes is on the case, and he must find the treasure before someone close to him becomes a victim.

Paul D. Gilbert never fails to deliver…

“The Adventure of the Wordy Companion: An A-Z Guide to Sherlockian Phraseology” is written by Nicko Vaughan and published by MX Publishing.

As a person who loves both Sherlock Holmes and the intricacies of the English language, this book hit a number of spots.

Nicko Vaughan has waded through the Holmes canon selecting words and phrases that may not be a part of most people’s vocabularies these days, and set about providing an explanation for them.

Written with admirable conciseness and some considerable wit, the book is a must have for anyone new to the Holmes canon.

It is also a handy little reference guide for writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Knowing what words Arthur Conan Doyle used helps give a feel of authenticity to pastiches. The book now has a permanent place in my reference library.

One thing I discovered as I browsed this excellent wee tome, is that…

The growing gift from the authors of the world’s largest Sherlock Holmes collection will continue to support children with learning disabilities.

Holmes authors have now raised over $100,000 for Undershaw. Undershaw is the former home of Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that today is the site of one of Europe’s leading schools for children with learning disabilities. The donation, which continues to rise, has been gifted from the royalties of the authors of “The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories.”

“We’re incredibly grateful to MX Publishing for their continued support to Undershaw and are blown away by their generosity,” said Claire Cookson, CEO of the DFN Foundation and DFN Project SEARCH. “Thanks to the brilliance and creativity of the collection of Sherlock Holmes authors, our own brilliant students at…

“Sherlock Cat and the Missing Mousie”, written by Heather Edwards, illustrated by Amanda Downs, and published by MX Publishing, is not my usual choice of reading material. When I saw the cover illustration on Kickstarter I was captivated and knew that it was one book that I just had to read and review.

It turned out to be an absolutely sweet little book. Spot the cat has decided that he will be Sherlock Holmes the cat detective with his long suffering friend Fluffy as John Watson.

Join the two cats, their humans , and assorted other creatures in a joyous Sherlockian romp.

The book is well written, and while clearly for children, there is much to enjoy for the adult as well. There are so many lovely little Sherlockian in-jokes.

The illustrations by Amanda Downs are charming. My only complaint is that there wasn’t enough of them.

This is the…