John Booth of Gainesville, Florida has several items available as part of an estate that might be of interest to Sherlockians:
Mr. Booth can be reach by phone at (904) 608-7213 or via email at johnnevilbooth@gmail.com.
Once again, the Strand Magazine is offering a full color Sherlockian calendar for 2024. It is printed on glossy, heavy cover stock and features artwork by Jeffrey McKeever, Danny Smith, Sidney Paget and others, along with trivia concerning the Master and the Literary Agent. It sells for $28.99 and you can check it out at The Strand.
Illustrator Hannes Binder has adapted a graphic novel of Holmes' ″last″ case. Sherlock Holmes-The Final Problem takes the detective to the continent in his quest to stop Moriarty. They meet at Reichenbach Falls in their final showdown. Eminent Sherlockian Peter Blau calls it ″an impressive graphic novel for younger readers.″ You can see a sample of the book at NorthSouth Books.
Starry Forest has published a young readers version of the Master′s adventures. Valerie Tripp has adapted, and Carlo Molinari has illustrated, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. For more information, you can go to Starry Forest Books.
Artist Scott Gustafson has three new paintings of the Master. Go to The Art of Scott Gustafson for a look.
Marco Navas Studios has exclusive collections of Sherlock Holmes miniature figures, in limited and numbered editions 1 to 100. In September of 2022, they added a new set based on A Study in Scarlet. You can go to Marco Navas Studios for more information.
Phil Angelo, longtime member and Altamont (President) of the South Downers has written Raise Your Glass to Sherlock Holmes: 75 Sherlockian Toasts. The book has a toast for every case written, and two toasts for each of the four novels. The book is indexed so you can rapidly find any case and its toast. You can send your name and address and a check for $19.83 ($15 for the book, $3.60 shipping, $1.23 Illinois sales tax) to Phil Angelo, 740 S. Greenwood Ave., Kankakee, Ill., 60901. Or you can send an email order to philangelo@comcast.net.
The Museum of Intrigue has a 90 minute live virtual story for 4+ persons (minimum of 4 to play, ages 16+ advised, 13+ is required). If you have a group and wish to book a mystery game to play, please call (855) 653-7227.
A new periodical has premiered. Sherlock Holmes Magazine is now available. And you can learn more about it by, ironically, visiting online Sherlock Holmes Magazine. Cost of the first issue is £7.00 GBP in the UK, £11.35 GBP for Europe, and £11.60 GBP everywhere else.
Mr. David Borthwick has some collectible English coins that he is willing to part with. One of them is a 2019 Sherlock Holmes coin From The Royal Mint.
He has other coins as well and is looking to sell them, with prices ranging from £1,000 to £10,000. If you are interested, you can contact him at borthwickdavid2@gmail.com.
Arthur Moses is offering, through Amazon, three Sherlock Holmes reprints, one in German (with an English translation), and two in Portuguese. For more information, you can go Houdini and Sherlock Holmes. To order the books, you can go to Amazon.com to see Harry Houdini and Sherlock Holmes Together Again, The Missing Athlete or The Missing Athlete (with a different cover).
Sheldon Goldfarb, of the Stormy Petrels of British Columbia, has a new book about the stories in the canon called Sherlockian Musings. You can find it at Amazon.com.
The Royal Mail is issuing stamps to celebrate ″the world famous detective on the 10th anniversary of the modern-day Holmes mysteries.″ Sherlock is being honored with sheets, sets, first day covers and ″ultimate fan bundles.″ You can see more at The Royal Mail.
And if you wish to have a violin like Holmes--or at least a paper one--you can visit Creative Park and download instructions for making your own.
Doyle′s Rotary Coffin has published No Holds Barred, a ″Scrapbook of Holmesiana.″ It features 32 articles pertaining to The Master, with titles ranging from ″Giant Tentacles Holmes,″ ″The Canonical Detective Pikachu,″ ″Dr. Watson and the Unwelcome Critique,″ and ″It Could Have Been Worse.″ You can see a preview of it at Amazon.com.
Interested in a Sherlock Holmes game? Check out The Original Sherlock Holmes and His Baker Street Irregulars at Baskerville Productions.
Artist Hannah McInally has created images of Sherlock Holmes and Watson that can be displayed on cutting boards, wall clocks and throw pillows. You can see all her artwork at Society6. (Scroll down to about halfway on page one to see the Holmesian items.)
Keep Clear: My Adventures With Asperger′s by Tom Cutler concerns the author′s experiences with recently being identified as on the autism spectrum. The diagnosis enabled him to make sense of many aspects of his life, including obsessions with road-sign designs, magic tricks and Sherlock Holmes. The book also makes convincing arguments that Sherlock Holmes exhibited ″…the Asperger′s aloof and seemingly unempathic detachment.″ If you have a friend or family member who is on the autism spectrum, this book will go a long way toward helping to understand the immense effort it requires to try to fit into a ″neurotypical′ world.
Says Paul Thomas Miller of Watson Does Not Lie: A Chronology of Sherlock Holmes and John H Watson, ″Too many chronologists resorted to claiming either Watson lied, or could not read his own notes. Such ideas are scandalous. I wanted a chronology built upon the idea of Watson′s words as facts. Since I could not find one, I created one.″ The result is a valuable addition to the chronologies of Bell, Christ, Zeisler and the others, though the strict adherence to the notion that Watson is always truthful will certainly prove controversial.
Newest in the Artie Conan Doyle Mysteries is The Scarlet Phantom by Robert J. Harris. Artie, along with his stalwart companion Ham and girl scientist Peril, attempts to solve the case of a series of jewel thefts. Along the way they enter the murky world of bogus mediums and spiritualism. Written for young readers, the books are amusing, entertaining and educational. You can visit Discover Kelpies for more information.
For those of you with Kindles or similar devices, Amazon has numerous Arthur Conan Doyle stories for free. Titles such as The Tragedy of Korosko, The Firm of Girdlestone, The Captain of the Polestar, and Tales of Terror and Mystery are available in digital format at no charge. Many Sherlockian items are included as well. It does not appear that you have to be an Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited member. Go to Amazon.com and Search ″Arthur Conan Doyle free Kindle″.
Jay Hyde relocated to Sarasota several months ago after three decades in the DC area, where he was a member of the Red Circle and the Six Napoleons. Even after gifting hundreds of books to the BSI scholarship fund last year, he brought far too many with him. There are approximately 400 pastiches, studies and other titles regarding Holmes or Doyle that won′t fit on his condo shelves. All are in good condition, most are collectible and some are hard to find titles. He would prefer the books go to fellow Sherlockians and welcome your thoughts. He's not looking for top dollar; just a nominal payment and a good home for them. He doesn’t have a list of titles, but he can assure you of the mini-collection′s value to fans of the canon. He is open to selling them all or piecemeal. You can contact him at jayhyde@verizon.net.
Forbes Gibb advises that his latest Sherlock Holmes catalogue is now available, which contains ″Pastiches, parodies, homages, cameos, and impersonations of the Great Detective.″ You can find this and other of his catalogues at Baskerville Books.
Sherlock Holmes′ ″The Art of Detection″ are ten Monographs on the Detection of Crime by Kelvin I. Jones. The topics include Tattoos, Scene of Crime Investigation, Handwriting, Malingering and Shamming, Tracing of Footsteps, Disguise and Deception, Paper Traces, The Importance of Bloodstains, Wounds Caused by Firearms, and Poisons. Mr. Jones contributes ′Extensive Notes, Observations and Introductions Concerning the Great Detective,′ while Dr. Watson provides a foreword to Tattoos and an introduction to Scene of Crime Investigations. Published by Cunning Crime Books this year, both the Kindle version and the Paperback are available at Amazon.com.
The Sherlock Holmes Escape Book–The Adventure of the London Waterworks by Ormond Sacker will soon be available. If you are anticipating a buttocks numbing journey to your holiday destination, this book will certainly help to while away the hours. It′s the first in a new series of puzzle books inspired by the current trend for ′Escape Rooms,′ in which participants are locked in rooms and must solve a series of puzzles to enable their escape. Here, the book becomes the locked room and the pages become the path. The book is very nicely produced with plenty of helpful illustrations. Its clever design incorporates a ′code wheel′ in the front cover, which is put to use throughout the escape exercise. There are puzzles, mazes, brain-teasers, riddles, references to the original Sherlock Holmes stories and mathematical problems that provide the code to guide you along the correct path–plus some red herrings. In some cases, if you get it wrong the first time, you receive a second chance to redeem yourself. If you really get stuck, there are hints provided to help you get back on track. And fret not, the solutions are given at the back of the book. It is published by Ammonite Press and available at Amazon.com.
Tim Symonds new book A Most Diabolical Plot features the six intriguing cases. The title story involves Colonel Moran plotting a grisly death for Holmes. ″The Ghost of Dorset House″ concerns strange happenings in London's Mayfair District. ″Die Weisse Frau″ has Holmes and Watson pitted against horses, spies and Zeppelins. The British Museum takes center stage in ″The Mystery of the Missing Artefacts.″ The book is rounded out with treachery, treason, a race-course, and the Duke of Wellington′s mansion at Hyde Park in the stories ″The Pegasus Affair″ and ″The Captain in The Duke of Wellington′s Regiment.″ A Most Diabolical Plot is published by MX Publishing and is available at Amazon.com. Signed copies by the author are available at Tim Symonds.
H.B. Lyle's Book new book The Red Ribbon features the irrepressible irregular Wiggins. In 1910 London, the now ex-soldier trained as a child by Mr. Holmes himself, has his knowledge and skills put to the test as he confronts German and Russian spies. The Red Ribbon is available at bookstores and at Amazon.com.
Comic book writers and media hosts Jason Inman and Ashley Victoria Robinson are announcing the launch of PIN BOMB a collectible nerd bathing luxury. Pin Bomb pairs vegan, all-natural handmade bath bombs with the collector mentality. Each Pin Bomb will be topped with an exclusive enamel pin. The first year will see the release of new bath bombs bi-monthly celebrating all things Sherlock Holmes. The very first Pin Bomb features the World’s Only Consulting Detective, himself, and the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. The accompanying bath bomb is blue, like the Carbuncle, and features an exclusive enamel pin designed by Jason Inman. To get your Blue Carbuncle Bath Bomb visit the official Pin Bomb site.
Wanda and Jeffery Dow have collected many of the Holmesian sketches presented at Pleasant Places of Florida annual gatherings and have placed them in Rodger Baskervilles′s Lonely Hound from Hell. It is available from Amazon.com. Relive ″The Sussex Vampire,″ ″The Blanched Soldier″ and the rap version of ″The Speckled Band.″ For more, go to Amazon.com.
Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection as read by Stephen Fry was one of Audible′s best selling titles in 2017, spending four months at the top of Audible′s chart. If you find yourself interested, it is available from audible.com in the mid-$80s.
Well-known Sherlockian Leslie S. Klinger has produced Baker Street Reveries: Sherlockian Writings 2006-2016 . A sequel to his 2008 Baker Street Rambles, it reprints his more recent essays. The books are published by Gasogene Books and can be found at Wessex Press. (Thanks to Peter Blau for these latter two items.)
Now available is Edward S. Smith, Jr.′s The Floor Plans of Baker Street. Having researched all the stories, Mr. Smith was able to reconstruct the lodgings at 221B, including the basement and the three upper floors. This is the second edition and the author has additional information in this new version. It is available at Amazon.com.
Peter Melonas is an illustrator who has numerous Holmesian tributes, as well as art work of other superheroes. He has them available on ebay.
Jim Hawkins, of the Nashville Scholars of the Three-Pipe Problem, has created a website dedicated to John Bennet Shaw. You can find it at johnbennettshaw.com.
Alexandra-pollard writes about Arthur Conan Doyle and his love-hate relationship with the Master in relation to a new documentary entitled Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle. You can read the article, and catch a trailer of the BBC show at Why Sherlock Holmes ruined Arthur Conan Doyle's credibility. The article writer, though, does refer incorrectly to ″[t]he 54 short stories and six novels about him.″
William Crick reports that his recently launched Sherlock Holmes discussion forum is in its infancy, but membership is growing. He is still seeking new members and gives assurance that participation is free. Currently you will find posts ranging from the drawbacks of ″The Red Circle″ to the power of Sidney Paget's illustrations. The new proposed topic is The Strengths and Flaws of the Novels in Comparison to the Short Stories. If you'd like to weigh in with your opinions, go to the Sherlock Forum.
Mike McClure is building up an archive of the final resting places of notable Sherlockians around the world. He′s asking for contributors to provide photos of gravesites with a brief biography of the individual. Mike presides over Stimson & Co., a society for Sherlockian funeral directors. You can visit his site at Baskerville Productions.
Iron Mountain′s Living Legacy Initiative, whose purpose is to preserve and make accessible cultural and historical info and artifacts, has joined with British Film Institute in a two-year project to restore all of the 1920s silent Stoll Sherlock Holmes film series starring Eille Norwood. For more information, you can go to The Arts Shelf.
The Beacon Society has announced that they are providing ″grants to U.S. and Canadian teachers, librarians, children’s museums, children’s theaters, other entities working with students, and Sherlockian literary societies are available. The grants, in honor of a wonderful Sherlockian, Jan Stauber, will provide up to $800.00 to fund the development of a project that will introduce young people to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about his famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.″ This grant has been given out since 2004. If you would like more information, please go to the Beacon Society′s Jan Stauber Grant.
And speaking of Steve Mason, he has announced that the Beacon Society has started a Sherlock Holmes gazette for younger Sherlockians. It will be distributed on a quarterly basis. Sherlock′s Spotlight will be sent to all Beacon Society and other scion society members. It is their hope that you will Share the magazine with children, grandchildren, students, teachers and others who might enjoy the gazette. Additionally, they are looking for stories, articles, artwork and the like which is age-appropriate. For more information please go to Sherlock′s Spotlight.
In the podcast Imaginary Worlds, the contention is made that the very first fan fiction was written about Sherlock Holmes. You can use the podcast player on your phone to navigate to the Imaginary Worlds location and then choose Episode 80 (with the date 11/1/2018). Or you can go to Imaginary Worlds and listen to it on your computer. It′s a quick mention, at around the 4 minute-15 second mark. And while you are there, you can also listen to episode 119 (with the date 5/1/2019) entitled ″Sidekicks: Watson.″
You can obtain a free PDF version of the Chapter and Verse edition of the Canon by going to Chapter and Verse Holmes. This version, compiled by Paul Thomas Miller, is modelled on the system utilized in the Christian Bible, making use of the Story Code Chapter Number: Verse Number, as in HOUN 2: 10 referring to The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 1, verse (or line) 10, which is ″The exact date is 1742.″ The document, again, is free, but please pay attention to the copyright protection notice on the downloads.
According to the South China Morning Post, Shanghai's epidemiologists are using the Master′s methods for contact tracing. You can read the entire article at South China Morning Post.
The Enola Holmes lawsuit filed by the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. over the Netflix film has been resolved ″on mutually satisfactory terms.″ You can read the entire write-up at copyrightlately.
And in yet more entertainment news, ″Sherlock′s Daughter, a new mystery series, has been announced by Starlings Television. It follows a young American woman who, after the murder of her mother, travels to London to track down her biological father--the legendary Sherlock Holmes who is not the mythical figure Amelia has come to expect. The production company is keen to point out that this series was put in development before Netflix′s movie Enola Holmes.″ (Parenthetically, we should add, Enola is Sherlock′s sister.)
And finally, Orlando Pearson′s new play, The Baron of Wimbledon, will be available to view in a Zoom performance on February 20, 2021 at 8:00pm GMT. ″It is 1937,″ according to the description, ″and German tennis-star, Gottfried von Cramm, petitions Holmes on a matter of the utmost delicacy.″ To register to view the production, you can go to Zoom. All attendees will receive a free mystery Sherlock audio book.
We have been advised of the return of a Holmesian website, so we direct your attention to sherlockian-sherlock.com
The Beacon Society announces that it has established an annual re-certification exam for those who have partaken of the Fortescue Scholarship Program. If you are interested in taking the exam, you can visit The Fortescue Scholarship.
The London Transport Museum had a special "Celebration of Sherlock Holmes" in May. You can view their collection of Holmesian items as they relate to transportation by visiting The Collection.
Bert Coules′ Watson: The Final Problem is still not ready for its live presentation, but you can go to YouTube to see the trailer. You can also listen to the entire audio of the play by visiting Smokescreen Productions.
There's a new video podcast from the Baker Street Irregulars called The Fortnightly Dispatch. You can view them on Facebook or at YouTube.
You can get a good look at the sets of the Sherlock series designed by Arwel W. Jones at his website, or read some behind-the-scenes info in an article at Den of Geek.
You can see a statue of the Master erected in Chester, Illinois by visiting Baskerville Productions . Dedicated in December of 2019, it is the first permanent granite statue of Holmes in the Americas. And it′s about time.
For those of you on Facebook, you can go to Curiosity Stream to see ″the story of how the greatest detective who never lived changed the world.″
Sherlock Holmes 3 had originally been schedued to be released December of 2020. It is now going to begin pre-production in December 2021. Currently, the director is expected to be Dexter Fletcher (Rocketman, Bohemian Rhapsody), and writer Chris Brancato (Narcos, Godfather of Harlem) is handling the screenplay. It will star Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams and Jude Law. The plot is unknown at this time, but we're presuming it won't be a musical.
Nicko Vaughan has announced a new venture for MX Books: ″I wanted to create a place where young and young-at-heart writers could play with Holmes and write narratives which reflected their lifestyles or life choices. So with the help of the lovely Steve Emecz, MX Publishing grew a new arm: Orange Pip Books. Orange Pip was created with the hope of building a collection of well written, quirky, inclusive and alternative books featuring a wide net of characters in interesting and new adventures. It′s also important to reinforce the idea that these alternative narratives are not trying to take away from your love of the traditional Holmes. If you have a novel, collection of short stories, nonfiction or graphic novel you think may suit our readership, then you can contact us at submissions@orangepipbooks.com.″
In the 2008 book Physics of the Impossible, theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku, discussing Teleportation and Science Fiction, writes
Dr. Kaku then goes on to describe the 1927 novel The Disintegration Machine.
In the Afterword to the 50th Anniversary Edition of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes about a play he wrote based in his classic book, stating, ″Montag leaves, with more curiosity than ever about books, well on his way to becoming an outcast, soon to be pursued and almost destroyed by the Mechanical Hound, my robot clone of A. Conan Doyle's great Baskerville beast.″
This graphic appeared in the webmaster's Edge Browser newsfeed:
In the November 20, 2023 issue of Time Magazine, in a review of A Murder at the End of the World entitled ″Only murders at the billionaire's retreat,″ Judy Berman writes, ″So-called ′Gen Z Sherlock Holmes′ Darby Hart (Emma Corrin, The Crown's young Diana) has published a true-crime memoir chronicling how she and her then boyfriend Bill (Harris Dickinson), as teenagers, hunted a serial killer.″
In the episode ″Nerd Out! The Happiness of Being a Fan″ in the podcast series The Happiness Lab, host Dr. Laurie Santos explores just what the episode is titled. One of the people she talks with is Tabitha Carvan who explains her obsession not only with Benedict Cumberbatch but with his incarnation as Sherlock. Here is a link to that particular show: Nerd Out!
In episode 2 of season 2 (entitled ″Cardinal,″ originally broadcast March 5, 2014) of FX's The Americans, KGB officer Philip Jennings (played by Matthew Rhys) illegally enters a house during an investigation of an asset. As Philip goes through one of the rooms of the house, very clearly in the foreground can be seen a two-volume set of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is having a moment. In the October 23, 2023 issue of Time Magazine, it is listed as one of the 100 Best Mystery & Thriller Books of all Time. And in the October issue of Harper's, in an article entitled ″The Golden Fleece″ by Joe Kloc, he writes after learning about a used book store in Paramus, New Jersey,
Mr. Kloc then goes on to recount his many meetings with a retired postal worker named Gary Lovisi and his wife Lucille, Gary having written and edited over a hundred self-published books about the pulp book industry. They show him their collection of books, including the first issue of Golden Fleece Historical Adventure, the copy, according to Gary, having survived both a fire and a flood. The magazine later disappears, sending Mr. Kloc on a quest to find it. During his search, he has numerous conversations with Mr. Lovisi, who at one point tells Mr. Kloc of a self-published book by Stephen Chahn Lee entitled Sherlock Holmes and the Silent Contest. Mr. Lee, according to Gary, has a theory that Dr. Watson lied copiously throughout the stories and novels. This leads Mr. Kloc to The Mysterious Bookshop and eventually to a discussion of ″an international Sherlock extremist group known as the Baker Street Irregulars.″ He then writes about ″the Great Game″ that the ″Irregulars are always playing,″ remarking on the differences in details that often crop up amongst the stories:
In episode 6 of season 3 of Ted Lasso, entitled ″Sunflowers,″ during a conversation between former newspaper writer Trent Crimm and soccer player Colin Hughes, Trent responds to a question from Colin by referring to his Holmesian deductive powers. Then, in episode 11, when Ted's mother unexpectedly visits him in London, she mentions the Sherlock Holmes Museum.
In the August 2023 issue of the magazine The Sun, their Sunbeams page lists a quote from ″The Man with the Twisted Lip″: ″You have a grand gift of silence, Watson....It makes you quite invaluable as a companion.″
This opening graphic appeared in the September issue of Discover Magazine:
The article concerns Michael Cramer Bornemann, who is the lead investigator for a St. Paul, Minnesota-based company called Sleep Forensics Associates. SFA provides scientific information regarding criminal cases that involve parasomnia, which is abnormal, unwanted and unintentional behaviors that happen during sleep.
This image appeared in the webmaster's task bar search window on May 22, the literary agent's birthday:
In Episode 20 of Season 7 of The X-Files (entitled ″Fight Club″ and originally airing on May 7, 2000), Special Agent Dana Scully says to Special Agent Fox Mulder, ″Playing Watson to your Sherlock.″ Later, Agent Mulder speaks into his cell phone saying, ″No [static], Sherlock.″
In Episode 3 of Season 11 of The X-Files (entitled ″Plus One″ and originally airing on January 17, 2018), Scully invokes Holmes' assessment that once you eliminate the impossible what remains must be true, no matter how improbable, to which Mulder says ″No sugar, Sherlock.″
These two collections appear at Daedalus Books:
For these and other bargains, go to daedalusbooks.com. Be warned: they do sell out of some things quickly.
In the 2016 Japanese television documentary Never-Ending Man: Hiyao Miyazaki, the artist and co-founder of Studio Ghibli is having a massage and complains about his shoulder. Speaking about what is wrong with it, he says
PPoFer Wanda Dow recently visited Chicago and found Graceland Cemetery. There, she located Vincent Starrett's grave. Here are some photos she took:
Ms. Dow was assisted in this endeavor by Brenda Rossini's Graceland Cemetery in Chicago: A Sherlockian Walk Through the Tombstones. Of particular interest to the club is the following:
If readers were interested in Ms. Rossini's work, they can find it at Amazon.com.
In the April 2022 issue of National Geographic, in an article entitled ″Up the Mountain, to a World Apart,″ Mark Synnott describes exploring tepuis, which are sandstone and quartzite formations in Guyana that look like table mountains. Mr. Synnott writes, ″I first learned of these otherworldly rock formations as a boy when I read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 classic, The Lost World. In this science-fiction tale, a scientist discovers dinosaurs and protohumans living on an isolated plateau hidden deep in the Amazon jungle.″
In Picard Season 3, there are numerous references to Sherlock Holmes. In Episode 6, Worf, Raffi and Riker are confronted by Professor Moriarty when they break into Daystrom Station. In Episode 8, Data recalls the deerstalker and pipe that he used when he took on Holmes' persona on the holodeck in the original Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2, Episode 3, and entitled ″Elementary, Dear Data″). Indeed, Star Trek fans will recall that the original series had many references to the Holmesian world, including an entire episode devoted to Moriarty and his efforts to take over the Enterprise in order to free a companion stuck on the holodeck (Season 6, Episode 12, ″Ship in a Bottle″).
On the April 11, 2023 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, during their ″Rescue Dog Rescue″ segment, one of the puppies Mr. Colbert and guest Jennifer Garner introduce is Sherlock Bones, the greatest dog detective. The two humans note what cases that Mr. Bones has solved, including ″The Case of the Missing Cheese that Fell on the Ground.″ You can view the episode at The Late Show; the ″Rescue Dog Rescue″ segment starts at the 15 minute mark. We must issue a warning that if you watch the episode from the beginning, the cold opening does include adult subject matter.
In John Dos Passos's 1930 novel The 42nd Parallel, the chapter entitled ″The Camera Eye (17)″ starts out with
In Episode Six of Season One of Amazon Prime's series Night Sky, Franklin (played by J.K. Simmons) says to Irene (Sissy Spacek) and Jude (Chai Hansen) when they tell him that they have some leads on Jude's father, ″Oh. A regular Holmes and Watson, you two.″
In a recent Tide detergent commercial, a little girl is seen wearing a deerstalker cap and using a magnifying lens. You can view the 30-second advertisement on YouTube.
In honor of its 100th year, the British Broadcasting Corporation has compiled a list of ″100 key objects that tell the inside story of the BBC.″ One such item is the coat that Benedict Cumberbatch wore in the series Sherlock that ran from, approximately, 2010 to 2017. The apparel is a Belstaff Milford coat made out of heavy wool tweed, and you can read more about it at Sherlock's coat.
Here is a screen shot of a recent letter in the webmaster's email:
Here is another screen shot of a recent letter in the webmaster's email:
In season one, episode 12 of The X-Files, entitled ″Fire″ (which originally aired December 17, 1993), FBI agent Fox Mulder makes reference to a ″three-pipe problem″ with regard to a particular case. Later in the show, he and a Scotland Yard detective visiting the US (with whom Agent Mulder had an affair years earlier when he lived in England) mention amorous activities near the headstone of Arthur Conan Doyle.
In the December 2021 issue in Smithsonian Magazine, the article ″Pictures that Deceive″ discusses the long history of photographic fakery. Toward the end of the discourse, author Clive Thompson writes,
The Sherlock Holmes Museum has a video of its interior. Go to Facebook to view it. (In a test of this link, logging on to Facebook was not required.)
In the July 12 and 19, 2021 issue of The New Yorker, in an article entitled ″Haunted House″ by Emma Cline, she talks about working at such a facility when she was 13, even though--or because of--she was deathly afraid of the dark. ″Between groups,″ she writes ″I read Sherlock Holmes, speeding through these civilized stories of murder, populated with poison darts and exotic fish. The books were frightening, but in a new way, cool and arch, evil reduced to a solvable puzzle. Staying safe, the stories seemed to say, was just a matter of attention. Of being able to glance at a room and memorize all the details. Like you could become someone who noticed everything and, in that way, prevent bad things from happening.″ Elswhere in the same issue, in an article entitled ″Cat Tales″, Kathryn Schulz writes about Peter Matthiessen′s 1978 book The Snow Leopard and Sylvain Tesson′s more recent The Art of Patience. Of the latter author, Schulz describes him as ″Like Matthiessen, he is kind of a Watson figure, sidekick throughout his adventure to a savvier character: in [Tesson′s] case, Vincent Munier, a French wildlife photographer; for Matthiessen, George Schaller, one of the world′s preeminent field biologists.″
When the Webmaster was looking for something else and searched the term ″Sherlocked:″
Apparently, we have a pizza arcade here in Albuquerque called Holmes. Their website is here, and they apparently sell T-shirts:
A Sherlockian History of England is a 28 pager by Chris Redmond using canonical references which progresses from prehistoric into Victorian times. You can get it free in PDF form by emailing Mr. Redmond at redmond2@execulink.com.
While the big Mars news this year has been the lofting of Perseverance′s helicopter, working behind the scenes is the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals, or--yeah, you guessed it--SHERLOC. Ably assisted by WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), a color camera, SHERLOC uses cameras, spectrometers and a laser to look for minerals and organics. To read more, you can go to NASA Perseverance Rover.
The Japanese anime series Kakukicho Sherlock started airing on Japanese television in October of this year. It concerns the ″comedic, mysterious, and dramatic adventures of a ragtag band of detectives as they live together in a tenement above Mrs. Hudson′s bar in the red-light district and attempt to solve an unusual string of killings.″ You can watch the first episode with English subtitles at DailyMotion.com
In an article in Smithsonian entitled ″The Case of the Autographed Corpse,″ which details how Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner helped free Silas John Edwards, an Apache Shaman convicted of killing his wife, the text states:
In a recent article, ″The Far Side″ cartoonist Gary Larson reports that he has discovered the digital tablet. The artist commented, ″So here goes. I′ve got my coffee, I′ve got this cool gizmo, and I′ve got no deadlines. And—to borrow from Sherlock Holmes—the game is afoot.″
View Paul Thomas Miller′s rendition of Meiringen by Abba Sparva (featuring Brenda the Headless Mannequin as Sherlock Holmes). It is a unique Sherlockian reinterpretation of Abba’s Waterloo, filmed in the Sherloft. You can see it at YouTube.
Philip Jones has been providing us with book reviews for quite some time, so we thought we would give him some webspace. Take it, Phil....
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part I
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part II
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part III
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part IV
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part I: 1881-1889
Type of material: Hardcover book
Publisher: MX Publications, London
Year: 2015
Editor: David Marcum
This book is the first of a series of three Sherlockian anthology volumes from MX Publications and it includes stories set in the period 1881 through 1889. All of the authors have donated their royalties for this publication to the support of Undershaw.
The first volume includes twenty-three short stories and one poem.
The poem is ″Sherlock Holmes of London,″ by Michael Kurland, a set of four quatrains that effectively evoke the place where ″...it is always 1895.″ Most of the rest of the tales are short stories. ″The Adventure of the Slipshod Charlady,″ by John Hall, is the first effort I know of to tell the Untold Tale of ″... a slipshod elderly woman″ cited in STUD. ″The Case of the Lichfield Murder,″ by Hugh Ashton, tells of the grisly case of ″…Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang,″ cited in MISS. ″The Kingdom of the Blind,″ by Adrian Middleton, shows the true reason for the Vatican′s Index Librorem Prohibitorem, the evils that these books stir up in the credulous. ″The Adventure of the Pawnbroker’s Daughter,″ by David Marcum, gives us a glimpse of true evil, wrapped in an enticing package. ″The Adventure of the Defenestrated Princess,″ by Jayantika Ganguly, shows us Holmes and Watson coping with the tribulations of a love-sick 16-year-old Princess, grimly determined to fulfil her duty to marry while pursued by five aged suitors grimly determined to secure her considerable dowry and her father′s political influence.
″The Adventure of the Inn on the Marsh,″ by Dennis O. Smith takes me back to his ″Chronicles″ collections in what is, perhaps, his best tale yet. ″The Adventure of the Travelling Orchestra,″ by Amy Thomas, deserved to be, at least, a novella. Her intense characters and their complications need more space to unfold than was available in this shortened format. ″The Haunting of Sherlock Holmes,″ by Kevin David Barratt, vividly shows an important but neglected side of the Holmes/Watson relationship. ″The Allegro Mystery,″ by Luke Benjamen Kuhns, tells the tale of Holmes′ effort to furnish Watson with a wife in the midst of a mystery. ″The Deadly Soldier,″ by Summer Perkins, gives us a perfect picture of the meeting of The Professor and Colonel Sebastian Moran. ″The Case of the Vanishing Stars,″ by Deanna Baran, introduces Holmes and Watson into the world of the Music Halls, where a widowed performer/owner is coping with a variety of problems.
″The Song of the Mudlark,″ by Shane Simmons, is told by Wiggins, as he introduces us to the newest Irregular who is taking a giant step up from the occupation of mudlark. ″The Tale of the Forty Thieves,″ by C. H. Dye, tells the Untold Tale of the Paradol Chamber as cited in FIVE and does so most imaginatively. ″The Strange Missive of Germaine Wilkes,″ by Mark Mower, recounts Watson′s first introduction to the problem of Professor Moriarty. In ″The Case of the Vanished Killer,″ by Derrick Belanger, we are introduced to ″Buffalo Bill″ Cody when Inspector Lestrade suspects some of Cody′s Indians may have committed a double murder. ″The Adventure of the Aspen Papers,″ by Daniel D. Victor, brings Henry James to ask Sherlock′s help with a problem that ultimately inspires him to write a novel. ″The Ululation of Wolves,″ by Steve Mountain, poses an insidious locked-room mystery for Holmes, with a pack of wolves thrown in to cloud the matter further.
″The Case of the Vanishing Inn,″ by Stephen Wade, tells of a terrifying encounter with the Professor by Watson and Inspector Lestrade. ″The King of Diamonds,″ by John Sherwood, involves Holmes and Watson in a poisoning case that the police have blamed on the obvious suspects on circumstantial evidence. ″The Adventure of the Urquhart Manse,″ by Will Thomas, presents an ″obvious″ mystery then quickly wanders off into a strange byway.
Casual readers of the Sherlockian tales are generally not aware that there is a problem involving ″The Adventure of the Second Stain (SECO).″ This tale is mentioned in two earlier tales, ″The Yellow Face″ (YELL) and ″The Naval Treaty″ (NAVA), but those citations do not describe the tale of that name published in December, 1904. In ″The Adventure of the Seventh Stain,″ the only novella in this volume, Daniel McGachey explains in great detail both that problem and the investigation of ″The First Adventure of the Second Stain (SEC1).″ ″The Two Umbrellas,″ by Martin Rosenstock, tells of an enigmatic encounter between Mycroft Holmes and Professor Moriarty over a matter of espionage. ″The Adventure of the Fateful Malady,″ by Craig Janacek, involves Holmes and Watson with a recurrence of the Black Death and tells the Untold tale of his ″professional service...for Sir James Saunders (SIRJ)″ as cited in BLAN.
This first volume, on its own, is the finest anthology of Sherlockian fiction I have ever read. All of the stories were interesting and readable and several were outstanding. The last Sherlockian fiction I felt to be outstanding was Neil Gaiman’s ″A Study in Emerald,″ and it won an Edgar. I look forward eagerly to reading Volumes 2 and 3.
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part II: 1890-1895
Type of material: Hardcover book
Publisher: MX Publications, London/p>
Year: 2015
Editor: David Marcum
This book is the second of a series of three Sherlockian anthology volumes from MX Publications and it includes stories set in the period 1890 through 1895. All of the authors have donated their royalties for this publication to the support of Undershaw.
The second volume includes nineteen short stories and one poem.
The poem is ″The Bachelor of Baker Street Muses on Irene Adler,″ by Carole Nelson Douglas. It is an interesting collection of verses that examines Sherlock′s attitude towards ″The Woman.″ ″The Affair of Miss Finney,″ by Ann Margaret Lewis examines an oft neglected crime, rape, and displays the varying attitudes toward this crime in Victorian times. ″The Adventure of the Bookshop Owner,″ by Vincent W. Wright presents a complex murder rooted in an obscure past. ″The Singular Case of the Unrepentant Husband,″ by William Patrick Maynard explains the identity of Mrs. Turner, who appeared in ″A Scandal in Bohemia″ (SCAN) and was never seen again. It also presents an apparently supernatural occurrence as well as an apparently similar comeuppance. ″The Verse of Death,″ by Matthew Booth presents a locked room murder with a surprising history.
″Lord Garnett’s Skulls,″ by J. R. Campbell combines mistaken gossip, old Victorian practices and inabilities to ″listen″ into a complex investigation for Holmes. ″Larceny in the Sky with Diamonds,″ by Robert V. Stapleton tells us of the Professor′s last caper before he heads off to the Reichenbach to meet Holmes. Sam Wiebe′s ″The Glennon Falls″ tells of a shaping incident in Professor Moriarty’s past that helped lead him to the Reichenbach. In ″The Adventure of the Sleeping Cardinal,″ by Jeremy Branton Holstein, Watson and Insp. Lestrade investigate a robbery for Mycroft during ″The Great Hiatus.″ ″The Case of the Anarchist′s Bomb,″ by Bill Crider, precedes ″The Adventure of the Empty House″ by a month or so as Mycroft asks Watson to investigate a bombing that killed an anarchist.
″The Riddle of the Rideau Rifles,″ by Peter Calamai, originally appeared in an anthology devoted to adventure tales centered on the Rideau Canal Waterway. This updated edition tells of an attempt by Canadian unionists to stir up trouble with the USA. Lyndsay Faye′s ″The Adventure of the Willow Basket″ tells of Lestrade′s feelings about ″The Great Hiatus″ and introduces a truly remarkable murder weapon. ″The Onion Vendor’s Secret,″ by Marcia Wilson, introduces the reader to a remarkable brotherhood that grew up in England in the 19th Century and ties up some loose ends from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Jack Grochot′s ″The Case of the Murderous Numismatist″ introduces the reader to one of Holmes′ informers and to a remarkable policewoman as well as to a murderous coiner. Bert Coules gives us ″The Saviour of Cripplegate Square″ which was written as the fifth hour-long episode of the BBC radio series, ″The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.″ These episodes were written to tell Untold Tales and this is the tale of ″...the most winning woman I ever knew....″ as cited in The Sign of Four. It is chilling, on several levels.
″A Study in Abstruse Detail,″ by Wendy C. Fries clarifies several Untold Tales cited in the Canon. These include ″The famous Smith-Mortimer succession case″ cited in ″The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez,″ ″Venomous lizard, or Gila...″ cited in ″The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire″ and ″...the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant...,″ cited in ″The Musgrave Ritual.″ ″The Adventure of St. Nicholas the Elephant,″ by Christopher Redmond tells of how Holmes solved a most puzzling murder on the grounds of an historic church using observation and deduction. In ″The Lady on the Bridge,″ Mike Hogan tells of Holmes fostering ″true love″ by deterring a persistent, elderly suitor and aiding an eligible bachelor to marry a winsome French mademoiselle, or so it seems. In ″The Adventure of the Poison Tea Epidemic,″ professional chemist Carl Heifetz describes Holmes′ ″...researches in Early English charters...″ cited in ″The Adventure of the Three Students″ along with his findings. ″The Man on Westminster Bridge,″ by Dick Gillman, has Holmes and Watson investigate a unique method of cheating in a Gentleman’s club at the request of Mycroft.
This second volume continues the excellent tradition set by the first book in the series. There are fewer stories and not quite so many outstanding ones, but the good tales are very good and their number includes most of the tales in the book. All are worth reading, a few are outstanding and most are very good indeed
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part III: 1896-1929
Type of material: Hardcover book
Publisher: MX Publications, London/p>
Year: 2015
Editor: David Marcum
This book is the third of a series of four Sherlockian anthology volumes from MX Publications and it includes stories set in the period 1896 through 1929. All of the authors have donated their royalties for this publication to the support of Undershaw. It includes twenty-one short stories and novellas as well as a pair of poems.
The poems are a pair of elegant sonnets by Bonnie MacBird; ″Out of the Fog″ and ″The Art of Detection.″ The sonnet form is difficult and the two of these fit both the tongue and the mind. In ″Harbinger of Death,″ a short story by Geri Schear, Holmes is asked to help a young lady whose elderly aunt believes she is cursed to die on Friday the thirteenth. ″The Adventure of the Regular Passenger,″ a novella by Paul D. Gilbert, tells the tale of ″...the peculiar persecution to which John Vincent Harden, the well-known tobacco millionaire, had been subjected” as cited in ″The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.″ ″The Perfect Spy,″ a novella by Stuart Douglas, tells of murder and Boer spies in a world where unsuitable suitors and heiresses may not mix. ″A Mistress – Missing″ is a short story by Lyn McConchie that tells of an odd client who asks Holmes to find a missing lady and then pays him in kind.
″Two Plus Two″ is a short story by Phil Growick that has Holmes exploring homonyms and their odd occurrences. ″The Adventure of the Coptic Patriarch″ is a novella by Seamus Duffy that tells an Untold Tale cited in ″The Adventure of the Retired Colourman.″ In ″The Royal Arsenal Affair,″ a short story by Leslie F. E. Coombs, Holmes is asked by brother Mycroft to investigate the theft of an unspecified apparatus from Woolwich Royal Arsenal. ″The Adventure of the Sunken Parsley,″ a short story by Mark Alberstat, tells an Untold Tale cited in ″The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.″ The author assures me that this is entirely different than an earlier story on the same subject, published in ″The Hounds Collection [#01].″ In the haunting ″The Strange Case of the Violin Savant,″ a short story by G. C. Rosenquist, Holmes meets a child prodigy violinist with communication problems.
In the short story, ″The Hopkins Brothers Affair,″ by Iain McLaughlin and Clair Bartlett, Holmes is asked to find a missing ship by its captain′s brother. In ″The Disembodied Assassin,″ a short story by Andrew Lane, Holmes is asked by Mycroft to solve a classic ″locked room″ mystery, which he does like clockwork. In ″The Adventure of the Dark Tower,″ a short story by Peter K. Andersson, Watson comes across an historical mystery that seems to lap over into the present day. ″The Adventure of the Reluctant Corpse,″ a short story by Matthew J. Elliott, presents Holmes and Watson with a living man Watson previously declared dead. Later, his corpse shows up again and the real mystery begins. ″The Inspector of Graves″ is a script of a radio episode written by Jim French that was first broadcast July 16th, 2006. It recounts a grave robbery that never happened. ″The Parson′s Son″ is a short story by Bob Byrne. It recounts the preliminary investigations by Holmes of the Edalji case which led him to ask Watson to bring it to Doyle′s attention. ″The Adventure of the Botanist′s Glove″ is a short story by James Lovegrove that presents a most ingenious murder method.
″A Most Diabolical Plot,″ a short story by Tim Symonds, tells of a truly complex plan by recently released Sebastian Moran to assassinate Holmes. ″The Opera Thief″ is a short story by Larry Millet. It occurs after Holmes takes Watson to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, for gall bladder surgery and is one of the most tragic tales in this collection. ″Blood Brothers,″ a novella by Kim Krisko, presents two sets of brothers whose actions declare which are the wealthier pair. ″The Adventure of the White Bird″ is another novella, this time by C. Edward Davis. It recounts some of the early aviation efforts to fly the Atlantic for Ortieg′s prize that ended with Lindbergh’s successful landing in Paris. ″The Adventure of the Avaricious Bookkeeper″ is a novella by Joel and Carolyn Senter. In it, Holmes and Watson investigate a puzzle for Mrs. Hudson′s niece as
This third volume continues the tradition set by the first two books in the series. The twenty-three items in this book include only two that I would rate as excellent, however, it also contains only six I would rate as good. The other fourteen are all very good and that gives the entire volume a rating of″very good″ by any standard.
The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part IV: 2016 Annual
Type of material: Hardcover book
Publisher: MX Publications, London/p>
Year: 2016
Editor: David Marcum
This book is the fourth in a series of Sherlockian anthology volumes from MX Publications and the new title addition indicated that the publisher plan to continue this remarkable series. All of the authors have donated their royalties for this publication to the support of Undershaw. It includes twenty-two short stories and novellas as well as a poem.
The poem is a ″Toast to Mrs. Watson,″ by Arlene Mantin Levy, written as a series of rhymed couplets. ″The Tale of the First Adventure″ is a short story by Derrick Belanger that tells how Sherlock learned to restrict the details he passes on to clients in his first real case. In ″The adventure of the Turkish Cypher,″ a short story by Deanna Baran, Holmes uncovers a poisoning, but avoids telling his client the details behind it. ″The Adventure of the Missing Necklace,″ a short story by Daniel D. Victor, recounts how Holmes acquired his distaste for fictionalized versions of his cases. ″The Case of the Rondel Dagger″ is a novella by Mark Mower that tells of Holmes′ investigation of murder by minions of an ancient secret society, or so it would seem. In ″The Adventure of the Double-edged Hoard,″ a novella by Craig Janacek, Holmes is introduced to an ancient and horrible relic of the Viking raiders. ″The Adventure of the Impossible Murders″ is a short story by Jayantika Ganguly that tells of suspiciously related natural deaths caused by unlikely murderers.
″The Watcher in the Woods″ is a novella by Dennis O. Smith that tells of a strange case Holmes accepted involving alchemy and a disappearing watcher of a house of madness. ″Relating to One of My Old Cases,″ a short story by J. R. Campbell, links two recent murders to one Holmes investigated years before with unanswered questions. ″The Adventure at Beau Soleil,″ a short story by Bonnie MacBird, relates an incident in Nice when Holmes aids a house detective in return for lodgings for him and Watson. ″The Adventure of the Phantom Coachman″ is a short story by Arthur Hall that mixes spies, thieves and phantoms all in a single muddle for Holmes to untangle. ″The Adventure of the Arsenic Dumplings,″ a short story by Bob Byrne, tells of a cook arrested for attempted murder and convicted in public opinion by non-existent evidence. ″The Disappearing Anarchist Trick″ a novella by Andrew Lane, pits Holmes and Watson against a magician in a case investigated for Mycroft.
This fourth volume continues the tradition set by the first three books in the series. The twenty-three items in this book include twice as many that I rate as excellent as the few I rate only as good. All the rest I rate as very good and that gives the entire volume a rating of ″excellent″ as compared to any other Anthology.
Mycroft Holmes
Type of material: Hardcover book
Publisher: Titan Books
Year: 2015
Author: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with Anna Waterhouse
This book tells of an adventure of Mycroft Holmes during his early years of Service to The Crown. It presents fans of Sherlock Holmes with a new vision of Mycroft and Sherlock at a time in their lives that we have not seen before. Mycroft is young and idealistic, hoping that he will prove worthy of the trust put in him by the Government and Crown he feels represent the world of order and civilization. Sherlock is young, surly and impatient, straining to find an outlet for his energy and talents.
The story unfolds as an increasingly complex mystery. Readers are introduced to Mycroft who is engaged to the daughter of a Trinidad Plantation owner attending college in London. One of Mycroft′s friends is a half-caste black East-Indian from Trinidad who works at a Tobacco shop. This friend tells Mycroft of a recurrence of attacks on children in Trinidad by supernatural Lougarou, giant mosquito-like creatures who suck the blood from children. Word of this reaches Mycroft′s fiancée and she becomes determined to return home to deal with the situation, so Mycroft informs his superior of ″tensions″ in Trinidad and maneuvers him into sending Mycroft to investigate.
Mycroft and his Trinidadian friend, acting as Mycroft′s manservant, catch the first boat for Trinidad and the mysteries begin. Mycroft′s fiancee is not on board the only boat heading to Port of Spain. As the mystery becomes more complex, so also does the world Mycroft has entered. The ″black″ Trinidad Mycroft anticipated becomes, first ″yellow″ with the addition of a growing Chinese community and then ″brown″ with the burgeoning East Indian population. Add European ″financiers″ and Southern American ″investors″ and the pot becomes more and more confusing. This Mycroft is fully as astute as will be his later younger brother, but he is far less accustomed to giving explanations of his inferences. His companion has to rein Mycroft in frequently in order to demand explanations of things Mycroft feels are obvious.
The world in which this tale occurs is odd to 21st Century readers. China is recovering from the Opium Wars and trying to gain her footing after being raped by European business interests. Japan is undergoing the fall of the Samurai Bakafu warlords before the Meiji Restoration and the United States is recuperating from the American Civil war. This is the time of the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the Carpetbaggers with ten years yet to go before the Gunfight at the OK Corral. In Europe, it is ″business as usual″ in the post-Napoleonic world. The Nobility continue to oppress and rob the peasants and France is the major Continental Power. England sees the rise of Prussia as an antidote to French arrogance and Russia slumbers in the face of growing protests by everyone. Italy and Germany are dreams of the next Century while Turkey dominates the Balkans.
This is the stage setting for a mystery that deepens and deepens as we watch while characters shift and fade and transform. It becomes a question of who is conning whom and all the while, Mycroft suffers and observes. In the end, we see a more familiar Mycroft and ″justice″ triumphs, but the cost is high and the future remains in doubt. This is a well-written and intriguing mystery with very few ″Americanisms″ and better grammar than I, a confirmed nitpicker, can write. It was a very pleasant surprise, a real sleeper.
Sherlock Holmes in Japan
Type of material: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Year: 2015
Author: Vasudev Murthy
This story tells of part of the time called ″The Great Hiatus″ by Sherlockians. Nominally, it conforms to the events as told by Dr. Watson in ″The Final Problem″ and ″The Empty House.″ I say ″nominally″ because most Sherlockians are aware that the accounts given there by the good Doctor are, at best, sketchy, and, at worst, downright fabrications. In fact, most students of the Canon agree that the Doctor strayed fairly far from the truth in these tales.
In this story, Sherlock is faced with a double threat. He discovers plans involving the Japanese Yakuza (organized gangsters) with certain Chinese Triads (more organized gangsters) and members of the Moriarty organization (still more organized gangsters) to flood Europe with narcotics and thus, to destabilize the economies of the dominant European States. Secondly, these plans, whether successful or not, will, when made public, demean the already shaky view the world powers have of the ability of Japan to enter into serious relations with the dominant trading nations.
The details of Sherlock′s travels to Japan and acceptance of an obligation to help deal with these problems is revealed, piecemeal, throughout the tale. This sequence of events is moderately improbable, but, by no means, impossible. The same is true for the basic premise of the tale and the events related. The author displays a solid knowledge of late Nineteenth Century Political History and a more than nodding acquaintance with many interesting characters of the times.
The tale is well-crafted and the characters are fascinating so it reads well and seems plausible. It is a fun read and it is very hard to point at any portions as stretching the reader’s historical tolerance or knowledge of the times. I enjoyed it and, with a few reservations, I heartily recommend it to readers. It leaves several important issues unresolved, but I understand that another tale or two are coming along to round-out the complete story of ″The Great Hiatus.″
Potential readers must be forewarned, however, that the writer has some tendencies that may cause his writing to be hazardous to their health. First, Mr. Murthy has a most reprehensible, low, sense of humor that crops up in the oddest places. Be careful, as it is apt to bite the reader in an unprotected spot without warning. Second, the author spouts split infinitives with enormous abandon. Finally, the author uses modern meanings of words that were assigned different meanings in Victorian times or even uses words not available in those times.
I am fortunate in that my own writings include a volume of hundreds of narrative Sherlockian puns, so I am already immunized against low and vulgar humor. Further, my habit of writing book reviews has served to give me a certain, jaded outlook towards improper English usage and I was able to control my actions in this case. I managed simply to un-split each infinitive as I encountered it, without condemning the writer for his perfidy. Finally, at my age, I have experienced the changing use of Language, while, for younger persons, word usage in the 1930s and ′40s is little different than those used fifty years earlier and such anachronisms are, truly, less serious.