This anthology of stories featuring the character of Sherlock Holmes follows on from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories which ended with Holmes at Reichenbach Falls.
Richard Lancelyn Green was a British scholar of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, and was generally considered the world's foremost scholar of these topics. He was the son of Roger Lancelyn Green
The first thing that struck me about this book was the loving care and research that had been made by Richard Lancelyn Green in coming up with this collection of apocryphal Sherlock Holmes stories. This is not a collection of Sherlockian pastiches in the present sense, because the authors had, most painstakingly, tried to write Sherlock Holmes stories as they were written by Sire Arthur Conan Doyle, and NOT their own stories using the canonical characters. Hence, the stories refrain from taking any liberties with the traits of the characters. They are gentle, and on many occasion very much reminiscent of the fact that Sire Arthur had written his stories strictly as per the norms of literary entertainment that was followed & encouraged in late Victorian era. The contents are: - (*) Introduction: a really authoritative & informative piece from the editor. 1) The Adventure of The First-Class Carriage by Ronald A. Knox 2) The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker by Arthur Whitaker 3) The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet by Vincent Starrett 4) The Adventure of the Marked Man by Stuart Palmer 5) The Adventure of the Megatherium Thefts by S.C. Roberts 6) The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant by W.R. Duncan Macmillan 7) The Adventure of Arnsworth Castle by Adrian Conan Doyle 8) The Adventure of the Tired Captain by Alan Wilson 9) The Adventure of the Green Empress by F.P. Cillie 10) The Adventure of the Purple Hand by D.O. Smith 11) The Adventure of Hillerman Hill by Julian Symons
Not all the stories are of equal merit, and quite a few are remakes of plot-devices & twists described in the canon itself. But overall, this is a really enjoyable book if you are more of a traditional Sherlockian, and would like to stay away from Holmes-meets-modern evil (The House of Silk), Holmes-meets-monsters (Gaslight series of anthologies brought out by Edge) or Holmes-as-swashbuckling hero (Guy Ritchie films). Recommended.
Recently I've been watching through the Granada series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations. It's a really great series for anyone into Sherlock Holmes or who likes mystery stories in general - the adaptation is mostly faithful and usually well paced to sustain the tension, the characterisation of Holmes and Watson is a joy and the acting, particularly by Brett, is absolutely superb. Sherlock is slightly "off" but never cruel or heartless and cares deeply for Watson and the people he helps. It made me want to read Holmes stories again.
I last read the stories themselves about 3 years ago. It was around the time I was just starting to read for pleasure again and during a pretty dark patch in my life. I read them all over the course of a few days and loved them. They inspired my interest in mystery and detective stuff, which has become my favourite type of fiction reading. Unfortunately I made no reviews or notes on my thoughts at the time but they clearly made a big impression on me. I read a few collections of Holmes fanfiction soon afterwards and although highly variable I enjoyed them well enough, as far as I know. There were definitely some high quality, entertaining stories.
Which brings me to now, and reading this book, the first Holmes I've read in at least 2 years. So far I've read the first 8 out of 11 - and I just haven't been grabbed by any of them. None of them are awful or anything. They just tend to lack either or both of a good mystery and good Holmes/Watson character writing. For example, "The Adventure of the Tired Captain" has a decent enough mystery but fails enough on character to seriously annoy on two points - first, it opens with Holmes displaying ridiculous misogyny, complaining about women being "too emotional" etc - I don't remember this being hyped up to this extent in the original stories but even if it was I don't care to read it over again. Second, near the end Holmes makes a near absurd failure of judgement .
The Adventure of the Marked Man, where Holmes allows someone who (ending spoilers) Same author does that thing where Holmes spouts off a bunch of deductions about people for pages just to show off, one of my last favourite qualities in a Sherlock Holmes pastiche.
The stories in this collection are drawn from a long history of Holmes pastiches and usually each author has a deep background in Holmes study. And yet they only seem able to hit on the *structure* of a Holmes story - Holmes and Watson in 221B, client visits, they go to location of crime, find clue, Holmes prepares denouement off screen, the criminal and method are revealed - with none of the character, excitement or spirit of the originals. It's possible I've just been spoiled by seeing such great adaptations of the originals so recently. Or maybe they're accurate to the original writing and I just have far rosier memories of them than they deserve. I really hope not.
After finishing reading: I was probably too hasty with my judgement because I rather enjoyed the last 3stories. Nothing spectacular, but they had the sort of elements I enjoyed and the last story had a silly but pleasant twist at the end. I still think the whole thing is nothing too grand but if you like Sherlock Holmes I doubt you'd regret reading it and a few of the stories are pretty good.
ENGLISH: A collection of pastiches of Sherlock Holmes cases that were not written by Artur Conan Doyle. Of the authors selected by Roger Lancelyn Green, I knew Ronald Knox, Stuart Palmer and Adrian Conan Doyle. I also know James M. Barrie (of course!), by whom a couple of Holmes pastiches have been added to the book.
The stories are pretty good. I liked best those written by Ronald Knox, Adrian Conan Doyle and Denis Smith, the latter written in the style of The Valley of Fear.
The two short humorous pastiches by James M. Barrie are very good, with a short prologue by Conan Doyle.
ESPAÑOL: Colección de pastiches de los casos de Sherlock Holmes que no fueron escritos por Artur Conan Doyle. De los autores seleccionados por Roger Lancelyn Green, yo conocía a Ronald Knox, Stuart Palmer y Adrian Conan Doyle. También conozco a James M. Barrie (¡por supuesto!), de quien se han añadido al libro un par de pastiches de Holmes.
Los cuentos son bastante buenos. Los que más me han gustado sea los de Ronald Knox, Adrian Conan Doyle y Denis Smith, este último escrito al estilo de The Valley of Fear.
Los dos pastiches cortos y humorísticos de James M. Barrie son muy buenos, con un corto prólogo de Conan Doyle.
Not a bad book this of generally early Holmes stories not penned by Arthur Conan Doyle..some of which have I interesting pedigrees as shown in the introduction either by being mistaken as Canon or being written by Conan Doyle's offspring (well one is). The tales themselves generally avoid cliche..in fact I think it is really only Adrian Conan Doyle who borders this with a rogue 'elementary' or too and at least one 'the game is afoot'. The tales are fairly short and in some ways fairly light too but they do show Holmes bending rules and even in a later one his time in retirement so they do add to Holmes mythology. In honesty at this point I have read more books inspired by Conan Doyle's detective than ones written by him so comparing styles etc would be difficult..however from the little I have read of the original books these do seem to be similar in style and ultimately a good fit. All in all not a bad read and one that keeps Holmes grounded and not fighting aliens or residing in a steampunk universe.
First time reader of this author and now i am hooked. This was such a great, easy and creative series. i was hooked after the first page.
The characters were easy to fall in love with and follow, along with the story. the author made the mental visions so easy and vivid of the surroundings and the characters actions felt so real.
i would highly recommend this author and this series.
Been in a wee (understatement much) reading slump recently :(
But this was yet another delightful dalliance, into the dastardly dark corners of Victorian London -accompanied alongside a detective duo -who's cunningly creative approaches to such ominous mysterious, are rapidly becoming a right reading “comfort” (or “pick me up” if you will) for me, during/post such an aforementioned slump.
Eleven stories of varying quality - and to be truthful, even the best of them isn't brilliant - written around the period 1920-1950, by authors wishing to "add" to Conan Doyle's detective canon. Some are little more than mediocre attempts to produce fresh cases for the famous private detective, others attempt to pastiche Holmes' and Watson's characters. Few go down the whodunnit route - I always feel the actual detection in the Conan Doyle stories could be sharper and more challenging - but nothing here takes it on much. Favourites of the bunch are "The Adventures of the Marked Man", a nice variation on "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot", and "The Adventure of Hillerman Hall", set in the 1920s with an elderly Holmes, without Watson, shows us a much more genial Sherlock.
This is a really solid collection, put out by Penguin in the mid-1980s, containing pastiches from Ronald Knox onwards. In addition to Knox's contribution, there's also a delightfully rococo contribution from Vincent Starrett. A 1945 story by S.C. Roberts cleverly alludes to the Megatherium Trust invented by notable Sherlockian Dorothy L. Sayers; "The Adventure of the Purple Hand" neatly combines the canon's elements of the grotesque with its fundamental faith in the potential of human compassion. And the concluding story in the book, a charming contribution from Julian Symons, shows a Sherlock Holmes no less incisive and compassionate for having retired to the Sussex downs... and a young client who is impressive in her own right.
This book contains a series of Sherlock Holmes stories by various writers of what would now be called fan fiction. Although a Sherlock Holmes fans will find them worth a read the collection is a bit disappointing. The plot lines are either copies of an earlier story or a very simple and predictable case of false identity. The only story which managed to build up an excitement or intrigue was "The Adventure of the Purple Hand". The most interesting part of the book is the introduction which describes the origins of the stories, particularly the controversy over the authorship of "The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker".
Really one of the best collections of Sherlock Holmes pastiches I've read. The first story, The Adventure of the First Class Carriage, is the only clunker, and even it isn't bad, just middling. Each of the authors does a remarkably good job recapturing the originals, and though a few of the plots are predictable, others are very tight. The twist at the end of the final story, The Adventure of Hillerman Hall, is a special treat, even though .
Well I like any Sherlock Holmes story I have read (so far) and this book is no exception. The stories in this book are true to the spirit of Conan Doyle's hero and very enjoyable. Well written and enjoyable even I think without the Holmes name being mentioned. So much the better for being about and in spirit the estimable of Sherlock Holmes.
I can't add much to the pages and pages of reviews of Sherlock Holmes. Because of a disability, I put off reading the collected works of Arthur Conan Doyle, specifically Holmes. The books were so big I couldn't hold them long enough to even attempt reading. When I finally got a Kindle it was the first thing I downloaded. And I'm so grateful I did. If you've ever even remotely considered picking up Doyle's most famous masterpieces, go for it!! And, as always readers, ENJOY!!
Hello, I hope that you will be in the best condition. I am very impressed by the works of the writer "Arthur Conan Doyle" , especially his short novel The Debascal ",The Hound of the Baskervilles" to solve the mystery of the issue and I suggest to everyone who is interested in this narrative color to exchange discussion, opinions, experiences, and ideas
I absolutely enjoy these types of Christmas Books and found myself enjoying this one too. The reason I am giving it 4-Stars is because it is a reminder of the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and not really an entirely new story. Still fun and nice to be reminded.