Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "mysteries"

Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes
Michael Sims
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (January 24, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1632860392
ISBN-13: 978-1632860392
https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Sherloc...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

While I’ve read, seen, and heard more than my fair share of fictional Sherlock Holmes stories, I haven’t spent much time reading any histories or biographies of the creator of Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. So I can’t say anything credible about whether or not Arthur and Sherlock presents anything new for Holmes devotees or breaks any new ground or sheds any new light for Doyle scholars. But I can report those of us who haven’t spent much time in the company of the actual good doctor/author should know that Michael Sims’ Arthur and Sherlock reads like a very fine introduction to pretty much everything that shaped the origins of the Sherlock Holmes mythos. In addition, I suspect even the most serious Holmes experts will find revelations they haven’t seen before, especially in the second half of the book.

Happily, the first chapters of Arthur and Sherlock don’t just cover the biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, describing his family background, his medical education—especially the mentoring he received from a long acknowledged model for Holmes, Dr. Joseph Bell, to Doyle’s early apprentice years and his time seeking to establish his own surgical practice. Sims also chronicles Doyle’s lifelong reading and his first stabs at getting published. Sims’s discussions of Doyle’s reading and his awareness of popular novels focuses on fictional precursors to Holmes featuring characters and storylines created by Poe, Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and even the Book of Daniel from the Old Testament.

Equally of interest is Sims’ overview of the times in which Doyle grew as a young man including the great shifts in scientific and medical knowledge as well as the surprisingly recent developments in police work. For example, the term “detective” was a relatively new term in the middle of the 19th century and the Metropolitan Police force and Scotland Yard had only been established in London in 1829.

The second half of the book is where Holmes takes center stage, and this part of the book is essentially literary analysis. Sims breaks down nearly every element in A Study in Scarlet (1887) including the possible origins of the names of the primary characters, the structure of the novel that introduced us to the residents of 221b Baker Street, Sims’ evaluations of the characteristics of Holmes and his erstwhile companion, Dr. John Watson, as well as a detailed publication history of the novel. A bit of trivia I never knew was how Doyle’s artist father, Charles, was institutionalized for depression and alcoholism and did artwork for the first stand-alone publication of A Study in Scarlet.

Here, it’s likely even the most knowledgeable of Doyle/Holmes aficionados will benefit from Sims insights and perspectives. For example, Sherlock Holmes is known as a proponent of “deductive reasoning” (a form of logic employing a syllogism that moves from the general to the specific using a major premise, minor premise, and conclusion) when, in fact, Holmes was more often using inductive reasoning (building a case by moving from the specific to the general, adding up small details to reach a conclusion.)

Then, Sims discusses the publication history of the first years of the Holmes series with rather quick hit-and-run descriptions of The sign of the Four (1890) and the short stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). Clearly, anyone interested in the creation of the world’s first fictional consulting detective should not only enjoy Arthur and Sherlock, but also put the book down feeling educated in 19th century literature as a whole, not to mention life in London in that century. Sims’ writing style is often quite personable as he takes us on walks with Doyle, peeks behind the doctor’s curtains, pokes around Doyle’s bookshelves, and finally explores the first adventures of Holmes and Watson in an analytical fashion Holmes would have approved of. What more can you ask for?

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 8, 2017:
https://is.gd/FZQwS4

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Well, now's an ideal time to come on board due to the popularity of my latest story, "The Dutiful Detective and the Deadly Decoys," easily the most-down-loaded adventure in my Beta-Earth Chronicles! Newsletter subscribers can still get it for free! And you'd be among the ones first alerted to coming stories full of mystery and espionage!

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Alien Vision is proud to present our official book trailer for Alpha Tales 2044
https://youtu.be/6Q2yAg_4Yvc

IBP's Book Trailer: Alpha Tales 2044 by Wesley Britton
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Got this 5 Star Amazon review today from novelist Preston Fleming (Author of MAID OF BAIKAL) on my Alpha Tales 2044:

Colorful introduction to Beta-Earth Chronicles series or can be read as standalone short stories
Alpha Tales 2044 is an interconnected series of short stories that can be read as a standalone volume or can serve as an introduction to the Beta-Earth Chronicles series. The action is set in a richly imagined future where half-breed aliens arrive on earth amid a recovery from ecological and man-made catastrophes and run afoul of those who govern America.
I came as a newcomer to Wes Britton’s writings. While the stories in this short book are too brief to develop the characters as deeply as I expect they will be developed in the novels of the Beta-Earth series, one particular character, Major Mary Carpenter Renbourn stands out as someone I would like to get to know much better. I enjoyed Mary’s exploits against the Texas Neo-Nazis in the Alpha Earth Sketches and look forward to seeing more of her in other volumes.
I recommend Alpha Tales 2044 highly to new readers of the Beta-Earth Chronicles series and expect that veteran fans of the series will also find much to like in the book.


https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Tales-20...