Amy Thomas's Blog, page 6
May 31, 2015
Book Review: Thrice Burned
Last year, I reviewed the excellent Jewel of the Thames, the first mystery novel by Canadian author Angela Misri. This month, I had the opportunity to read her equally well-crafted sequel Thrice Burned.
Misri’s books have, as their protagonist, the immensely engaging Portia Adams, a young Canadian detective with a connection to Holmes and Watson. The mystery aspects and Portia’s detection style owe a great deal to Doyle’s works, but they are adapted to a slightly later point in time and Portia’s own unique personality. Misri’s meticulous research into the history of criminal arson is very much in evidence in this book and will please those who enjoy realism in their criminal fiction.
Thrice Burned is not a rehash of the previous book. It builds on Misri’s previous elements (though it can be enjoyed as a standalone work) and deepens Portia’s character as well as her relationships with Annie and Dawes–two very well fleshed out characters who serve as Watsonian foils to Portia’s Holmesian brilliance.
Misri is one of the most exciting new authors whose works I’ve encountered in some time, and Thrice Burned is another enjoyable installment that manages to be, all at once, very Holmesian and very much all Misri’s own.
Click here to purchase.
A copy of the above-reviewed book was provided by the author for consideration. All opinions expressed are the reviewer’s own.
May 15, 2015
Book Review: The Case Books of Octavius Bear by Harry DeMaio
This is a review of the first two books in an ongoing series by author Harry DeMaio, The Open and Shut Case and The Case of the Spotted Band. To be perfectly honest, when I received these novels, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. The extent of my knowledge was that this series features anthropomorphic animals and is inspired by Sherlock Holmes.
Are they for children? I wondered. Can I, in any way, take them seriously? What is the purpose of doing this? Then I opened the first one and started reading.
No, these books are not children’s literature, they are serious without being self-important, and their purpose is, at least as I see it, to create a whole new world that is somehow deliciously reminiscent of the Holmes canon we know and love.
DeMaio’s attention to detail throughout the books is staggering. Understanding the challenge of jumping into a world in which Sherlock Holmes, professor Moriarty, and their cohorts are represented by animals, he includes in each book a character guide and a short explanation of how his post-apocalyptic animal society works.
The only book I can think of that is in any way comparable is the classic Watership Down by Richard Adams. Like DeMaio, Adams used animals to represent and illuminate aspects of human society. To my eye, the Octavius Bear books have the same amount of potential to become classics in the world of Sherlock Holmes-inspired fiction.
DeMaio is a skilled and engaging storyteller and crafter of characters and mystery narrative. Those who enjoy traditional Holmesian works will enjoy his books. It’s not a matter of trying to get past a concept to find the story; he manages to make his animals and their world an intrinsic part of his unique Sherlockian vision.
Somehow, through Octavius Bear and his associates, Harry DeMaio has managed to create something that is entirely new and entirely familiar. His world is a very enjoyable place to lose yourself.
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The Open and Shut Case is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA , Amazon UK ,Waterstones UK , and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In ebook format it is in Kindle, Kobo,Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).
The Case of The Spotted Band is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK,Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In ebook format it is in Kindle, Kobo,Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).
The books reviewed above were provided for consideration by the publisher. All opinions expressed are the reviewer’s own.
March 10, 2015
221b Con Book Club!
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that 221b Con, the Holmes-themed convention happening April 10th-12th in Atlanta, Georgia, has selected my first Sherlock Holmes novel, The Detective and The Woman, as their official book club selection. I’ll be on hand at the con to lead a discussion about the book. Until then, MX Publishing is offering 20% off any of my books at mxpublishing.com using the coupon code 221bamy
For more information about the convention, check out 221bcon.com
March 9, 2015
Pastiche vs. Fanfiction
The debate that wouldn’t die.
A few years ago, I wrote a piece laying out my viewpoint that pastiche is anything Sherlock Holmes-themed that is faithful to Doyle’s characters. Since then, my opinion has evolved and changed. I’m going to re-articulate it.
Just today, I hear of Sherlock published this piece,��which does a great job of explaining the viewpoint that pastiche should be a word reserved only for works that directly imitate Doyle’s storytelling style. (By that definition, as a reader and book reviewer, I personally prefer Holmes-themed works that are��not��pastiche about a million times more than most of those that are, but that’s a topic for another time.)
I don’t have a massive quarrel with IHOSE’s definition–technically. The problem is, words are not used in a vacuum, especially not in fandom. Somebody has to decide which works are “enough like Doyle” or “trying hard enough to be like Doyle” or “traditional enough” to warrant the word. Works that “fail” someone’s subjective test are, all-too-often, relegated to second-class status: In other words, fanfiction.��This is the ugly little secret, and I’ve been seeing it happen ever since I entered the Sherlock Holmes world as an adult.
Let’s make one thing crystal clear. All pastiche is fanfiction. Breathe into a paper bag and repeat: All pastiche is��fanfiction.��Anything written by a fan of something, inspired by that something, is, by definition, fanfiction. There is nothing inherently negative, suggestive of low quality, or second class about fanfiction. It’s been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
Fanfiction is a perfectly good word, and pastiche, however you choose to define it, is a perfectly good word. The problem is, human beings have a nasty habit of taking perfectly good words and giving them very problematic contexts, contexts meant to exclude and shame others.
This is what I’ve seen happen over and over with the pastiche vs. fanfiction issue. (To be clear, I am��not��saying everyone who espouses the use of the word “pastiche” is prejudiced or intolerant. Many are lovely. However, the culture of exclusion around the term is one I’ve observed repeatedly for years.)
Fandom context means that pastiche, as much as we’d like it to be, isn’t just a technical term for a type of fanfiction. All too often, it’s an in-word, a word used to describe what some consider to be the only “right” way to express creativity in the Sherlock Holmes world. Sure, there’s a catchall category for what those “other people” (often times young people, people of different gender, millennials, people of the Internet generation) create, but it’s not high and mighty��pastiche. That word is only for the works of��correct��people, who write what they’re supposed to write.
Frankly, I’m tired of it. If I had my druthers, we’d call it all fanfiction and stop acting like “fan” and “fandom” are only words that apply to new enthusiasts, instead of being really broad words that have open arms to welcome all who are enthusiastic about something, regardless of age or duration of interest or any other factor.
Some of us write fanfiction that is published and sold. Others of us write fanfiction that we kindly share with the world free of charge. Still others write fanfiction that is only for our own eyes and enjoyment. It’s all creative. It’s all part of the Holmesian experience, and none of it deserves to be categorically excluded. (Of course we all have opinions about what we prefer or what is better and worse, but that has to do with personal taste and preference, not excluding entire categories of creativity because they don’t fit our mold.)
I know it’s not going to happen. Pastiche is not going to disappear as a word, and I’ll probably still use it in certain contexts, even though I wish fanfiction would suffice. But honestly? Please form your own opinion. This post is not intended to feed into the idea that there’s one right way to think about fandom concepts or a correct way to be creative.
If someone says to you, with that trademark disdain in their voice, “That’s not pastiche; that’s��fanfiction,” smile at them and say, “Thank you. That’s an amazing compliment.” Because it is. Fanfiction is awesome, and when you create it, you’re awesome too.
—
How to purchase my novels of Sherlock Holmes:
(Book 1)��The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes��is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA��Amazon,Barnes and Noble��and��Classic Specialities����� and in all electronic formats including��Amazon Kindle��,��iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and��Kobo.
(Book 2)��The Detective, The Woman and The Winking Tree: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA��Amazon,Barnes and Noble��and��Classic Specialities����� and in all electronic formats including��Amazon Kindle��,��iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and��Kobo.
(Book 3)��The Detective The Woman and The Silent Hive��is available from all good bookstores including������Amazon USA,��Amazon UK,��Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide from��Book Depository. In ebook format it is in��Amazon Kindle.
January 6, 2015
Happy Birthday, Mr. Holmes: An Open Letter
TO: Mr. Sherlock Holmes
221b Baker Street
London, England
Dear Mr. Holmes,
As an avowed part of your adoring public, it has come to my attention that today marks your birthday. It is no secret that you are not particularly fond of marking the day, which is understandable. I doubt I would be overly excited to be one hundred sixty-one either.
I wonder how you will celebrate. Drinks at the pub? A trip to the moors? Viewing The Asylum���s Sherlock Holmes with your brother? Or perhaps a quiet day with Mary Russell, who, I hear tell, shares your penchant for immortality.
I think, really, you���ll probably play chess today with the old specter who haunts Baker Street. No one much minds him any more. We live in an age when ghosts are nostalgic remnants of a bygone time. He will walk up the seventeen steps and greet you as an old enemy���after a hundred years, do old enemies become friends?���and the two of you will sit down with kings and pawns between you, remembering the days when the city was your battleground.
We who form your public are fond of saying that it���s always 1895 in your world, but that���s not quite true, is it? That illusion is for us, for those who would escape into the pages of your friend���s embellished words. But you live beyond those pages, and that year cannot define you.
Sometimes we writers try to make you immortal through logical means. We invent serums and spells and incantations, but all we really need are our words and our imaginations. You live in every year when we envision you there; you take any form our narratives can construct; and you live forever because nothing can die that is remembered.
I���m quite sure you find immortality absurd, but lest you deny the power of the words we give you, let me whisper ���Norbury��� in your ear. You were once a man alone; you became an ink drawing colored in by the softening lines of friendship. You met the world through the pen of another.
You are still meeting that world the same way. Dr. Watson is also immortal, you know, only today he wears more faces than your disguises ever created. He looks out through the laughing eyes of my rainbow-haired friend. He has thousands of Tumblr followers. He works days at an employment agency, and at night his fingers ache from penning the words he can���t keep inside. He rides public transportation, earbuds blasting heavy metal into his brain, journaling the outline of his next story. He���s a university lecturer who narrates your tales to freshmen purely for love of telling them.
Millions mark your birthday���in apartments, pubs, libraries, and schools. After all, who better to celebrate your day than the ones who love you most of all? For being one of the most seemingly aloof men of literature, you certainly played a masterful trick, Mr. Holmes. You made the whole world your closest friend, and in so doing, you made yourself live forever.
Many happy returns to you and to us.
——–
How to purchase my novels of Sherlock Holmes:
(Book 1)��The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes��is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA��Amazon,Barnes and Noble��and��Classic Specialities����� and in all electronic formats including��Amazon Kindle��,��iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and��Kobo.
(Book 2)��The Detective, The Woman and The Winking Tree: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA��Amazon,Barnes and Noble��and��Classic Specialities����� and in all electronic formats including��Amazon Kindle��,��iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and��Kobo.
(Book 3)��The Detective The Woman and The Silent Hive��is available from all good bookstores including������Amazon USA,��Amazon UK,��Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide from��Book Depository. In ebook format it is in��Amazon Kindle.
December 9, 2014
Sherlockian Gift Guide
It’s that time of year, when we’re all scrambling to find the perfect Christmas gifts for family and friends. Here are a few of my recommendations for the Sherlockians in your life.
1) Gifts for Readers:
A Scandal in Bohemia by Petr Kopl
I reviewed this astonishingly beautiful graphic novel here. It’s gorgeously illustrated, well written, and would be a treasured gift for any Sherlockian, particularly those who enjoy Holmesian visual artwork.
How to purchase:
Scandal In Bohemia��is available through all good bookstores including��Book Depository��(free shipping worldwide),��Amazon USA, and��Amazon UK.
Jewel of the Thames by Angela Misri
I reviewed this well-written book here.��Jewel is not a direct pastiche. It’s a Holmes-inspired collection of mysteries starring a new detective named Portia Adams.It’s clever, entertaining, and a truly stunning debut by the author. It’s likely to please Sherlockians whose love of mysteries extends to the wider world of detective fiction.
Purchase it in hard copy or e-book here
The Detective and The Woman series by Amy Thomas
��
My series��features Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler as they take on cases in Florida, on the Sussex Downs, and in Metropolitan London. Each book stands alone, but as a trilogy, they tell the story of a slowly-forming partnership between two strong-minded, intelligent characters who begin as enemies and work toward friendship. Many��Holmesians of various ages have enjoyed the series so far, and it would make an enjoyable gift for the Sherlockian readers in your life.
How to purchase:
(Book 1)��The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes��is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA��Amazon,Barnes and Noble��and��Classic Specialities����� and in all electronic formats including��Amazon Kindle��,��iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and��Kobo.
(Book 2)��The Detective, The Woman and The Winking Tree: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA��Amazon,Barnes and Noble��and��Classic Specialities����� and in all electronic formats including��Amazon Kindle��,��iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and��Kobo.
(Book 3)��The Detective The Woman and The Silent Hive��is available from all good bookstores including������Amazon USA,��Amazon UK,��Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide from��Book Depository. In ebook format it is in��Amazon Kindle.
2) Gifts for Creatives:
Sherlock Holmes book scarf. Get it here
221B Journal. Get it here
Sherlock Holmes Detective Stamp Set. Get it here
3) Gifts for the SherLocked:
Sherlock Limited Edition Gift Set. Get it here
Holmes and Watson Friendship Rings. Get them here
221B Wallpaper T-shirt. Get it here
November 1, 2014
Graphic Novel Review: A Scandal in Bohemia by Petr Kopl
My first exposure to this book was hearing that it had been voted Graphic Novel of the Year in 2013 in the Czech Republic for its original version. Now that I have my hands on the English translation, I can absolutely understand why.
First, the English translation is fully competent. Had I not known it was a translation, I doubt I’d have realized it. I didn’t find it in any sense distracting.
Second, and most important to me as a reader, is that this isn’t just a retelling of Sherlock Holmes stories that someone slapped illustrations onto. I have seen graphic novels like that, and I do not appreciate them. A well-crafted graphic novel is not the same thing as a traditional book. It’s an art form of its own, and when it works, it’s transcendent.
This book works. The artistic style is detailed, beautiful, and suited to the material. At times, it’s humorous and charming, but ultimately, it furthers the story in a dynamic way, as it should.
The Holmesian stories (not just “A Scandal in Bohemia,” but others as well) are told in a surprisingly complex and engaging way, proving that a medium many do not associate with Holmes can do more than justice to the material.
The bottom line: This is one of the best graphic novels I’ve ever read, and it deserves the accolades it’s received. As the holidays approach, this book would be a fantastic gift or stocking stuffer for any keen Sherlockian.
Scandal In Bohemia is available through all good bookstores including Book Depository (free shipping worldwide), Amazon USA, and Amazon UK.
_________________________________________________________________________
A copy of the above-reviewed work was provided by the publisher. All opinions expressed are the reviewer’s own.
How to get my newest book:
(Book 3) The Detective The Woman and The Silent Hive is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide from Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Amazon Kindle.
How to get the previous two books in the series:
(Book 1) The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon,Barnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle , iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and Kobo.
(Book 2) The Detective, The Woman and The Winking Tree: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon,Barnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle , iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and Kobo.
September 11, 2014
In Praise of Mary Russell
She’s the heroine of the Holmes novels by Laurie R. King. She’s been one of my role models since I was a teenager. Also, move over Poppins, because she’s practically perfect in every way. If you have yet to meet Mary, either run immediately to your local bookstore or click your mouse over to Amazon and nab The Beekeeper’s Apprentice immediately.
Want to learn more? My fellow Baker Street Babe Ardy wrote this awesome post about her and why she rocks our Sherlockian socks off.
This amazing sketch of Mary is an original, gifted to me by the insanely talented Chris Schweizer. Learn more about him and his art here.
Finally, a personal statement on what Mary means to me and to my career as a writer, excerpted from a longer essay:
One gift Russell gave me is something I can barely put into words because it’s changed my life so hugely. In 2011, something in me urged me to give NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) a try. I was unsure of what to write about, and my interest in Sherlock Holmes pointed me toward pastiche, but it was Mary Russell who gave me the courage to try. Her existence made me believe I could actually write a full-length, complete novel about Sherlock Holmes with a feminist twist—Irene Adler was as much of a main character as Holmes. I finished, and, much to my surprise, my novel The Detective and The Woman was picked up for publication soon after. My two subsequent novels starring Adler and Holmes were published in 2013 and 2014. I have no doubt that Mary Russell is a major part of the reason I’m a published, vocational author today, a blessing so big I can’t quantify it.
Mary Russell taught an awkward teenager to dream, a young woman to endure, and an adult to embrace creativity and take up the vocation I’m meant to inhabit. She has been my companion, my role model, and my escape. She’s accompanied me through every challenge, and her strength has become part of who I am. I will be forever grateful for the privilege of knowing her.
____________________________________________________________________________
How to get my newest book:
(Book 3) The Detective The Woman and The Silent Hive is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide from Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Amazon Kindle.
How to get the previous two books in the series:
(Book 1) The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon,Barnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle , iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and Kobo.
(Book 2) The Detective, The Woman and The Winking Tree: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon,Barnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle , iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and Kobo.
August 29, 2014
Date A Girl Who’s Sarcastic: A Parody
A while ago, there circulated two very beautiful pieces titled, “Date a Girl Who Reads” and “Date a Girl Who Writes.” In order to understand the following parody, at least take a look at “Date a Girl Who Reads” by Rosemary Urquico, but the other piece, by Tanza Loudenback, is also excellent, and I owe a huge writing debt to both.
Still, just because something is beautiful doesn’t mean my somewhat warped sense of humor ceases to function, and something about the flowers, kittens, and rainbows in the above pieces kind of broke my brain. As a result, it is my pleasure to present to you:
Date a Girl Who’s Sarcastic
You should date a girl who’s sarcastic.
Date a girl who’s sarcastic. Date a girl who spends her time reading demotivational posters, who can’t wait to share the Hugh-Manatee meme with you. Date a girl who shares puns just to annoy the people who hate them.
Find a girl who’s sarcastic. You’ll know she’s sarcastic because half the time, you won’t be able to tell if she’s serious or not. She’s the one lovingly poring over episodes of “Parks and Recreation” to find the perfect April Ludgate quote to put in someone’s birthday card, the one who quietly cries out in triumph when she decides on a Ron Swanson instead. You see that weird chick watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the fiftieth time? That’s the sarcastic one. They can never resist Monty Python, particularly the part about The Knights Who Say Ni.
She’s the girl using her camera phone to post a picture of the misspelled coffee shop sign across the street. If you take a peek at her mug, there is no latte art. She hates latte art. Sit down. She will glare at you. There is no “might.”
Do not buy her a cup of coffee. She prefers tea.
Let her know what you really think of “What’s Up, Doc.” See if she remembers that “Love Story” parody line at the end. Understand that if she says she likes “Airplane,” it’s only for the wittiest lines. Ask her if she loves Dwight Schrute or would like to be Dwight Schrute.
It’s easy to date a girl who’s sarcastic. Give her seasons of “MASH” for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of irony, in poetry, song, and preferably polka. Give her Thurber, Fry, Laurie, Izzard. Let her know that you understand that snark is love. Understand that she knows the difference between sarcasm and outright derision, but she’s going to try to make her life as ironic as possible. It will totally be your fault if she does.
She has to roll her eyes somehow.
Do not lie to her. If she understands sarcasm, she will know you’re lying and laugh at you for it. Loudly. Behind words are, often, idiots. It will not be the end of the world, but it will probably be the end of your relationship.
Fail her, but do so in an entertaining way. Because a girl who’s sarcastic can overlook a lot as long as it’s charmingly absurd. Because sarcastic girls know that all things must come to an end, but at least let it be a funny end.
You should be very frightened of taking yourself at all seriously. Girls who are sarcastic will end you with their wits. They have already thought of 3,000 ways to murder Edward Cullen in the Twilight series.
If you find a girl who’s sarcastic, keep her close. When you find her up at 2am, guffawing over “News of the Weird,” hold her close enough to see what’s on her computer screen so you can laugh too. As long as you can keep up, nobody’s losing anything, except some strangers who have already lost their dignity.
You will propose at a restaurant, like a normal person. Or you will make your proposal look like a divorce, like they did in that one “Portlandia” episode that’s her favorite.
You will laugh so hard you worry for your cardiac health. You will have extremely clever and ironic children who scare their classmates. She will introduce your children to Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, maybe in the same day. You will gigglesnort your way through old age, and she will recite “My Family and Other Animals” under her breath while you try to clear the ice off your deadlocked car.
Date a girl who’s sarcastic because your ego needs to be brought down a peg. You deserve a girl who sees the irony in everything. If you can only give her seriousness and normalcy, she’s better off alone. If you want the absurd and the more absurd, date a girl who’s sarcastic.
Or better yet, leave her alone. She’s already having way too much fun being single.
August 22, 2014
10-Gallon Deerstalker: Sherlock Holmes, Raylan Givens, and Holmesian Westerns
A funny thing happened on the way to me clicking my Amazon Prime “next episode” button. I was binge-watching (as you do) the FX series Justified, when I realized something. Gun-toting, cowboy-hat-wearing, cerebral US Marshall protagonist Raylan Givens isn’t all that different from Sherlock Holmes underneath all those western trappings. Justified is a modern, stylized Western series derived from the classic works of Western authorial legend Elmore Leonard (who penned 3:10 to Yuma and whom I, regrettably, have yet to read. However, he gave his absolute blessing to the show and to actor Timothy Olyphant’s portrayal of Givens, so I feel comfortable comparing the character with Holmes across the literary and TV genres.
Like Holmes, Givens is undeniably an introvert, someone who is well nigh impossible for strangers to get a read on and whose friends and loved ones often struggle to understand. He’s also someone who, like Sherlock, is constantly hyper aware of his surroundings and often puts together major chains of reasoning using minuscule clues. Another similarity, one that is often overlooked in Holmes’s character, is a wry sense of humor that takes delight in the absurdities of the human condition.
When it comes to interactions, Raylan’s friendships are very few and very meaningful. Though he doesn’t exactly have a Watson, he certainly has a Moriarty, in the form of friend-turned-archenemy Boyd Crowder. He also, arguably, has an Irene Adler in the character of the beautiful, unstable Ava Crowder, who is alternately friend and foe, sometimes both at the same time.
Perhaps even more significantly, both characters share an internal moral code that doesn’t always dovetail with the perspective of official law enforcement. In Milvertonian style, what kicks off the series “Justified” is Givens unhesitatingly dispatching a crook with his admirable fast draw. Holmes is, of course, well known for taking the law into his own hands both to exact mercy and justice.
In the superficial sense, or perhaps not quite so superficial as it originally seems, is the characters’ shared penchant for hat wearing. In Givens’s case, he’s frequently seen wearing a 10-gallon, beige, felt cowboy hat, regardless of the fact that he’s neither around other hat wearers nor anywhere near the West. When asked why, he simply says, “I tried it on one day, and it fit.” In similar unwitting style, Holmes’s character has become identified with the deerstalker in a way that doesn’t reflect its (lack of) presence in the canon but is now inseparable from the image of who Holmes is. The reason I quibble with the idea that either man’s hat is an insignificant detail is because of what the overall idea of hat wearing symbolizes in both characters. For Givens, a cowboy hat is entirely out of context in his circumstances but is somehow brought into context by its integration into his own personality. In a similar sense, a deerstalker hat isn’t a common fixture in Victorian London, but its presence in the persona of Sherlock Holmes gives it pride of place. For each character, hat wearing seems to symbolize a lack of caring one whit what anyone else thinks about his personal choices, as long as they integrate with his own internal view of himself.
To what does all this tend? While it’s an interesting academic exercise to compare Holmes with other characters, there’s more to it than that. Raylan Givens isn’t just a single, original character; he’s emblematic of the very idea of the iconic Western hero–resolute, self-directed, wryly humorous, and starkly brave. As I began to compare him to Holmes, I realized just how much literature’s (and screen’s) greatest detective has in common with the great heroes of the Western genre, the creations of Leonard and Louis L’Amour and the iconic portrayals of actors like Gary Cooper and John Wayne.
Sure, the trappings are different. Holmes doesn’t drawl, and he doesn’t practice his fast draw (though the scene in which he proves his strength by bending a fire poker could be straight out of any Western). He’s not usually confronting mustachioed villains in black hats. And yet, there’s something so very similar in the way characters like Marshall Will Kane, the lonely hero of the classic High Noon, quietly go about their larger-than-life business and the way Holmes goes about being the one man who can make London safe. They’re vigilantes, in a way, but it’s more than that.
Westerns, generally, are about an impossible task and the one man (or sometimes group of men) who can accomplish it. They share some kinship with superhero tales, but in another sense, they’re the opposite. They’re not about fanfare and fame’ they’re about duty–the job, the man, and the way he accomplishes the thing no one else is capable of doing. That’s exactly what the Holmes stories are about, too. People often want to make Holmes a superhero, and I understand the connection and have argued for it myself at times, but really, he’s far too quiet for that. He’s about getting the job done and riding into the sunset before the congratulations get too maudlin. Raylan Givens (and his fellow Western heroes) recognize that their abilities dictate their purposes. They can, so they do; it’s that simple. People often wonder about Sherlock Holmes’s motivations, but really, it comes down to that. He knows what he can do, and he does it, his purposes dictated by his incredible abilities.
There’s a scene that takes place fairly early in “Justified,” when Givens risks life and limb to rescue Ava from a kidnapper. The situation turns convoluted, but both of them eventually escape.
“Thank you,” says Ava.
“For what?” Givens asks.
For what, indeed. For Raylan Givens, WIll Kane, and any Western hero worth his salt, saving the good people and dispatching the bad is a job–often an epic-scale, Herculean task–but when the day is done and he’s knocking back a drink, he can smile wryly because it’s all in a day’s work and a duty completed. Reminds me quite a bit of the man who finishes the most epic feats of reasoning and bravery by filling his pipe, sitting down by the fire, and putting his feet up in 221b Baker Street.
See, the greatest heroes aren’t the ones who show you the sweat, blood, and tears or ask for the public accolades. They’re the ones telling you the tale with a half-smirk once the dirty work is done, as if it was all nothing. At least, that’s what Sherlock Holmes would have you believe. Not that he’d ever let you call him a hero, and I’m pretty well sure Raylan Givens wouldn’t either.
How to get my newest book:
(Book 3) The Detective The Woman and The Silent Hive is available from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide from Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Amazon Kindle.
How to get the previous two books in the series:
(Book 1) The Detective and the Woman: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon,Barnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle , iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and Kobo.
(Book 2) The Detective, The Woman and The Winking Tree: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes is available from all good bookstores and e-bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon,Barnes and Noble and Classic Specialities – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle , iTunes(iPad/iPhone) and Kobo.
