Steve Emecz's Blog: Musings of a Sherlockian Publisher, page 4

Review of The Vatican Cameos

“… The story is crafted not only in the style of Sherlock’s creator, but rife with all the trappings, starting with the character traits of Holmes and Watson and their procedural approach to problem solving, on to the imaginative means of maneuvering around inevitable hurdles, and down to minutia that makes the storytelling indisputably authentic…


Ryan has captured not only Holmes’ voice but the pattern of his thinking process and logic, and the mystery is laced with an abundance of Holmes’ trademark characteristics and arcane knowledge. (Holmes displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of the Vatican’s architecture, for instance.)

At the story’s center is a papal primer that provides the reader with a cultural history of the political struggle between Church and State.

Watson’s narrative perfectly captures Holmes’ arrogance and trademark knowledge of the obscure. Once you’ve read “The Vatican Cameos,” you’ll find yourself eager awaiting the next in Ryan’s series.

As am I.”

Reviewed by Fran Wood

The Vatican Cameos is available for from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, 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). Also available on Audible.

Review of The Twisted Blackmailer

“...If you decide to give this book a try, don’t be afraid that you’ll miss the Sherlock Holmes we know and love. Our favorite detective may be a girl in the modern world, but the essential Sherlock Holmes is lovingly present on each page – maddening, endearing, hilarious, and brilliant.
Alternate universes can go terribly wrong or very, very right. Garrison has begun crafting an enjoyable Sherlockian AU that I’ll be excited to visit many times in the future. (Twisted Blackmailer is Book 1 of a planned series.)
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to go to high school with Sherlock Holmes, this is certainly the book for you. If you’re leery of non-traditional approaches, don’t be put off. The Twisted Blackmailer is a beautifully-written book that tells an engaging mystery story involving a Holmes and Watson who are as irresistible a duo as ever, while teasing upcoming mysteries for future stories to solve. Hard to put down, and I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Reviewed by Amy Thomas

The Twisted Blackmailer – Watson and Holmes Book 1 is available for pre order from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Kindle.

Mrs. Hudson – Who Are You Really?

Mrs. Hudson – Who Are You Really?

 By Barry S Brown

The mystery surrounding Mrs. Hudson’s identity has been well and frequently described. Her ancestry is unknown—although suspected by some to be Scottish; her age is unknown—although she is most often characterized as being in her middle years; a description of the woman’s physical characteristics is lacking—beyond a single reference to her “stately tread"—whatever that may mean; her marital status is unknown although speculation is rife—she has been described as a widow, as separated, and as simply bearing the honorific accorded women in  certain occupations. Finally, even her first name is unknown—although, again, there are two schools of thought. Some argue she is the Martha who follows Holmes into his Sussex retirement, some that the servant, known only as Martha, is another person entirely.

What we do know from Watson’s own words is that Mrs. Hudson is the "long-suffering"landlady at 221B Baker Street, an extraordinarily patient woman able to tolerate her lodger’s "incredible untidiness, … addiction to music at strange hours, … occasional revolver practice within doors, … weird and malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him ….”

Watson reports as well that Mrs. Hudson “stood in the deepest awe of him [Holmes] and never dared to interfere with him ….” It seems reasonable to conclude that her forbearance may, in some part, have been related to Holmes’ penchant for indoor target practice. Regardless, the good doctor goes on to report that Mrs. Hudson was “fond of him,” and, indeed, her good feelings can be seen in her despair about his apparently imminent demise in The Dying Detective, and her willingness to risk life and limb to help Holmes capture a murderer in The Empty House.

In the end, however, the references to Mrs. Hudson are most remarkable for their scarcity. As described in James C. O'Leary’s informative blog, Mrs. Hudson appears in only 11 of the 60 stories describing Holmes’ cases, speaks just three times, and is accorded a mere 26 lines of dialogue. We can assume, given the characteristics of her lodgers and the nature of their activities, her silence would not be for want of something to say.

But, as luck would have it, the good woman could not be restrained for long. As rarely as Mrs. Hudson appears in the Canon, just that frequently does she appear in film versions of the Holmes stories. In America, the first significant movie series based on the Holmes stories are the 13 films released between 1939 and 1945, starring Basil Rathbone as the ever coolheaded Holmes, and Nigel Bruce as the ever (and inappropriately) bumbling Watson. Whatever may be thought of those films with regard to their faithfulness to Sir Arthur’s writings, their popularity and influence would appear inarguable. And, in contrast to her infrequent appearances in print, Mrs. Hudson appears in nine of the 13 films. Moreover, the actress, Mary Gordon, who portrayed Mrs. Hudson on the screen, portrayed her with regularity on the popular Sherlock Holmes radio program, which aired during the same period the films were made, and which also starred Rathbone and Bruce. Later films, starring Peter Cushing, Roger Moore and Robert Downey, Junior in the role of Holmes, similarly made a place in the Baker Street household for Mrs. Hudson. In a word, whatever might have been Sir Arthur’s intentions, Mrs. Hudson became a constant presence—if not, to be sure, a commanding one.

(Mary Gordon as Mrs Hudson)

Indeed, she typically appears as more housekeeper and cook than landlady. The confusion is not restricted to movie portrayals. In Sir Arthur’s The Naval Treaty, Mrs. Hudson serves Holmes, Watson and their guest the tea, coffee and breakfast she has prepared. And Watson’s reference to Holmes’ “incredible untidiness” suggests that maintaining a clean home was a part of her housekeeping responsibility as well. At other times, however, Mrs. Hudson is portrayed as the master of her domain, having at least one servant available to her (Study in Scarlet).

As Catherine Cooke described in her excellent article in the Baker Street Journal, the inconsistency in reporting about Mrs. Hudson has proven frustrating to devotees of the Canon. Never is that frustration more evident than when Mrs. Hudson disappears altogether, to be replaced, however briefly, by an interloper assuming her duties. InScandal in Bohemia, the first of Sir Arthur’s short stories, a Mrs. Turner enters the Baker Street household without explanation or apology. Those of us who are solidly in Mrs. Hudson’s corner are tempted to assume that Sir Arthur dropped her for the moment in favor of the colorless Mrs. Turner lest Mrs. Hudson’s formidable presence overshadow that of Irene Adler, the (other) woman. Admittedly, this interpretation has not yet gained widespread acceptance. Instead, as Ms. Cooke describes, a number of rather tortured explanations have been put forth to account for Mrs. Hudson’s absence.

Mrs. Turner has been seen as a friend filling in for Mrs. Hudson, a maid working for Mrs. Hudson, and as Mrs. Hudson herself during a brief fling at marital bliss, and before discovering that her Mr. Turner was already someone else’s Mr. Turner, after which she removed herself from the bigamist relationship and restored her former name. Perhaps most creatively, Mrs. Hudson has been seen as selling 221B to a Mrs. Turner, who soon revealed herself as so unsuitable to the task that Holmes bought back the lodgings, and hired Mrs. Hudson to fetch, carry and cook. Ms. Cooke rightfully debunks these improbable scenarios, preferring to see the unexpected and brief appearance of Mrs. Turner as nothing more than “a slip of the pen from Watson.” Well, maybe.

Given what we already know about the paucity of reporting about Mrs. Hudson in the Canon, it seems likely that the sudden appearance of Mrs. Turner, and her equally sudden disappearance, reflect an unconcern about the role of landlady/ housekeeper, and inattention to whomever was playing that role. A secondary, if not tertiary figure, reduced to near anonymity and cameo performances, there seems no more reason to be concerned about a constancy in her character than there is in delineating that character. As described above, it is only later that Mrs. Hudson comes regularly on stage, although still fitting neatly into the background.

There is, of course, another school of thought, this one of a conspiratorial (if not downright paranoid) bent that sees an effort to suppress from general awareness the true contribution of Mrs. Hudson to the workings of Baker Street’s consulting detective agency. That school—in which I confess I am the prime, if not sole student—views Mrs. Hudson as the unfortunate victim of the Victorian bias against women generally, and women of a certain class particularly. A victim, but not a person to be victimized. In this scenario, Mrs. Hudson becomes the mistress of her own fate, organizing the consulting detective agency based on her extensive knowledge and her capacity for informed observation, and recruiting Sherlock Holmes as the male figurehead essential to her agency. Watson will not tell you, but should you wish to know more, you can visit Mrs. Hudson of Baker Street on Facebook, or go toBarrySBrown.

Whatever the speculation, what is clear is that Mrs. Hudson presents a nearly blank canvas on which anything may be drawn. She may be a landlady / housekeeper maintaining a home for two occasionally appreciative lodgers, but there’s also the possibility she is a great deal more.

Barry Brown is the author of the Mrs Hudson series of novels including Mrs Hudson in New York which is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine,Amazon USA, Amazon UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository .In ebook format it is inKindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

An Evening with Sherlock Holmes

The launch event for Volume III of The Redacted Sherlock Holmes is at 6.30 on Thursday 3 November 2016 at The Lecture Club, 9 Ilchester Place, W14 8AA, UK (nearest stations Kensington Olympia and High Street Kensington).

The program of events is as follows:

6.30 to 7.00 – arrival and taking seats

7.00 to 7.15 - Scene 1 from Dr Anstruther’s Practice – the first story in The Redacted Sherlock Holmes Volume III

7.15 to 7.30 – Undershaw – Arthur Conan Doyle’s old house - Steve Emecz, Director of MX Publishing and fundraiser, will give an illustrated talk on the history of, Undershaw near Hindhead, and an update on its re-opening as Stepping Stones School in September

7.30 to 7.45 – Thinking like Sherlock Holmes in Business - The Case of the Mexican Cyclist and The Case of the Boomerang Manager

7.45 to 8.00 – Scene 2 from Dr Anstruther’s Practice.

8.00 to 8.30 – networking and book buying

Tickets cost £12 if bought in advance (please print off and pay on arrival at 9 Ilchester Place). The price includes drinks and nibbles.

Tickets are £15 if bought at the door on the night.

For tickets click here.

Peter E. Blau reviews Welcome To Undershaw

“Luke Benjamen Kuhns’ WELCOME TO UNDERSHAW (London: MX Publishing, 2016; 107pp., hardbound) is subtitled as “a brief history of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: the man who created Sherlock Holmes” and offers a well-illustrated examination of Conan Doyle’s early life, the history of the house, and an interesting exploration of what happened while he was living there.  It's nicely done indeed, and will be welcomed by anyone who has visited or plans to visited Undershaw.”

Welcome To Undershaw is available for pre order from all good bookstores including  Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository.

New review of Close To Holmes

“As a London tour guide, writing a walk about Sherlock Holmes and trying to track down actual and fictional locations in the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was no easy feat. I needed to get into the head of ACD and look at his view of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I didn’t achieve that, however Alistair Duncan’s “Close to Holmes” gave me a good pen-picture of Victorian London that ACD would have known and where he probably placed Sherlock Holmes adventures in London. To channel a well-known United States politician, when tracking down Sherlock Holmes locations there are ‘known knowns’, i.e. actual places like Barts Hospital. There are 'known unknowns’, fictional locations based on real ones, e.g 'Where is Saxe-coburg Square?’. Tracking these, and better still, having your theories accepted, is a never-ending game for Sherlockians. In “Close to Holmes” Alistair Duncan informatively entertainingly describes the 'known knowns’ and elegantly extrapolates without lurching into speculation, the possibilities of the 'known unknowns’. A companion/gazetteer that should be in easy reach on every Sherlockian’s bookshelf.”

Close to Holmes is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA,  Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK,  Waterstones UK,  Book Depository(free worldwide delivery), Amazon Kindle,  Kobo, Nook  and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

Review of The Mystery of the Scarlet Homes of Sherlock

“Several issues ago, I reviewed an impressive book on the history of pediatric surgery by Dr. John Raffensperger, now retired  to Sanibel Island, Florida. Dr. Raffensperger continues to pursue his scholarly love of medical history and “Sherlockiana”.  in that role he bid on and won an old footlocker of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle auctioned at Sotheby’s. Finding the contents disappointing until he discovered three leather bound journals hidden away in a small compartment, he became enthralled. He took the first of the journals, written in 1878 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle while he was a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, to a fellow medical historian and now co-author, Prof. Richard Krevolin  [who lives in California] for further editing. Together, they have written an engaging novel: The Mystery of the SCARLET Homes of Sherlock: The Lost Diaries of Sir  Arthur Conan Doyle, Volume One.

The story begins with Doyle serving as a medical clerk to the esteemed Scottish surgeon, Dr. Joseph Bell and their travels to the United States to help solve a series of murders in Chicago. Filled with fast moving adventures, medical examinations and theories suggesting bizarre murders, torture, underlying tales of remaining Civil War bitterness, attempted assassinations, and more, this should intrigue other Sherlock Holmes fans as well as mystery readers who appreciate a good book.

295 pages, published in 2016 in the U.S. by MX Publishing and copyrighted by Richard Krevolin and John Raffensperger. Available from Amazon and your neighborhood bookstore.”

Reviewed by  Lucy Crain, MD. MPH, FAAP

The Senior Bulletin of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Volume 25, #4, Fall, 2016

The Mystery of The Scarlet Homes Of Sherlock is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Kindle.

Review of You Buy Bones

“This is like no Sherlock Holmes story I have ever read. Believe me, that is not a bad thing to say. It is an absolute masterpiece!…

This fast paced thriller plunges the read into the seamy underside of the medical profession. There have been objects stolen from the Black Museum of Scotland Yard, objects that are human remains. The ghosts from the dissecting rooms where Burke and Hare made their blight on history can be felt through the reactions of Watson, Lestrade, and Bradstreet’s investigation. The case draws to a final conclusion with Watson’s grim discoveries in Edinburgh. The book will make the reader breathless to find out what happens next!

I give this book five stars plus!”

Reviewed by Raven’s Reviews

You Buy Bones is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, 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 Chartered Institute of Journalists's review of Sherlock Holmes and The Sword of Osman

“The Magus-like figure of Sherlock Holmes – the inscrutable detective, almost superhuman in his intellect and asceticism – has caught the imagination of writers, dramatists, film makers, and a worldwide readership. The London fogs of the Victorian-Edwardian era, the bizarre mysteries which they conceal, Holmes’s extraordinary ability to see beyond the range and vision of mere mortals – all provide an unending source of inspiration.

It is as if we cannot leave this world: as if each tale of Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson, is never enough. Thankfully, writer and Institute member Tim Symonds is on hand to ensure that the casebook of the great detective continues.

 

Re-imagining Holmes is a great art, and it must be said that Tim Symonds has, in his latest work – The Sword of Osman – taken the formula to new levels and to a new geography entirely. We are just eight years away from the outbreak of the Great War, and Holmes finds himself on a foreign mission, on the very edge of Europe and Asia; solving a murderous conspiracy upon which the stability of the tottering Ottoman Empire of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid depends.

To evade detection themselves, Holmes and Watson arrive in Asia-Minor disguised in Royal Naval uniforms, but for the great man of Baker Street (and for Tim Symonds)authenticity – and a withering observation from Holmes – is everything…

 

“I awoke next morning to find Holmes changing into the Commander’s uniform and pulling on his boots. I flung myself into the Surgeon Lieutenant’s dress uniform…A porter unloaded our luggage and placed it alongside us in a cab to the harbour.

Holmes murmured, ‘Watson, I understand old Army habits die hard but if you are to pass as a naval officer you must rid yourself of the custom of placing a handkerchief in your sleeve. It might well be remarked upon by the crew.’”

 

Once in the near-Orient, our heroes are surrounded by the sights and sounds of this exotic, yet sinister land – and full marks to the author for his love of scenery and landscape-painting:

 

“… I looked out of the carriage at the passing sights. Small, clean-eared Arabian horses plunged their faces into great deep basins, lustily lapping the water. Rows of fruit-shops offered apricots, cherries and plums from large baskets… A Cypress tree in the courtyard of a mosque and a stand of Oriental Plane…”

 

Having laid out the stage, Tim Symonds steers our detective from the dusty streets to the Sultan’s palace– which seems like a vision from an Arabian fairytale. Despite his power, the ruler fears conspiracy and overthrow from every corner and shadow, especially as the unique and priceless Sword of Osman – “only one sword smith [says Holmes] on God’s good earth could wield hammer and tongs to fashion so beautiful a blade” – has disappeared, to be replaced by a fake.

But who could have struck such a blow? As Holmes observes to the bewildered Sultan: “You are the best-guarded sovereign in the world. High walls surround you. Every inch of this vast palace is under supervision… The only passage of entry to the sword was through two consecutive pairs of doors, one of brass and one of iron… Each night the keys are handed to the Chief Black Eunuch. Given the Head Gardener’s extra two thousand pairs of eyes, it’s impossible for an outsider to remove the sword.”

 

And so, take your seat for a superb mystery, which goes to the very heart of mysterious nocturnal apparition, with flames flickering from its body; deadly poisons and secret messages; suspicion and suspects on all sides, as Holmes, gloriously revived by Tim Symonds, undertakes one of his most audacious searches and missions to date.”

Reviewed by  Stuart Millson, The Chartered Institute of Journalists 

Sherlock Holmes and the Sword of Osman is available from all good bookstores includingThe Strand Magazine, 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).

Peter E. Blau reviews The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part IV

“THE MX BOOK OF NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES: PART IV–2016 ANNUAL (London: MX Publishing, 2016; 473 pp.) is the latest in the series edited by David Marcum, and it is an excellent companion to the first three volumes (Feb 16 #7), with almost two dozen traditional pastiches, a poetic toast, and a radio script; the authors, some old hands at the game, and some new to it, maintain the high quality of the series, and it’s nice news indeed that there are more volumes to come.”

The MX Books of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part IV is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, 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).