Review - The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
Warning - contains some minor spoilers.
As I have stated once or twice before, I have two main requirements from a Sherlockian pastiche (or pastiche collection). The first requirement is that it must not involve crossovers with characters from the work of another author. The second is that it must inhabit the correct environment which means no demons, no fairies and no parallel worlds.
The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes by Gerard Kelly fulfils the first criterion and only once fails the second.
All-in-all this is an above-average collection and, in my opinion, is superior to The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes. Its superiority rests not so much in the quality of its plots or its presentation but in the fact that it is closer in style to the stories penned by Conan Doyle. I stress closer rather than close. It is also well edited which cannot always be said for other pastiches.
However, I do have a number of issues with the collection (and I recognise that these may just be matters of personal taste or me being something of a pedant).
There is an inappropriate level of informality displayed in some of the stories and this manifests itself in two main ways. The first is that the author occasionally has Watson refer to Holmes as Sherlock, which would never happen (except in the modern television series), and the author even refers to Holmes as Sherlock outside of character dialogue. To put this in perspective, I only noticed this in one story.
The second manifestation features Holmes occasionally referring to clients by their first names (usually at the client's request). Now even if a client did request this form of address I cannot see Conan Doyle's Holmes agreeing to it. Such a practice was against the convention of the time. To the best of my recollection, throughout the original canon, Holmes only ever addressed one adult by his first name and that was his brother Mycroft. The only other characters to be referred to by their first names were children such as Billy the pageboy. So having Holmes on first-name terms (if only one-way) with his clients just sounds and reads wrong.
There are other odd errors too. In The Riddle of the Carstairs Legacy Holmes's client successfully comes into an inheritance thanks to Holmes and the story concludes with his being referred to as Lord Carstairs. Given that we are told from quite early on that the man is illegitimate it would not be possible for him to claim the title even though he could be left the estate. This was a careless error on the author's part. The story was also very similar, in many respects, to Conan Doyle's Musgrave Ritual. The idea of a riddle/puzzle being the key to a family treasure/secret is common to both stories and Kelly uses it again in another of the stories in the book.
The Mysterious Disappearance of the Good Ship Alicia was a good scientific explanation of a maritime phenomenon but as a story it was somewhat dull being presented as a report by Holmes to the admiralty and consequently it was devoid of any character interaction.
The penultimate story in the collection is the one that failed for me and it was a shame as the idea was good. The storyline featured Mrs Hudson being saved by Holmes and Watson from the clutches of a fraudulent medium. It read very well but was let down by its postscript which had Watson encountering a 'real' ghost and assisting in laying it to rest.
This little slip is made up for by the concluding story The Peddler of Death in which a villain from earlier in the book returns. This helped the stories to come across as linked rather than isolated which was a very good idea.
The Paddington Pyromaniac was, for me, the stand-out story of the collection and I rather enjoyed The Mystery of the Locked Study. The former, in particular, really impressed me and was by far the most original story in the book.
One must also not overlook the illustrations which are also the work of the author. They are very good, are not overused but would have benefited from being more in the Paget mould.
Even though I consider this to be a superior book to The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes I would give it, in Amazon style, four stars which is the same as I awarded to the aforementioned book. The reason being that the other book's greater attention to cosmetic detail (in terms of visual style and illustrations) caused it to regain marks that it would have lost had the stories been measured on pure style and plot. I disagree with a reviewer on Amazon who said that you would not know that these stories had not been written by Conan Doyle if it had not been for the name on the cover. I think it is overtly clear that these are not by Conan Doyle. This is in part due to the negatives I have mentioned above. However, like scratches on a lens, they are possible to focus through and you should still find this book an enjoyable experience.
As I have stated once or twice before, I have two main requirements from a Sherlockian pastiche (or pastiche collection). The first requirement is that it must not involve crossovers with characters from the work of another author. The second is that it must inhabit the correct environment which means no demons, no fairies and no parallel worlds.
The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes by Gerard Kelly fulfils the first criterion and only once fails the second.
All-in-all this is an above-average collection and, in my opinion, is superior to The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes. Its superiority rests not so much in the quality of its plots or its presentation but in the fact that it is closer in style to the stories penned by Conan Doyle. I stress closer rather than close. It is also well edited which cannot always be said for other pastiches.
However, I do have a number of issues with the collection (and I recognise that these may just be matters of personal taste or me being something of a pedant).
There is an inappropriate level of informality displayed in some of the stories and this manifests itself in two main ways. The first is that the author occasionally has Watson refer to Holmes as Sherlock, which would never happen (except in the modern television series), and the author even refers to Holmes as Sherlock outside of character dialogue. To put this in perspective, I only noticed this in one story.
The second manifestation features Holmes occasionally referring to clients by their first names (usually at the client's request). Now even if a client did request this form of address I cannot see Conan Doyle's Holmes agreeing to it. Such a practice was against the convention of the time. To the best of my recollection, throughout the original canon, Holmes only ever addressed one adult by his first name and that was his brother Mycroft. The only other characters to be referred to by their first names were children such as Billy the pageboy. So having Holmes on first-name terms (if only one-way) with his clients just sounds and reads wrong.
There are other odd errors too. In The Riddle of the Carstairs Legacy Holmes's client successfully comes into an inheritance thanks to Holmes and the story concludes with his being referred to as Lord Carstairs. Given that we are told from quite early on that the man is illegitimate it would not be possible for him to claim the title even though he could be left the estate. This was a careless error on the author's part. The story was also very similar, in many respects, to Conan Doyle's Musgrave Ritual. The idea of a riddle/puzzle being the key to a family treasure/secret is common to both stories and Kelly uses it again in another of the stories in the book.
The Mysterious Disappearance of the Good Ship Alicia was a good scientific explanation of a maritime phenomenon but as a story it was somewhat dull being presented as a report by Holmes to the admiralty and consequently it was devoid of any character interaction.
The penultimate story in the collection is the one that failed for me and it was a shame as the idea was good. The storyline featured Mrs Hudson being saved by Holmes and Watson from the clutches of a fraudulent medium. It read very well but was let down by its postscript which had Watson encountering a 'real' ghost and assisting in laying it to rest.
This little slip is made up for by the concluding story The Peddler of Death in which a villain from earlier in the book returns. This helped the stories to come across as linked rather than isolated which was a very good idea.
The Paddington Pyromaniac was, for me, the stand-out story of the collection and I rather enjoyed The Mystery of the Locked Study. The former, in particular, really impressed me and was by far the most original story in the book.
One must also not overlook the illustrations which are also the work of the author. They are very good, are not overused but would have benefited from being more in the Paget mould.
Even though I consider this to be a superior book to The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes I would give it, in Amazon style, four stars which is the same as I awarded to the aforementioned book. The reason being that the other book's greater attention to cosmetic detail (in terms of visual style and illustrations) caused it to regain marks that it would have lost had the stories been measured on pure style and plot. I disagree with a reviewer on Amazon who said that you would not know that these stories had not been written by Conan Doyle if it had not been for the name on the cover. I think it is overtly clear that these are not by Conan Doyle. This is in part due to the negatives I have mentioned above. However, like scratches on a lens, they are possible to focus through and you should still find this book an enjoyable experience.
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