The Secret Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes

Secret Sherlock Holmes #2

by June Thomson

This collection of stories, allegedly written by Doctor Watson, includes the tragic tale of Lord Deerswood's unwanted legacy, the account of the jealous contortionist, the affair of the beautiful housekeeper, the deadly doings of the costumed Russian, the Aladdin's Cave episode, and the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the deadly Sumatran rats. The discovery of these Sherlock Holmes cases - one of which reunites Holmes with brother Mycroft - represents a treasure trove for Baker Street devotees.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

June Thomson, a former teacher, has published 24 crime novels, 18 of which feature Detective Chief Inspector Jack Finch and his sergeant, Tom Boyce. She has also written six short story collections of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Her books have been translated into many languages. She lives in St Albans in Hertfordshire.

Reviews

[Gus Scholtz]

Great group of stories. Not only does Thomson sticks to the canon she gives notes that relate it to the canon . My favorite was The Case of the Parasol Wonder . I have read about a dozen takes on the Sumatran Rat and this one in this group was one of the best.

[Read1000books]

Another series of short mystery stories based on the unrecorded cases mentioned in the original 60 adventures of Sherlock Holmes recorded by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Yes, we play "The Game" here). For some reason this edition has no table of contents; for those interested the titles are all "The Case Of": The Paradol Chamber, The Hammersmith Wonder, The Maplestead Magpie, The Harley Street Specialist, The Old Russian Woman [very old i.e. long and boring], The Camberwell Poisoning, and The Samatran Rat. The author had the "voices" of the characters and the period setting right, but most of the tales just fell flat. Certainly not the best Sherlockian pastiches I've ever read (that so far unsurpassed honor still goes to "The Exploits Of Sherlock Holmes" by Adrian Conan Doyle & John Dickson Carr; see my review), but not the worst either (that dubious distinction without a doubt goes to "The Shadow Of Reichenbach Falls" by John R.King; see my review).

[carl sireno]

A superb collection of Holmes stories that would leave the great Conan-Doyle brimming with pride.

Quite simply one of the best collections of post-Doyle stories I have had the pleasure of reading. Written uncannily like the great man himself and 5-stars doesn't really do them any justice at all. I would recommend this book to any avid Holmes-lover as an ideal continuation of the Sherlock Holmes legacy.

[Outlander]

Another small collection of seven short tales well worthy of the four stars. The stories ranged from good to great, I especially enjoyed this version of the Giant Rat of Sumatra (so much better than the P D Gilbert offering) so an all round good read.

[Janel]

Thomson had me hooked from the danger, excitement to the true emotion given each character.

[D. Wickles]

I love Sherlock Holmes stories and these did not disappoint me. I'll be looking for more.

[Stephen]

Another enjoyable collection of stories.

Even manages to fit in The Giant Rat of Sumatra! (This is far from being the strongest of the stories though.)

[Helen M]

Loved reading new stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.

[Rena Sherwood]

Yet another attempt to create the "missing cases" that Arthur Conan Doyle hinted at in the Sherlock Holmes Canon but never got around to writing, such as the case of the giant rat of Sumatra. Only one of these short stories is a proper mystery -- and it is incredibly easy to solve. Which was surprisingly annoying.



This book nicely mimics Doyle at times, but overall it falls way short of the work of many other pastiche writers. The footnotes wound up being very distracting and did not add to the overall text. Holmes also preaches at times in a very uncharacteristic way. Still, this is better than nothing if you need a Sherlock Holmes fix and can't get anything else.

[Paula Calhau Silvestre]

Circulo de Leitores

[Alan Brindley-Taylor]

I liked it.

[Vidya Sankar]

A good light read!!!

[Vikas Datta]

Superbly done.... brings the Great Detective back to life with all his powers....