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Fu Manchu #15
Ten Years Beyond Baker Street:
Barcelona. 21 cm. 395 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Colección 'Coleccion contemporánea', numero coleccion(109). Traducción de Antonio Padilla Esteban. Traducción Ten years beyond Baker street. Padilla, Antonio. 1964-. Colección contemporánea (Editorial Planeta). 109 .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 8432040606
339 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 30, 2011
One of the best "post Doyle" Holmes mysteries I've ever read. Plenty of action along with twists,turns,humor,and yes,even a little bit of sex. The main selling point though is the powerful sense of atmosphere created by the author Cay Van Ash that draws you in from the first page and never lets you leave. A fun read.
Currently reading
April 14, 2009catalogued
June 3, 2013
The best of the Holmes pastiches?
I was recommended to read this book by a fellow Amazon reviewer after I suggested that, in House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz had caught the most authentic Watsonian voice of all the pastiches I had read. Having now read it, I agree that this book, although not in fact narrated by Watson, catches the tone of the original canon very well.
A blending of the Holmes and Fu Manchu worlds, we see Holmes called in to help Dr Petrie track down his missing friend Nayland Smith, presumably abducted by the fiendish Fu Manchu for purposes unknown. Although Fu Manchu does make an appearance, as does Watson briefly, the book mainly follows Holmes and Petrie as they hunt down their adversary through the wilds of Wales. Petrie’s observations of the great man at work are slightly more critical than those of the ever-faithful Watson, but he comes to admire him just as much.
The characterisation is excellent as are the descriptive passages, particularly of the Welsh landscape and people. There are some excellent action sequences, such as when Holmes and Petrie are in danger of being trapped in an abandoned mine, and the climax is suitably thrilling. However I did feel the book dragged in places where for long periods of time nothing much really happened. Also being more of an action thriller rather than a mystery novel, there weren’t many opportunities for Holmes to use his brilliant deductive skills. The semi-naked dancing and slave girls(!) jarred as out of place in a Holmes story, but I assume this is a carry-over from the Fu Manchu novels, which I haven’t read (nor indeed did this book inspire me to remedy that).
Overall though, this is a very strong entry in the world of Holmes’ pastiches - a shame that it’s out of print, but if you can get hold of a used copy, then recommended. I’m still looking for one that gets Watson’s voice, the plotting, the fine writing and crucially the Holmes/Watson relationship just right though (and with NO love interest or female assistants for Holmes!). Any suggestions?
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
I was recommended to read this book by a fellow Amazon reviewer after I suggested that, in House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz had caught the most authentic Watsonian voice of all the pastiches I had read. Having now read it, I agree that this book, although not in fact narrated by Watson, catches the tone of the original canon very well.
A blending of the Holmes and Fu Manchu worlds, we see Holmes called in to help Dr Petrie track down his missing friend Nayland Smith, presumably abducted by the fiendish Fu Manchu for purposes unknown. Although Fu Manchu does make an appearance, as does Watson briefly, the book mainly follows Holmes and Petrie as they hunt down their adversary through the wilds of Wales. Petrie’s observations of the great man at work are slightly more critical than those of the ever-faithful Watson, but he comes to admire him just as much.
The characterisation is excellent as are the descriptive passages, particularly of the Welsh landscape and people. There are some excellent action sequences, such as when Holmes and Petrie are in danger of being trapped in an abandoned mine, and the climax is suitably thrilling. However I did feel the book dragged in places where for long periods of time nothing much really happened. Also being more of an action thriller rather than a mystery novel, there weren’t many opportunities for Holmes to use his brilliant deductive skills. The semi-naked dancing and slave girls(!) jarred as out of place in a Holmes story, but I assume this is a carry-over from the Fu Manchu novels, which I haven’t read (nor indeed did this book inspire me to remedy that).
Overall though, this is a very strong entry in the world of Holmes’ pastiches - a shame that it’s out of print, but if you can get hold of a used copy, then recommended. I’m still looking for one that gets Watson’s voice, the plotting, the fine writing and crucially the Holmes/Watson relationship just right though (and with NO love interest or female assistants for Holmes!). Any suggestions?
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
November 3, 2012
brrrr... creepy worm at the bottom of the bed has stayed with me !!
October 18, 2020
Sherlock Holmes I am well acquainted with, as well as stories by others that introduce new adventures of the famous detective. This one of them. In many of these new adventures Homes meets up with some other famous literary icon, the most famous I recall being Dracula. In this one he square off against Fu Manchu.
I did learn something new: I was not aware Fu Manchu was a literary creation, I always thought he was just a creation of B movies. But the crafty villain is the subject of numerous books and stories and relentlessly pursued by his detective and doctor duo.
In this specific story the detective is kidnapped by Fu Manchu's forces, and Dr. Petrie enlists the help of Holmes to find him. In doing so, they uncover a fiendish plot, which I guess is par for the course for Fu Manchu stories.
I did learn something new: I was not aware Fu Manchu was a literary creation, I always thought he was just a creation of B movies. But the crafty villain is the subject of numerous books and stories and relentlessly pursued by his detective and doctor duo.
In this specific story the detective is kidnapped by Fu Manchu's forces, and Dr. Petrie enlists the help of Holmes to find him. In doing so, they uncover a fiendish plot, which I guess is par for the course for Fu Manchu stories.
March 5, 2020
Very enjoyable Sherlock Holmes pastiche pitting the great detective (and new sidekick Dr Petrie) against the villain Fu Manchu.
At 435 pages, the book is a slow read but is very good throughout, I could well imagine Sherlock coming out of retirement for one final case.
The only niggle is some plot elements are left dangling (presumably for the the next book in the series).
At 435 pages, the book is a slow read but is very good throughout, I could well imagine Sherlock coming out of retirement for one final case.
The only niggle is some plot elements are left dangling (presumably for the the next book in the series).
January 1, 2023
Pastiche: Sherlock Holmes meets the evil Dr Fu Manchu. Very well written- captures the spirit of both Conan Doyle and Sax Rohmer (author of the original Fu Manchu books).
August 8, 2016
Entre los mejores pastiches de Holmes.
June 14, 2018
Nayland Smith is missing and Dr. Petrie is desperate to find him. Chance leads him to the world's greatest consulting detective (retired), Sherlock Holmes. Reluctant at first, Holmes is convinced by the death of someone near him to take up the case. Naturally it becomes clear that Smith has been kidnapped by Dr. Fu-Manchu, and is soon to be be spirited away to the Doctor's genius farm in China. The chase leads Dr. Petrie and Holmes to the wild foreign land of Wales, where the two try to save various targets of Fu-Manchu while dealing with incurious local police and the strange, unintelligible natives. They face many dangers, including poison, Burmese stranglers, cave-ins, nude pole dancers, Welsh b&b's, country breakfasts, driving, shortage of tobacco, and boredom.
Fans expecting a Sherlock Holmes story might find themselves disappointed, but fans of Fu-Manchu stories will encounter familiar territory. The tale is told completely from the pov of Dr. Petrie, and Holmes is new to him. He is therefore less sympathetic to Holmes' eccentricities than Dr. Watson was, lacking the longstanding familiarity of the two and being preoccupied with rescuing his missing friend. For him and everyone they meet Holmes is a famous figure held in high regard, so Petrie admires him while admitting to never really liking him. Buddy-buddy cop stories aren't quite as good when the two cops never become real buddies.
Holmes is a retired man in his 60's finding the world changing too fast for him. He has a total disdain for motorcars, is baffled by Fu-Manchu's future tech, and bemoans the falling number of tradesmen for no other reason than their professions are immediately identifiable whereas there is no outward sign of what exactly a man who pushes buttons all day does for a living. He has lost none of his deductive abilities, and still likes to show them off while talking down to his companion. He teaches himself to read Chinese in a matter of hours, yet steadfastly refuses to learn Welsh despite the knowledge being obviously useful. I expect this is due to his being English and considering Chinese an exotic language worth knowing while Welsh is the gutteral grunting of barbarians. Dr. Petrie remains Petrie. He bumbles into clues and traps, follows Holmes like a puppy dog, and spends his spare time pining for his lost love.
Just the idea behind this book makes it worth reading. The archetype for every private investigator meets the archetype for every evil mastermind. A cross genre pairing, as if Batman was going face to face with Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin. More accurately it would be Batman facing the Yellow Claw but it's unlikely the modern reader would recognize the reference. Since the Nayland Smith/Dr. Petrie pair was always an obvious ripoff of Holmes/Watson this story satisfies the itch to see how the real matchup would take place. Included is a vaguely veiled effort to flesh out some of Fu-Manchu's biography and his development from Chinese Mandarin to Dark Overlord, along with the genesis of the Si Fan. Nayland Smith is also given a bit more life story, as it is revealed that he had a brother who was an officer lost aboard the Titanic. Many Smith's went down with the ship, but the most notable and probable officer was one Smith, Edward J., Captain, RD. Captain Smith would be 20 or more years older than Commissioner Smith but it remains in the realm of possibility that these two were related. This would fit in well with this book and it's position in Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe, where literary characters actually exist and coexist, a la League of Extraordinary Gentleman. In this universe Smith is also the nephew of Sherlock Holmes, though the two are unaware of the relationship.
It's fun story, with Holmes approached from a new angle. Can be rather slow at times, with even Petrie getting annoyed at the amount of inaction. Holmes is allowed to show off his skills and his disguises. Sultry exotic women show up and prove Holmes' contention that women are never to be trusted. The Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes is conflated with the Hollywood Holmes in the same way that the Sax Rohmer Dr. Fu-Manchu is conflated with the Hollywood Fu-Manchu. In this book Holmes wears his famous deerstalker cap and Inverness cape. While the cape would have been reasonable to wear in the climate of England, a city bred Londoner like Holmes would be highly unlikely to even own a deerstalker cap, and it was never once mentioned in an Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Just as Dr. Fu-Manchu never wore a Fu-Manchu mustache. The story plods along until it meets with a suitably Sax Rohmer ending, full of sudden excitement and a completely unsatisfactory denouement, just like we've come to expect from Fu-Manchu.
Fans expecting a Sherlock Holmes story might find themselves disappointed, but fans of Fu-Manchu stories will encounter familiar territory. The tale is told completely from the pov of Dr. Petrie, and Holmes is new to him. He is therefore less sympathetic to Holmes' eccentricities than Dr. Watson was, lacking the longstanding familiarity of the two and being preoccupied with rescuing his missing friend. For him and everyone they meet Holmes is a famous figure held in high regard, so Petrie admires him while admitting to never really liking him. Buddy-buddy cop stories aren't quite as good when the two cops never become real buddies.
Holmes is a retired man in his 60's finding the world changing too fast for him. He has a total disdain for motorcars, is baffled by Fu-Manchu's future tech, and bemoans the falling number of tradesmen for no other reason than their professions are immediately identifiable whereas there is no outward sign of what exactly a man who pushes buttons all day does for a living. He has lost none of his deductive abilities, and still likes to show them off while talking down to his companion. He teaches himself to read Chinese in a matter of hours, yet steadfastly refuses to learn Welsh despite the knowledge being obviously useful. I expect this is due to his being English and considering Chinese an exotic language worth knowing while Welsh is the gutteral grunting of barbarians. Dr. Petrie remains Petrie. He bumbles into clues and traps, follows Holmes like a puppy dog, and spends his spare time pining for his lost love.
Just the idea behind this book makes it worth reading. The archetype for every private investigator meets the archetype for every evil mastermind. A cross genre pairing, as if Batman was going face to face with Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin. More accurately it would be Batman facing the Yellow Claw but it's unlikely the modern reader would recognize the reference. Since the Nayland Smith/Dr. Petrie pair was always an obvious ripoff of Holmes/Watson this story satisfies the itch to see how the real matchup would take place. Included is a vaguely veiled effort to flesh out some of Fu-Manchu's biography and his development from Chinese Mandarin to Dark Overlord, along with the genesis of the Si Fan. Nayland Smith is also given a bit more life story, as it is revealed that he had a brother who was an officer lost aboard the Titanic. Many Smith's went down with the ship, but the most notable and probable officer was one Smith, Edward J., Captain, RD. Captain Smith would be 20 or more years older than Commissioner Smith but it remains in the realm of possibility that these two were related. This would fit in well with this book and it's position in Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe, where literary characters actually exist and coexist, a la League of Extraordinary Gentleman. In this universe Smith is also the nephew of Sherlock Holmes, though the two are unaware of the relationship.
It's fun story, with Holmes approached from a new angle. Can be rather slow at times, with even Petrie getting annoyed at the amount of inaction. Holmes is allowed to show off his skills and his disguises. Sultry exotic women show up and prove Holmes' contention that women are never to be trusted. The Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes is conflated with the Hollywood Holmes in the same way that the Sax Rohmer Dr. Fu-Manchu is conflated with the Hollywood Fu-Manchu. In this book Holmes wears his famous deerstalker cap and Inverness cape. While the cape would have been reasonable to wear in the climate of England, a city bred Londoner like Holmes would be highly unlikely to even own a deerstalker cap, and it was never once mentioned in an Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Just as Dr. Fu-Manchu never wore a Fu-Manchu mustache. The story plods along until it meets with a suitably Sax Rohmer ending, full of sudden excitement and a completely unsatisfactory denouement, just like we've come to expect from Fu-Manchu.
August 18, 2025
Rating this for what it is, an above average pulp novel and a prequel/reboot of the Fu Manchu series AND an exciting crossover event from the Watson-Holmes franchise. Really this is the kind of playful nonsense that flourished in the 1980s as the older franchise writers faded away and publishers looked for a new direction. Having grown up with it I have a warm place in my heart for it.
Not having read any of the Fu Manchu books, read the comics, nor seen any of the films because... well, they are kind of a little bit, somewhat, racist in that same way that The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a little unhappy with Jews. There is a reason this depiction credited with elevating and mainstreaming Sinophobia and fears of "The Yellow Peril". That this was a mid-80s reboot of the franchise made it interesting as a point of entry, if only to sense what they thought were the problematic parts of the series.
Well it wasn't the Orientalism, that's pretty clear. The sultry exotic temptress of the east is a major plot point in addition to being extremely poor at keeping a low profile when on a secret mission. Indeed, her wanton behavior is the subject of a couple of really 1980s lowbrow footnotes from the 'editor'. The fanatical, abnormally stupid, and murderous dacoits in particular fit the orientalist image of the childlike Asiatic susceptible to a strong will. Their lack of initiative, their inability to respond to the quicker wits of the Europeans, the ease with which they can be fooled are all classic tropes of the western perception of the exotic east. They are disposable entities and can be killed in their swarming masses.
On the upside, there wasn't any pidgin and the tent pole characters all appeared to be well rounded characters will real motivations for their actions. The introduction of Holmes into this milieu doesn't seem to have disrupted much. He feels pretty at home here and his characterization is reasonably close to that established by Doyle. I enjoyed it as an unlikely excursion, and more than I expected to.
Not having read any of the Fu Manchu books, read the comics, nor seen any of the films because... well, they are kind of a little bit, somewhat, racist in that same way that The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a little unhappy with Jews. There is a reason this depiction credited with elevating and mainstreaming Sinophobia and fears of "The Yellow Peril". That this was a mid-80s reboot of the franchise made it interesting as a point of entry, if only to sense what they thought were the problematic parts of the series.
Well it wasn't the Orientalism, that's pretty clear. The sultry exotic temptress of the east is a major plot point in addition to being extremely poor at keeping a low profile when on a secret mission. Indeed, her wanton behavior is the subject of a couple of really 1980s lowbrow footnotes from the 'editor'. The fanatical, abnormally stupid, and murderous dacoits in particular fit the orientalist image of the childlike Asiatic susceptible to a strong will. Their lack of initiative, their inability to respond to the quicker wits of the Europeans, the ease with which they can be fooled are all classic tropes of the western perception of the exotic east. They are disposable entities and can be killed in their swarming masses.
On the upside, there wasn't any pidgin and the tent pole characters all appeared to be well rounded characters will real motivations for their actions. The introduction of Holmes into this milieu doesn't seem to have disrupted much. He feels pretty at home here and his characterization is reasonably close to that established by Doyle. I enjoyed it as an unlikely excursion, and more than I expected to.
December 24, 2023
The game is a foot between Holmes and Fu Man Chu.
Ten years after Holmes retires from his Baker Street location and turns to beekeeping in Sussex, he is called upon to rescue Nayland Smith from Fu Man Chu. It turns from a hostage rescue to a matter of survival of the British Empire. The battle pits Homes against Fu Man Chu.
Each a genius in their own right, with their own dedicated goals: Fu Man Chu to take over the British Empire, then the world, Holmes to stop the conquest. Both have respect for each other, but recognize their goals are at opposite ends.
Nayland’s part is to be a pawn for Fu Man Chu due to his knowledge and experience, but Nayland isn’t buying it.
The author has two well-known figures facing off each in their own style. Fu Man Chu with his evil minions and destructive weapons. Holmes with his deductive reasoning. Both men challenging each other.
Slow at times, but still pulling the reader on to the end.
Ten years after Holmes retires from his Baker Street location and turns to beekeeping in Sussex, he is called upon to rescue Nayland Smith from Fu Man Chu. It turns from a hostage rescue to a matter of survival of the British Empire. The battle pits Homes against Fu Man Chu.
Each a genius in their own right, with their own dedicated goals: Fu Man Chu to take over the British Empire, then the world, Holmes to stop the conquest. Both have respect for each other, but recognize their goals are at opposite ends.
Nayland’s part is to be a pawn for Fu Man Chu due to his knowledge and experience, but Nayland isn’t buying it.
The author has two well-known figures facing off each in their own style. Fu Man Chu with his evil minions and destructive weapons. Holmes with his deductive reasoning. Both men challenging each other.
Slow at times, but still pulling the reader on to the end.
September 6, 2016
Me sorprende no haber oído antes de este pastiche, que encontré de pura casualidad. Está muy bien escrito y es muy entretenido, y me hace pensar que en los setenta y ochenta se hizo pastiche de mucha calidad. Los dos personajes principales están muy bien caracterizados, y sobre todo el ritmo e s muy trepidante. Buena novela.
April 9, 2018
No se puede decir que no me guste, pero Cay Van Ash da demasiadas vueltas y el libro ocupa el doble de lo necesario en páginas para la historia que explica.
La sensación es que he leído algo que me recuerda más una película de la Hammer que no las novelas de Sherlock Holmes o de Fu Manchu.
La sensación es que he leído algo que me recuerda más una película de la Hammer que no las novelas de Sherlock Holmes o de Fu Manchu.
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