The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part VI: 2017 Annual

MX New Sherlock Holmes Stories #6

by David Marcum (Editor), Thomas A. Turley (Contributor), Narrelle M. Harris (Contributor)

2017 is the 130th anniversary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet, the first recorded adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson. What an amazing journey it's been! In addition to the pitifully few sixty tales originally presented in The Canon, published between 1887 and 1927, there have been literally thousands of additional Holmes adventures in the form of books, short stories, radio and television episodes, movies, manuscripts, comics, and fan fiction. And yet, for those who are true friends and admirers of the Master Detective of Baker Street, where it is always 1895 (or a few decades on either side of that!) these stories are not enough. Give us more! In 2015, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories burst upon the scene, featuring stories set within the correct time period, and written by many of today's leading Sherlockian authors from around the world. Those first three volumes were overwhelmingly received, and there were soon calls for additional collections. Since then, the popularity has only continued to grow. Two more volumes were released in 2016, and this the first of two planned for 2017 - with no end in sight! The thirty-five stories in this volume - now bringing the total number of narratives and participating authors in this series to well over one-hundred! - represent some of the finest new Holmesian storytelling to be found, and honor the man described by Watson as "the best and wisest . . . whom I have ever known." All royalties from this collection are being donated by the writers for the benefit of the preservation of Undershaw, one of the former homes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Part VI: 2017 Annual features contributions by: Bob Byrne, Julie McKuras, Derrick Belanger, Robert Perret, Deanna Baran, G.C. Rosenquist, Hugh Ashton, David Timson, Shane Simmons, Stephen Wade, Mark Mower, David Friend, Nick Cardillo, Roger Riccard, S. Subramanian, Carl L. Heifetz, Geri Schear, S.F. Bennett, Jennifer Copping, Jim French, Carla Coupe, Narrelle Harris, Arthur Hall, Craig Janacek, Marcia Wilson, Tracy Revels, Molly Carr, Keith Hann, David Ruffle, David Marcum, Thomas A. Turley, Jan Edwards, C. Edward Davis, Tim Symonds, and Daniel D. Victor, with a poem by Bonnie MacBird, and forewords by David Marcum, Nicholas Utechin, Roger Johnson, Steve Emecz, and Melissa Farnham.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Anthologies, Detective

679 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2017

Reviews

[Shubhra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The First 30 Cases are Good, Last 5 are Not

Overall, an interesting addition to the collection of Holmes pastiches, and for the most part a worthy entry. It is a definite improvement on Part V - Christmas Adventures.
Most of the works are good, right from 'The Adventure of the Murdered Spinster' to the 30th case 'The Problem of the Holy Oil'. However, the next few cases are a bit of a let down, particularly 'A Scandal in Serbia', which meanders all over the place, tampers with the canon and tries to reintroduce a particularly popular and elusive character. 'The Curious Case of Mr. Marconi' and 'Die Weisse Frau' are very pedantic, while 'Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson Learn to Fly' is amateurish. 'A Case of Mistaken Identity' is a poor attempt to re-knit historical events and another author into a Holmes case, and thus falls through the cracks.

In short, enjoy the first 30, avoid the last 5.

[Winry Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a serious backlog on this project, let's go! *proceeds to read at an embarrassingly slow pace...*

As usual, the quality of the stories remains satisfyingly consistent throughout - the particular rating depends mainly on whether those met my preferences or not. The following short summaries serve primarily for my orientation in the frankly ridiculous amount of Holmesiana I've read so far. Hic sunt spoilers, possibly:

Bonnie MacBird - Sweet Violin - 3/5
A whimsical poem.

Bob Byrne - The Adventure of the Murdered Spinster - 3/5
Holmes recounts one of his early cases to Watson. There was something off about the supposed burglary-gone-wrong that resulted in the death of an elderly woman with a single diamond brooch missing.

Julie McKuras - The Irregular - 4/5
Wiggins asks Holmes and Watson for help with solving a string of petty thefts in a department store where Wiggins' sister is working.

Derrick Belanger - The Coffee Trader's Dilemma - 3/5
Watson is reminiscing about a case from before the Reichenbach tragedy, when he and Holmes helped a distressed coffee trader and played matchmakers.

Robert Perret - The Two Patricks - 4/5
An heir of a wealthy family, who was kidnapped as a child, miraculously returned. His mother asks Holmes to investigate a series of threats accusing him of being a liar.

Deanna Baran - The Adventure at St Catherine's - 4/5
While Watson is busy in his doctor's practice, Holmes is asked to secretly deal with a recurring intruder at an all-girls' school.

GC Rosenquist - The Adventure of a Thousand Stings - 3/5
An apiatist was killed in what appears to be a freak accident, but Holmes suspects foul play.

Hugh Ashton - The Adventure of the Returned Captain - 4/5
A tragedy destroyed the barque Sophy Anderson with all hands on board. The captain who survived the accident by a freak stroke of luck goes into hiding and employs Holmes to uncover who could be behind the ship's explosion.

David Timson - The Adventure of the Wonderful Toy - 3/5
Holmes is led on a wild goose chase to get back a stolen phonographic record of the Queen's voice.

Shane Simmons - The Adventure of the Cat's Claws - 5/5
Wiggins sneaks his way into a travelling circus to sneak a peek before the scheduled show. That night, a tragedy strikes and Holmes is called to look into the matter.
While the plot was rather predictable, the PoV and Wiggins' tone of delivery was delightful.

Stephen Wade - The Grave Message - 3/5
Sir Percival Donner, a brilliant scientist, shows an inclination towards the belief in the supernatural in his dotage, after several seemingly unexplainable happenstances. His son asks Holmes for help in explaining what could lie behind those incidents.
No murder in sight, strongly reminiscent of canon in tone.

Mark Mower - The Radicant Munificent Society - 3/5
A great-great-grandson of RL pugilist Daniel Mendoza asks for Holmes' help in dealing with a heavily antisemitic secret society that surreptitiously started to brew unrest in his community. Quite an interesting take on the much alluded-to secret society.

David Friend - The Adventure of the Apologetic Assassin - 3/5
Holmes is approached by Erasmus Brew, a churlish and frugal gentleman fearing for his life, as he received a letter from his would-be assassin apologising for his imminent death. Despite all his precautions, Mr Brew is killed in a locked room, and then Holmes himself receives a letter from the assassin, announcing him as the next victim.

Nick Cardillo - The Adventure of the Traveling Corpse - 4/5
An elderly woman who came to London to visit her grown-up children witnessed two men transporting a corpse into a cab. She tells the story to Sherlock Holmes, who promptly investigates, connecting the gruesome scene with the recent disappearance of Colonel Cunningham.

Roger Riccard - The Adventure of the Apothecary's Prescription - 5/5
Watson receives a peculiar message from an unknown apothecary, surreptitiously intended for Holmes, containing a concealed cry for help. He, Mary and Holmes then get entangled in a convoluted case of kidnapping and drug-dealing.

S. Subramaniam - The Case of the Bereaved Author - 2/5
Sylvester Prescott is tasked by Mabel Addleton to engage Holmes in an investigation of the seeming suicide of Violet Addleton, fiancée of Sylvester and sister of Mabel.

Carl L. Heifetz - The Tetanus Epidemic - 2/5
While Sherlock is away, Mycroft asks Watson to help Holmes's cousin, Dr Maurice Verner, with a case of weird tetanus infections that took the lives of several athletic Chinese men.

Geri Schear - The Bubble Reputation - 4/5
Professor Mark M. David from Oxford asks Holmes for help when Malcolm Gilbert, his academic rival and a friend, despite their differing opinions and public disputes, disappears. Gilbert, a well-known eccentric, was last seen heading to a rendezvous with a mysterious benefactor to acquire a rare document. To make matters worse, he had a very public quarrel with Professor David and a heated disagreement with his own son that very same day.

S.F. Bennett - The Case of the Vanishing Venus - 4/5
A priceless antique statue of Venus disappeared overnight while a fish in the museum decorative pond came back to life. Holmes and Watson are called to investigate.

Jennifer Copping - The Adventure of the Vanishing Apprentice - 5/5
Suffering from a bout of cold, the misfortunes of Inspector Lestrade are compounded by the way of an arrested murderer escaping from his custody. He asks Sherlock Holmes for help in locating the vanished man.

Jim French - The Adventure of the Apothecary Shop - 3/5
A radio script from The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Imagination Theatre.
Holmes himself is accused of a murder. Even though he has an indisputable alibi, the daughter of the murdered man is adamant he's the perpetrator.

Carla Coupe - The Case of the Plummeting Painter - 3/5
Inspector Hopkins calls Holmes into a case of a painter found dead in his back garden. Was that a tragic accident, a suicide or a murder done by one of the hosts the deceased entertained the previous evening?

Narrelle M. Harris - The Case of the Temperamental Terrier - 3/5
A house pet of one of the 221B Baker Street close neighbours starts behaving oddly after the obligatory park walks. This puzzling and repeated change of personality puts Holmes on the track of an ongoing scheme.

Arthur Hall - The Adventure of the Frightened Architect - 4/5
Holmes and Watson are asked by their client to join him for a séance in hopes of proving it a deceitful scam. But soon Holmes discovers threads of murders interwoven amongst the assembled.

Craig Janacek - The Adventure of the Sunken Indiaman - 5/5
Holmes is tasked with finding what has gone missing from the library of Mr Fletcher Hatley after an odd break-in. The seemingly innocuous act of vandalism quickly transforms into a treasure hunt.

Marcia Wilson - The Exorcism of the Haunted Stick - 5/5
Off-duty Yarders gather at a lecture hall to witness Holmes putting an old ghost story connected to an artefact from Yard's Black Museum to eternal rest. (And perhaps to humiliate a superstitious Assistant to the Secretary of the Home Office a bit...)

Tracy Revels - The Adventure of the Queen's Teardrop - 5/5
Lestrade asks Holmes for assistance in locating a stolen diamond. The thief, pursued by a yarder on the beat, must have hidden it in a house belonging to a widow of a curator from the British Museum - a home that is a veritable museum by itself.

Molly Carr - The Curious Case of the Charwoman's Brooch - 2/5
A charwoman who had been given a valuable brooch as a token of gratitude for her services asks for Holmes' help. It seems she had been pickpocketed when she went to have the brooch evaluated. But the case is a lot more convoluted than that.

Keith Hann - The Unwelcome Client - 2/5
An assassin seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes to prove he did not murder the woman he had been having an affair with.

David Ruffle - The Tempest of Lyme - 3/5
Holmes and Watson are involved in an investigation of a disappeared amateur thespian.
This one is closely tied to the Lyme Regis series by the author and, imho, does not stand very well on its own.

David Marcum - The Problem of the Holy Oil - 4/5
The anointed oil meant for Prince Edward's approaching coronation was stolen, and Mycroft Holmes urges his brother to investigate.

Thomas A. Turley - A Scandal in Serbia - 3/5
At the request of Irene Adler, Watson accompanies Holmes to Serbia on the cusp of revolution on a fool's errand.
Very well written, excessively and finely researched; the narrative voice was beautifully handled, alas! I don't exactly like the political intrigue, and the overall tone was very bleak.
This author, though... I am intrigued.

Jan Edwards - The Curious Case of Mr Marconi - 2/5
Watson travels to a seaside town where Mr Marconi is experimenting with his wireless signal to assist retired Holmes with a task from Mycroft.

C. Edward Davis - Mr Holmes and Dr Watson Learn to Fly - 4/5
Watson recounts a tale to his wife about how he and Holmes get their pilot licences.
Not much of a plot in this one, but a lovely slice of life centred around early aviation, which hit all my marks.

Tim Symonds - Die Weisse Frau - 3/5
Not just once, but twice in a row, and with impeccable timing to boot, zeppelin attacks managed to skirt the line of defence and wreak havoc on military stables. An acquaintance of old asks Watson and Holmes to pose in incognito in an investigation of a possible German spy.

Daniel D. Victor - A Case of Mistaken Identity - 3/5
F. Scott Fitzgerald makes acquaintances of Dr Watson to lure retired Holmes out for a discussion about a RL murder that served as background inspiration for his newest novel - one that would one day be known as his magnum opus The Great Gatsby.

[Thomas Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a contributor reviewing the latest volume of MX Publishing’s anthology of traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches, let me remind readers that all royalties from this venture go not to the publisher, editor, or authors, but to the Stepping Stones School for special-needs children, now housed in Undershaw, the former home of Conan Doyle. Besides, I have been a fan of this series from its start. Editor David Marcum has assembled a recurring cadre of veteran Sherlockian writers, along with talented newcomers to keep each volume fresh. All contributors are united by a common goal: to write new tales that come as close as possible (in plot, style, period, and characterization) to those in the original Canon. Within that basic format, the anthology has shown remarkable variety, and Part VI is no exception. Chronologically, it covers half a century: from Holmes’ last Montague Street days to the height of the Jazz Age. Historical and literary personages (Shakespeare, Edison, Marie Antoinette, Marconi, and Fitzgerald) are involved in many of the stories. Two tales recall “The Five Orange Pips” and The Sign of Four, while others remind us of Holmes’ interest in bees, adders, and Dogs Who Do Something in the Daytime. In keeping with our detective’s regrettable misogyny, wicked women are a common theme. We encounter envious sisters, vengeful wives, rival ladies-in-waiting, pretty spies, and rejected schoolgirls. Happily, two Canonical heroines, Mary Morstan and Irene Adler, arrive to help restore the balance. The majority of Part VI’s offerings are pure detective stories, with Sherlock Holmes exhibiting deductive brilliance that occasionally surpasses Doyle. The volume’s final tales immerse Holmes and Watson in the “Great Game” of espionage, into which Mycroft recruited them before and during the Great War. Just as our heroes have lost very little to the years in their new century, so the MX anthology (six parts in) is still alive and well. With at least three more volumes on the way, it is reassuring—and a considerable accomplishment—that the stories’ quality remains as high as ever.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Holmes than ever!

My thanks go out to Steve and Timi at MX Publishing for my copy of this book. You have been unbelievably kind and generous!

This, the 6th volume in this ongoing outpouring of new Holmes stories, contains 36 new takes on Arthur Conan Doyle’s super sleuth! Readers of this series will be pleased to see many returning authors. David Marcum not only edits the volume but has a short story to share. Also returning are Derrick Belanger, Hugh Ashton, Geri Scher, Molly Carr and David Ruffle, and many more!

Holmes has many new cases and takes on some of the “mentioned but unrecorded” cases from the Canon. Old enemies sometimes return, and new malefactors are in great supply. Watson is sometimes married, (like as not to someone previously unmentioned,) working hard at his practice, or fully or partially retired. Holmes is fully or semi-retired, still taking cases, or being exploited by Mycroft for affairs of the Kingdom.

I think that the tales are often strong adherents to the Conan Doyle blueprint of writing. A few do explore new avenues, but all are Holmes and Watson still playing the game.

I give “The Adventure of the Apothecary’s Prescription” by Roger Riccard the title of “Best in Book! We desperately need new stories that connect to Professor Moriarty! A close second is “The Adventure of the Cat’s Claws” by Shane Simmons, a new look at Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger.” The story I give “Worst in Book” is Jim French’s “The Adventure of the Apothecary Shop” by Jim French. Egad! I hate trying to read plays!

Each volume of the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes stories promises adventure and solving mysteries by deductive reasoning! This is Volume six and the promise continues to be kept!

I gladly give this volume five stars plus! I am looking forward to more such volumes to come!

Quoth the Raven…

[Sharon Sims-king · Rating 5 out of 5]

More volumes please

These are great stories in the ACD mode. The only problem is the mass of Americanism, perhaps a good editor could help here. After all ACD would not have included them. I read with great enjoyment.

[Wayne A. Bowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterful set of stories.

Clear, concise and in the framework of Doyle. As short stories easy to read with few surprising endings. A most enjoyable read.

[Tekbrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

This book delivers exactly what it promised. As good as the first 5 in the series and here's hoping they continue to please with each new release.

[Alex Budris · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you think you'll like it, you'll prob like it. As always with this series, an excellently curated collection of stories.