Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon

Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon #1

by David Marcum (Editor), Mike Hogan, Nick Dunn-Meynell

Sherlock Holmes himself would have us believe that, once a case was finished, it – or the people involved – never crossed his mind again. “A client is to me a mere unit,” he once told Watson, “a factor in a problem.” And yet, in a career spanning multiple decades and thousands of cases, he must have occasionally re-crossed paths with previous clients – and the occasional villain as well!This anthology, with twenty-nine brand new stories, spread over three volumes, reveals some of those sequel investigations. There are stories ranging from Holmes’s early days in Montague Street, through the legendary Baker Street years, and well into his retirement. We meet former clients with new problems, and former adversaries too. Sometimes we find that the published Canonical version of a story was only the beginning, while other tales in this collection reveal what was really going on during the original narratives.Join us as we return to Baker Street and discover more authentic adventures of Sherlock Holmes, described by the estimable Dr. Watson as “ . . . the best and wisest . . . whom I have ever known.” The game is afoot!Volume I – 1887-1890The Swamp Adder (A Poem) – Rhea BelangerA Gentleman’s Disagreement – Narrelle M. HarrisThe Incident of the Frantic Countess – Arthur HallThe Ten Orange Pips – Jayantika GangulyThe Adventure of the Spectral Menace – Benjamin LangleyThe Greek Murder – Katie MagnussonThe Adventure in Nancy – Stephen HerczegThe Shadow of Malice – Brenda SeabrookeThe Adventure of the Upright Man – Nick Dunn-MeynellA for Argentina – Mike Hogan

Genres: Mystery, Historical

319 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2018

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly]

This was an eminently readable collection of sequels to canonical classics. Stories here have aimed at tying up a few loose threads, also putting forward their own adventures. The experience was, overall, enjoyable. Except one overlong piece that mired itself into Biblical allusions and lost itself, the other stories were crisp and compact. My favourites were~
1. Narrelle M. Harris's "A Gentleman's Disagreement";
2. Arthur Hall's "The Incident of the Frantic Countess";
3. Jayantika Ganguly's "The Ten Orange Pips";
4. Benjamin Langley's "The Adventure of the Spectral Menace";
5. Stephen Herczeg's "The Adventure in Nancy";
6. Brenda Seabrooke's "The Shadow of Malice".
Recommended to lovers of orthodox pastiches.

[Dale]

The canonical stories are expanded and/or used as a jumping off point for these new tales of the Great Detective!

My thanks go out to Derrick Belanger for my copy of this book.

I am going to assume that readers of this volume will be already familiar with the Holmes canon. I am using the official Holmes story abbreviations.

Readers of Sherlock Holmes might often ask what happened after Holmes solved the case, or where Holmes might have crossed paths with a villain before the current case. That is the premise of this volume. Occasionally in the canon, the story seems incomplete. This could be because there is obviously so much more to the tales offer a glimpse behind the scenes. Sometimes a tale is explained, sometimes a crook is traced further, and sometimes it is a “how they met” story.

David Marcum returns with another exciting volume of great Sherlock Holmes stories. Readers of the MX series of New Sherlock Holmes adventures will find that many of the authors are familiar.
In accordance with the SPOILER WARNING on page 21, I will be more careful than usual with my detailed review. I will give little beyond what the reader will encounter on the first page of each adventure. And now, on to the stories!

• “Gentleman’s Disagreement” by Narrelle M Harris
This is a further look into BLUE. The reader will recall that Holmes let Ryder escape at the end of the case…
• “The Incident of the Frantic Countess” by Arthur Hall
Lord St. Simon of NOBL fame, advises his cousin to allow Holmes to solve her own case…
• “The Ten Orange Pips” by Jayantika Ganguly
As the title suggests, this story continues FIVE. Readers will recall that the case ended rather mysteriously…
• “The Adventure of the Spectral Menace” by Benjamin Langley
Holmes and Watson return to Stoke Moran, site of SPEC. The new owner has problems of his own…
• “The Greek Murder” by Katie Magnusson
This is an explanation of the ending of GREE, tracing the further adventures of Sophy… I absolutely love this story from concept to the last word! This will get “Best in Book!” honors from me!
• “The Adventure in Nancy” by Stephen Hereczeg
Firstly, “Nancy” is Nancy, France! Victor Hatherley of ENGR fame returns for more adventure…
• “The Shadow of Malice” by Brenda Seabrooke
This is based on BOSC. Alice Turner, now married to James McCarthy, asks for Holmes to return to Boscombe Valley…
• “The Adventure of the Upright Man” by Nick Dunn-Meynell
This story is a further look into CROO. It is the longest story in the book. I found it to be— interesting… Frankly, I liked it the least.
• “A for Argentina” by Mike Hogan
Continuing immediately from REDH; the arrest of John Clay sets off more problems. I would like to see in the future someone tell the story of Holmes’ previous encounters with Clay…

These stories should delight any fan of the Holmes canon! And since this is only volume one of three, more stories are to follow. According to the publisher, this may very well only be the beginning…

I give the book four stars…

Quoth the Raven…

[Mary-Jean Harris]

I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection, though I found that some of them were too technical for me (e.g. involving cryptic biblical references and trading stocks). These stories continue after the events of specific Holmes mysteries, and so it is essential to be familiar with those stories first to be up to date with the events and characters. I ended up listening to the audios for the original stories before each of these, since it's been a while since I read them, and I would definitely recommend that others do the same.
The authors were creative while still remaining true to the originals, and they definitely had the classic "Holmes feel" to them.
As for the audiobook, the narrator was talented but his voice is so deep that it was at times hard to make out what he was saying, and I had to play it very loudly or skip back.
Overall, this is a great book for Sherlock Holmes aficionados but perhaps not for the casual reader.

[Christopher Taylor]

A collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories with a twist: each of the stories is a follow up on a previous, canon story. So there is an adventure that follows up on The Adventure of The Engineer's Thumb, for example. Sometimes the adventure is a character from the story returning, sometimes it is answering unanswered questions, sometimes it is a return to the same location.

This is a mix of success and stumbling, mostly good stuff. At times the characterization of Holmes is not very great, but there is a theme of Watson being good (he gets into a fight with several people and definitely acquits himself well showing that he is, in fact, a trained warrior and physician).

The concept is intriguing and I am interested in more stories even if a few were not rewarding.

[John Hinchliffe]

Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon is an entertaining collection of short stories by various authors, each continuing the legacy of Conan Doyle with their own unique take on Sherlock Holmes and his cases. The stories are all well written, varied in style, and offer fresh perspectives while remaining true to the great detective. Pete McGiffen's narration is excellent, bringing each story and character to life with his distinctive style. I'd highly recommend this anthology to any Sherlock Holmes fan looking for new adventures beyond the original canon.

[P.]

There were enough decent reads to give this a three, but there are many quite marginal reads as well.