The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part XI: Some Untold Cases

MX New Sherlock Holmes Stories #11

by David Marcum (editor), Robert Perret

Part XI: 1880-1891 includes contributions from Jayantika Ganguly, Will Murray, Tracy Revels, Hugh Ashton, Matthew Simmonds, David Ruffle, Paul W. Nash, Mike Hogan, Craig Stephen Copland, Gayle Lange Puhl, Deanna Baran, Leslie Charteris and Denis Green, Roger Riccard, Robert Perret, Kevin P. Thornton, Stephen Herczeg, and M.A. Wilson and Richard Dean Starr, and a poem by Arlene Mantin Levy and Mark Levy.
34 new traditional Holmes adventures in two simultaneously published volumes
"Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-worn and battered tin dispatch box with my name, John H. Watson, M.D., Late Indian Army, painted upon the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to illustrate the curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had at various times to examine..." - Dr. John H. Watson
So wrote Dr. Watson in "The Problem of Thor Bridge" and ever since, Sherlockians have been bringing us new adventures from this legendary tin dispatch box. While his original Literary Agent only edited the pitifully few sixty stories that make up the original Canon, there have since been literally thousands of traditional adventures about the true Sherlock Holmes - and there will never be enough!
Throughout the original Holmes Canon, there were hints and teases of other intriguing cases - The Giant Rat of Sumatra... The Abernetty Tragedy... The Manor House Case. Watson mentions well over one-hundred of these, which have collectively come to be known as The Untold Cases. Now, the latest MX anthologies present thirty-four of those adventures in two simultaneously published volumes, with all royalties going to support the Stepping Stones School at Undershaw, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former homes.
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."
Each volume contains forwards by Lyndsay Faye, Roger Johnson, Melissa Grigsby, Steve Emecz, and David Marcum.

440 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2018

Reviews

[Thomas Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume (and the next) of MX Publishing’s ongoing anthology of traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches brings us Canonical cases that Dr. Watson mentioned but never told in full. Part XI contains 16 short stories, a sonnet on the untold tales, and a classic radio play by Leslie Charteris and Denis Green. Of the stories, my favorites were “Mrs. Forrester’s Complication,” in which Roger Riccard introduces a substitute sidekick for Holmes; Paul Nash’s “The Adventure of the Paradol Chamber,” pitting the detective against a vainglorious literary rival; and Craig Stephen Copeland’s “The Singular Tragedy of the Atkinson Brothers at Trincomalee,” blessed with an exotic setting and a pair of twins. Other strong entries are Will Murray’s account of the “abominable” Merridew, Hugh Ashton’s solution of the Tankerville Club card scandal, Gayle Lang Pugh’s diagnosis of “Colonel Warburton’s Madness,” and Mike Hogan’s “The Bishopgate Affair.” Kevin P. Thornton offers a different take on “The Vatican Cameos” than Richard Ryan’s, while Robert Perret demonstrates that even Victorian laundry offered an avenue for crime. Marcia Wilson (here accompanied by Richard Dean Starr) enables Lestrade to solve a mystery that had baffled his Scotland Yard colleagues for a decade. It is hard to imagine Conan Doyle editing these long-lost stories more entertainingly than his latter-day successors. Better yet, Part XII of the anthology presents more “untold cases” from 1894 to 1902. Stay tuned!

[Julia Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was flabbergasted to find that the stories read as if written by Doyle himself with all of the intrigue and adventure the original writings held. The stories are simply marvelous and I would be shocked if readers can put them down.
One of the stories is “The Giant Rat of Sumatra” by Leslie Charteris & Denis Green is a play script that is witty and would be great fun to see done live. It reads very well, with no snags for following the storyline. Watson is asked to tell a Sherlock Holmes story in a restaurant as part of the entertainment, he does so willingly and with flare as he describes a case in Calcutta India about a zoologist by the name of Jackson who has captured a giant rat from the Pygmies in Sumatra. This particular tribe of Pygmies worships these giant rats. Their size is attributed to the fact that they are fed human blood. Jackson is trying to get back to America to have the rat be part of his private zoo collection. Unfortunately the giant rat keeps killing people by biting them. Watson is requested to check out a bitten man before he dies and as they say “the game is afoot”.

[MoMo Book Diary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review will be published as part of the #BitsaboutBooksBlogTour on 22nd November 2018

[Jennie Rosenblum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection for fans and novices.