What do you think?
Rate this book
Sherlock Holmes #6
Sherlock Holmes and the Houdini Birthright
1892.
Sherlock Holmes is in retirement, tending his apiary on the Sussex coast.
His partner in crime, Doctor John Watson, believed their sleuthing days were over.
That is, until he receives an urgent visit from eminent magician, Harry Houdini.
Houdini is convinced that a set of fraudulent mediums are praying on the deceased and conning them out of money.
He manages to persuade Holmes and Watson to step back in the fray and unmask the criminals.
But then, a few years later, Houdini dies in suspicious circumstances.
And his distraught widow, knowing his previous involvement with the crime-fighting duo, implores Holmes and Watson to take on the case.
As Holmes delves deep into the life and death of the mysterious magician, he is set on a trail that will take him across the globe, from Canada to Hungary.
Is the body in Houdini’s coffin really his?
Was his death linked to the fake mediums his ousted?
‘Sherlock Holmes and the Houdini Birthright’ is a thrilling new Sherlock adventure, which combines fact and fiction to create an expertly-plotted mystery.
Praise for Val Andrews:
'A treat for any fan of the master detective.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Cold Kill'.
Val Andrews (15 February 1926 – 12 December 2006) was a music hall artist, ventriloquist and writer. Andrews was a prolific writer on magic, having published over 1000 books and booklets from 1952. He also authored Sherlock Holmes pastiches and Houdini's novels.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
Sherlock Holmes is in retirement, tending his apiary on the Sussex coast.
His partner in crime, Doctor John Watson, believed their sleuthing days were over.
That is, until he receives an urgent visit from eminent magician, Harry Houdini.
Houdini is convinced that a set of fraudulent mediums are praying on the deceased and conning them out of money.
He manages to persuade Holmes and Watson to step back in the fray and unmask the criminals.
But then, a few years later, Houdini dies in suspicious circumstances.
And his distraught widow, knowing his previous involvement with the crime-fighting duo, implores Holmes and Watson to take on the case.
As Holmes delves deep into the life and death of the mysterious magician, he is set on a trail that will take him across the globe, from Canada to Hungary.
Is the body in Houdini’s coffin really his?
Was his death linked to the fake mediums his ousted?
‘Sherlock Holmes and the Houdini Birthright’ is a thrilling new Sherlock adventure, which combines fact and fiction to create an expertly-plotted mystery.
Praise for Val Andrews:
'A treat for any fan of the master detective.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Cold Kill'.
Val Andrews (15 February 1926 – 12 December 2006) was a music hall artist, ventriloquist and writer. Andrews was a prolific writer on magic, having published over 1000 books and booklets from 1952. He also authored Sherlock Holmes pastiches and Houdini's novels.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
- GenresMystery
124 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
20 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Val Andrews
58 books16 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Val Andrews was a music hall artist, ventriloquist and writer.
Andrews was born in Hove, Sussex, England a few hours after Valentine's Day, hence his name. Son of an architect, he was introduced to magic by his father. Andrews was a prolific writer on magic, having published over 1000 books and booklets from 1952. He also authored Sherlock Holmes pastiches and Houdini's novels. He lived for a number of years in Brighton, then in London (from 1943 onwards) where he joined the London Society of Magicians.
Val Andrews was a music hall artist, ventriloquist and writer.
Andrews was born in Hove, Sussex, England a few hours after Valentine's Day, hence his name. Son of an architect, he was introduced to magic by his father. Andrews was a prolific writer on magic, having published over 1000 books and booklets from 1952. He also authored Sherlock Holmes pastiches and Houdini's novels. He lived for a number of years in Brighton, then in London (from 1943 onwards) where he joined the London Society of Magicians.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 20, 2021
Fairly well done pastiche of Doyle's Sherlock
Holmes stories. Not a great mystery by any means but it has all the elements and reads well and is just good comfort reading for fans of Holmes. Basically it's 2 different stories, one where Holmes and Watson helps their friend Houdini with some spiritualists who were trying to take money from the Doyles. Next Holmes and Watson are asked by Houdini's widow to investigate the great magician's death.
Recommended for big fans of the Holmes oeuvre. Again it has the feel right and is interesting since Homes aand Watson are much older in this book, around 70.
Holmes stories. Not a great mystery by any means but it has all the elements and reads well and is just good comfort reading for fans of Holmes. Basically it's 2 different stories, one where Holmes and Watson helps their friend Houdini with some spiritualists who were trying to take money from the Doyles. Next Holmes and Watson are asked by Houdini's widow to investigate the great magician's death.
Recommended for big fans of the Holmes oeuvre. Again it has the feel right and is interesting since Homes aand Watson are much older in this book, around 70.
November 26, 2017
3 & a half actually. The writing is quite true to Conan Doyle, and that's nice to find. The story is divided into three parts. The first involves Holmes & Watson helping Houdini prove that Conan Doyle is being scammed by a spiritualist, and is really pretty good.. The second, taking place a few years later, has H&W investigating the possibility that Houdini was murdered, and is OK but weaker that the first. The third part, about which I will say nothing as it would give major spoilers, is pretty far- fetched, but is a fair conclusion to the story.
February 1, 2024
Yet another SH tale from Val Andrews, this one has it's moments - as written by the wraith of A C Doyle ! The first section, set in 1922 is the best of the whole tale, very well written. The second section set in 1827 must be set into the realms of fantasy, not in the "no ghosts need apply" but in the improbable sense.
Want to read
December 5, 2019Endeavor Media Sherlock Advent Calendar 99
July 25, 2021
Good read
February 27, 2022
not one of his best
October 29, 2024
1922. Houdini persuades Holmes to investigate a medium to stop the Doyles being deceived. Years later after Houdini's death his wife wants Holmes to prove he was murdered. But what will Holmes discover.
An enjoyable Holmes mystery
An enjoyable Holmes mystery
February 19, 2016
Holmes and Houdini
Sherlock Holmes and the Houdini Birthright by Val Andrews
It is summer, 1922. Harry Houdini calls Doctor Watson in an attempt to get in touch with Sherlock Holmes. The detective has retired to Sussex and values his privacy. Watson has to make sure any case that disturbs Holmes’ self-imposed retirement is worth the great detective’s time.
Houdini is out to prove that a pair of Spiritualists named Doctor Robert Blackthorne and Mrs Marina Blackthorne. Houdini knows how they do most of their tricks, but some he isn’t sure how they accomplish.
Worse, Houdini’s friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is suffering, because Doyle is convinced of the genuineness of Spiritualism. For Houdini to expose these people as fakes, he needs to be able to to produce exact evidence of how all the effects were faked.
Holmes agrees to go to the séance disguised as Reverend Septimus Carstairs. Between himself and Houdini, Holmes discovers the trickery. He then pulls some trickery of his own to force a confession.
The death of Houdini on October 31, 1926, was caused by a McGill University student, J. Gordon Whitehead, who delivered a surprise attack of multiple blows to Houdini's abdomen. Houdini was in the habit of resisting such blows, but unprepared for them it ruptured his appendix. Houdini not only refused treatment, he refused to stop his tour. He died of peritonitis, secondary to a ruptured appendix. Afterward, Bess Houdini contacts Holmes.
It is her request that Holmes investigate the death of Houdini. It is her specific request that he discover that Houdini was murdered. What Holmes discovers is something else…
This is a good mix of history and fiction, making the most of several rumors that went around about Houdini. By taking facts and then building on them to create the circumstances of this mystery, Val Andrews makes the account seem credible.
I have to give Val Andrews points for including Houdini’s friend Walter Gibson in the story. Gibson was a magician himself, and was ghost-writer for Houdini and other magicians. He is also famous for the creation of one of Pulp Fiction’s most iconic characters, The Shadow!
I give the book four stars…
Quoth the Raven…
Sherlock Holmes and the Houdini Birthright by Val Andrews
It is summer, 1922. Harry Houdini calls Doctor Watson in an attempt to get in touch with Sherlock Holmes. The detective has retired to Sussex and values his privacy. Watson has to make sure any case that disturbs Holmes’ self-imposed retirement is worth the great detective’s time.
Houdini is out to prove that a pair of Spiritualists named Doctor Robert Blackthorne and Mrs Marina Blackthorne. Houdini knows how they do most of their tricks, but some he isn’t sure how they accomplish.
Worse, Houdini’s friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is suffering, because Doyle is convinced of the genuineness of Spiritualism. For Houdini to expose these people as fakes, he needs to be able to to produce exact evidence of how all the effects were faked.
Holmes agrees to go to the séance disguised as Reverend Septimus Carstairs. Between himself and Houdini, Holmes discovers the trickery. He then pulls some trickery of his own to force a confession.
The death of Houdini on October 31, 1926, was caused by a McGill University student, J. Gordon Whitehead, who delivered a surprise attack of multiple blows to Houdini's abdomen. Houdini was in the habit of resisting such blows, but unprepared for them it ruptured his appendix. Houdini not only refused treatment, he refused to stop his tour. He died of peritonitis, secondary to a ruptured appendix. Afterward, Bess Houdini contacts Holmes.
It is her request that Holmes investigate the death of Houdini. It is her specific request that he discover that Houdini was murdered. What Holmes discovers is something else…
This is a good mix of history and fiction, making the most of several rumors that went around about Houdini. By taking facts and then building on them to create the circumstances of this mystery, Val Andrews makes the account seem credible.
I have to give Val Andrews points for including Houdini’s friend Walter Gibson in the story. Gibson was a magician himself, and was ghost-writer for Houdini and other magicians. He is also famous for the creation of one of Pulp Fiction’s most iconic characters, The Shadow!
I give the book four stars…
Quoth the Raven…
July 2, 2008
There are actually two stories here, the first of which is okay, the second of which is not so great. The first story finds Sherlock Holmes enjoying a quiet retirement after WWI. He does leave his apiary long enough to take on a case brought to him by Harry Houdini, who is trying to expose a pair of spiritualists who have suckered Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife into believing that they can communicate with the dead. This one's kind of fun.
The second story is relegated to the world of "what-if," in which Holmes & Watson are visited by Bess Houdini after her husband's untimely death. She wants the duo to prove that Houdini was murdered. Holmes and Watson have to journey to America, then find themselves in trouble in Hungary as the case takes on some bizarre twists. Not quite as good as the first story; however, it did keep me occupied for a good while.
The second story is relegated to the world of "what-if," in which Holmes & Watson are visited by Bess Houdini after her husband's untimely death. She wants the duo to prove that Houdini was murdered. Holmes and Watson have to journey to America, then find themselves in trouble in Hungary as the case takes on some bizarre twists. Not quite as good as the first story; however, it did keep me occupied for a good while.
September 18, 2016
Good story, I chose this one because of Houdini being in the story. I recently watched the TV series Houdini and Doyle this past summer, loved it, and wanted to read something that paralleled that. I love Holmes, anything Holmes really so this was fun.
July 8, 2010
Definitely not Sir Arthur
April 13, 2015
Entertaining, funny little story.
3.5/5
3.5/5
May 6, 2016
read SOMETIME in 2002
March 29, 2017
Kindle Unlimited One of several Sherlock Holmes stories by an assorted group of authors, wanted to go through them all. Liked it, just didn't love it, sort of the right style and all but....
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews