Baker Street Irregulars discussion
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What are you currently reading?
Yes, MX is the name of the publisher - they published my recent Holmes novel and publish the anthologies in which I have several short stories. Their YA and children's imprint is Orange Pip Books.Right now, I am re-reading Richard Marsh's "The Beetle." I had read it some time ago in an anthology called "Victorian Villanies" which revived some older forgotten thrillers from forgotten writers like Hawley Smart, Richard Harding Davis and, of course, Marsh, who deserves to be revived. His "The Twickenham Peerage" is one of my favorite recent reading experiences.
I finished the MX Anthology, which is #40, subtitled "Further Untold Cases," so you will read the cases referenced in the canon, like the Old Russian Woman, The Aluminum Crutch, The Vamberry Wine Merchant among others. I liked it well enough - I think there were a couple I liked better though I haven't read all 40+. I certainly liked it a lot better than a couple Holmes anthologies I read by large publishers who brought in some "name" authors - have to say that if you are looking for authentically Doylish short stories or novels, this series of anthologies from MX is probably your best bet.
I put up a review.
Is anyone thinking of doing the "Holmes Is Where The Heart Is" challenge on BookTube In February? You have to read one novel and one short story which are canon, then one pastiche and one legacy story.
I reread the books last Summer/Autumn, but I'm quite tempted by this.
Old Scot wrote: "Is anyone thinking of doing the "Holmes Is Where The Heart Is" challenge on BookTube In February? You have to read one novel and one short story which are canon, then one pastiche and one legacy s..."
Nothing replaces the original A C Doyle. I have had many copies of the canon over the years but recently (as a treat for my 69th birthday last September) I ordered the collectors library edition which is a beautiful gold edged hardback in the larger coffee table size - happy birthday to me ! It arrived just after Christmas so I read it over the festive period, which I alternated with various pastiches to eek out the Canon tales. Sherlock Holmes overdose, what a way to go !
Outlander wrote: Nothing replaces the original"I agree. When I first got my Kindle a decade ago, I went on a post-canon Holmes binge, and discovered there are loads of cloth-eared writers out there! When I re-read ACD's Holmes works last year, I discovered Anthony Horowitz had written a couple of Holmes pastiches. I enjoyed House of Silk.
The most successful legacy, IMO, is John Gardner's Moriarty books. He's only mentioned a few times, but I think most peoples' idea of Moriarty as the omnipotent, ubiquitous criminal mastermind comes from Gardner's portrayal. (My dad used to get them from the library and encouraged me to read them).
''House of Silk'' was a tale that was a peep into the decidedly seedy side of Victorian London, I had worked out the significance of the silk ribbon fairly early on but it was still an acceptable pastiche. The other Anthony Horowitz I have read is ''Moriarty'' (I gave both titles 4 stars each) it's odd reading a SH tale without either his or Watson's narration. I have also read the J Gardner ''Moriarty, no 3'' (again a readable pastiche) but can't seem to find copies of 1 & 2 yet, I gave it 3 stars. I have read quite a few of Michael Hardwick's SH tales which are excellent.One of the best pastiche authors to date has been Lyndsey Faye, all 3 titles are short stories and make for satisfying reads. "Observations by Gaslight: Stories from the World of Sherlock Holmes", "The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes" and "Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson".
I recently finished "The Monster of st. Marylebone" a Sherlockian novel published in the late '90s. I would rather not review it because I'm a bit on the fence. The writing itself was quite polished, ( though there was no effort to replicate Conan Doyle's style,) and I thought the depiction of Watson was quite faithful, but the story itself was sort of Sherlock Holmes as James Bond or Jack Reacher - it opened with Holmes being captured and tortured by a serial torturer/killer, saved, nursed by a woman who becomes his love interest. You have a plot that involves the quest for the killer, criminal psychology, British/Irish politics. Action scenes, fights, and violence that gets quite gruesome - as I said, it seemed more espionage thriller than Holmes adventure. It was said to be the first in a proposed series, and there is a sequel, but I don't know if there was a continuation beyond a second book.
J. wrote: "I recently finished "The Monster of st. Marylebone" a Sherlockian novel published in the late '90s. I would rather not review it because I'm a bit on the fence. The writing itself was quite polishe..."I have not read this one, but there are so many now with the theme you have outlined with SH as more of a JB figure in the tale, most seem to be as OHMSS initiated by Mycroft.
I certainly don't read these books for the violence, in all honesty I sometimes skim read to by pass those pages but I do like a good mystery. What I object to is romance for SH, he has no business in a romance novel. If you have ever read any of the books by Val McDermid from the Tony Hill (criminal psychologist) series (on TV as "Wire in the Blood") you will have a similar scenario of a great mystery, but it can get a bit violent as in Jack Reacher or James Bond.
I also like Ann Cleeves (Vera Stanhope, detective in Northumberland), Quintin Jardine (Bob Skinner, detective in Edinburgh), Peter James (Roy Grace, detective in Brighton & Hove), Ann Cleeves (Jimmy Perez, detective in Shetland), Ian Rankin (John Rebus in Edinburgh), etc, etc, etc
I'm reading "The Great Tontine" a Victorian era novel by Hawley Smart. It was one of those "lost" novels that was re-discovered and republished a few decades ago, hard to find. I was able to get it in a used copy of "Victorian Villanies", four Victorian era works.
Still reading "The Great Tontine" - also reading (I usually have 2-3 books going at a time) one of Gladys Mitchell's "Mrs. Bradley" novels. It's called "Watson's Choice" and involves a weekend party given by a Sherlock Holmes fanatic who expects his guests to dress the part of a Canonical character and to participate in a sort of scavenger hunt for items associated with the stories. The Mrs. Bradley series can be hit or miss with me - there are some where she is too much of a minor player - but so far I'm enjoying this one.
The second half of "Watson's Choice" was weaker than the first half, and the payoff was weak, but still worth checking out for that Sherlock connection. Also read and reviewed a pair of novellas by Richard Marsh, The Woman With One Hand and Mr. Ely's Engagement. Both in one volume.
I read and reviewed Richard Harding Davis' "In The Fog", that starts off when one of five fog-bound club members begins a tale that "Sherlock Holmes himself could not decipher." Really enjoyed it.
Read "A Gentleman in Moscow" and was underwhelmed.
Re-reading some of Cyril Hare's short stories - most of them are short mystery fiction with a twist at the end.
Reading Dorothy L Sayers' Murder Must Advertise. I'm finding it a bit of a slog, so I don't think I'm in the mood for it. I'm also reading Persuasion by Jane Austen as part of another group. I'm enjoying that very much.
Hi! I'm finally reading Dust and Shadow by L. Faye (I just waited a billion years to read it)... so many historical details! I had read some bad pastiches and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm on the last chapters.
Old Scot wrote: "Reading Dorothy L Sayers' Murder Must Advertise. I'm finding it a bit of a slog, so I don't think I'm in the mood for it. I'm also reading Persuasion by Jane Austen as part of another group. I'm en..."I love Jane Austen - There are a few Sherlock connections to Persuasion - the actresses Fiona Shaw and Sophie Thompson from the '95 Persuasion appeared in Granada Sherlock Holmes episodes.
Orontes wrote: "Hi! I'm finally reading Dust and Shadow by L. Faye (I just waited a billion years to read it)... so many historical details! I had read some bad pastiches and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm on the..."L.Faye is one of the best pastiche authors, sticking to the Canon is (in my opinion), paramount.
Read Ruth Rendell's last - or next to last - book, "Dark Corners." The quality of the writing was good, but I didn't like the characters, didn't believe their motivation, and thought that a plot where a man is blackmailed by his tenant, causes the death of an old friend, a woman who takes over the dead woman's apartment and is kidnapped, where there's murder, fraud, lies, twists ought to be more suspenseful. I was bored.
I read "The Honjin Murders," considered a classic locked room mystery, and the book that launched a 77 book series, featuring the detective Kosuke Kindaichi. I thought that it (and the locked room genre overall) would have been better suited to a short story - the original tale was first serialized over the course of several months, and then issued as a novel, much like Richard Marsh's "The Beetle."
Barbara wrote: " the actresses Fiona Shaw and Sophie Thompson from the '95 Persuasion appeared in Granada Sherlock Holmes episodes."The 1995 Persuasion is one of my two favourite Jane Austen adaptions! The other is the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film with Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFadyen.
There is another Sherlock link in the '95 Persuasion - Ciarin Hinds who was Wentworth in Persuasion was in the Cardboard Box episode of the Granada series. I think it was the last episode to be aired.I like the '95 miniseries of Pride and Prejudice better than the '05 movie, which IMHO made the Bennet girls out to be a little too shabby looking - I'm not sure they understood what class the Bennet were from or what they were going for.
I agree about Pride and Prejudice - the pig thing in the '05 version was a bit much, total disconnect with the Bennet's social standing.Cardboard Box has a Brett link - he and Joanna David (Susan Cushing) co-starred in a version of "Rebecca" back in the late 70s or early 80s.
Reading the debut novel by the 19th century author Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Trail of the Serpent. Wordy opening - most serialized novels are like that - but interesting characterization.
I just finished The Six Thirteen From Fairfield Junction and Other Cases of Sherlock Holmes, by Denis O Smith.Smith is one of the pasticheurs (if that's a real word!) who does a superb job of re-creating Watson's voice. I liked this small collection of tales very much and highly recommend it.
Orontes wrote: "Hi! I'm finally reading Dust and Shadow by L. Faye (I just waited a billion years to read it)... so many historical details! I had read some bad pastiches and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm on the..."Love her work !
I started Michael Koryta's "Rise the Dark", which is supposed to be a suspenseful page turning thriller, but for the life of me, I just couldn't got into it - got bored before pg 100 and so it's DNF.
Barbara wrote: "I started Michael Koryta's "Rise the Dark", which is supposed to be a suspenseful page turning thriller, but for the life of me, I just couldn't got into it - got bored before pg 100 and so it's DNF."I bought a "job lot" of 20 Titan press Sherlock Holmes pastiches which have turned out to be a mixed blessing. I'm on the 12th title now and so far, 7 of those titles have earned a disappointing 1 star. I dislike those that are out of the correct time period and those with the themes that fall into the categories of "steam punk", the supernatural or rehashes of "classic novels" - I fail to see why the canon is not followed by many of these authors.
I can usually get a sense of which authors have read the Canon and which ones just read the Cliff Notes - even if they deviate a little, the good authors always know what they can get away with and what they can't.I remember reading and reviewing a pastiche (really fan fiction) called "The Beast of the Stapleton's" and even though it was an attractive book, and the author got some of the style down, there were so many basic canonical (and non canonical) errors that I said in my review I wondered where the editors were.
I bought a "job lot" of 20 secondhand titles of SH titles by Titan paperback books recently, so I'm working my way through them at about 1 per day. A mixed bunch of pastiches with few really worthwhile nods to the canon. I do wish the authors would keep a small "bible" of canon facts to hand so that glaring errors could be avoided.
J. wrote: "Robert wrote: "https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_jsH7..."Very cool!"
I watched this documentary ages ago as I was fascinated by Doyle, Bell and Holmes. There is not a great deal of information on Bell (Dr Joseph Bell) but he was, someone I would have liked to know more about. The fictional series from the BBC "The Murder Rooms" and "The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes" were fantastic, such a pity they were not expanded to more episodes.
Further to the wonderful BBC offerings based on "The Dark beginnings of Sherlock Holmes" I have just read The Dark Water, one story from David Pirie that was not part of the endeavor. It would have been nice to have viewed what the BBC would have done with it, perhaps the BBC should revive the project ? Peter Capaldi would make an acceptable replacement for the late Sir Ian Richardson, and there are plenty of actors who could play a young Doyle.
I'm reading a novel from the '80s called "The Kentish Manor Murders" about an actor, Sheridan Haynes, who is playing Sherlock Holmes in a popular series - he's asked to give a private reading for a reclusive millionaire at his remote Castle Baskerville. Pretty good so far.
I have just finished "Enter the Lion: A Posthumous Memoir of Mycroft Holmes" and I have to recommend it as a must read. If the soppy bits can be deleted from your memory it's a winner for a period espionage movie. You know the old quote and response to find the contact that's a stranger to the hero - "The lion looks in all directions" response "Yet protects the cubs within it's den." Very Tinker, Tailor , Soldier, Spy !
I just finished (and reviewed) "Through a Glass Darkly," by Helen McCloy, a mystery/suspense author from the mid-20th century. It's one of the books featuring her series detective, psychiatrist Dr. Basil Willing, and is centered around a teacher who has been dismissed from two different schools when staff, students and visitors swear that they have seen her in two different places at the same time. The eerie problem does lead to a physical world explanation - one reason I found it interesting is that the publisher of my recent novel and a number of volumes of new Sherlock Holmes stories (MX Publishing) did two anthologies of Holmes stories that had a seemingly supernatural occurrence that had to have a real-world explanation.
I think I read "Dance of Death" years ago - I think it was the 1st of the Dr. Willing series. It was better than a lot of books of the era - written in the late 30s and I think the last was written around 1980.
I'm reading hound of the Baskervilles,I've read it back in school long ago
I am re-reading "Dust and Shadow" a Holmes vs Jack the Ripper novel by Lyndsay Faye, written a while back. I tried to compile a list of Holmes vs Ripper books, but it seems like I'm always leaving one out. I remember reading this, but forgot a lot about it - it's weird but I a lot of the Holmes and Ripper mashups I've read are pretty forgettable. You'd think it would be the opposite.I love HOUN - remember reading it for the first time and it was one of the books that started off my love for the Holmes stories. I don't think there has ever been a really great movie version - some pretty good but none of them nailed it for me.
I have just finished a short but sweet biography of Dr Joseph Bell.] who was Sir A C Doyle's tutor who became the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
I read and reviewed The Sherlockian. I didn't think it was any better than okay.
Read another Richard Marsh book, "A Spoiler of Men" - one of Marsh's books that leans into the supernatural a bit more with much of the plot revolving around the main character's ability to turn men into zombies, a dark skill he uses for personal gain.
I just finished "The Strange Case of Harriet Hall," a golden age mystery (written in the 30s) by Moray Dalton. Like a lot of those writers, she has a series detective - not very memorable - but the plot has some unusual elements and the finale was very memorable - the best part of the book.
I read "The Mystery at Orcival" by Gaborieau. This is an Inspector Lecoq novel, the predates the appearance of Sherlock Holmes by about 20 years. Holmes referred to Lecoq as a "miserable bungler" I wouldn't go that far - his knack for disguise and his attention to detail are certainly Holmes-like - but for me the most interesting part of the story was the long backstory of the crime.The crime itself opens with two poachers discovering the body of a woman in the marshes - the woman's husband has vanished and their house has been ransacked. The husband had been the lady's 2nd, and her first husband's best friend, who made his wife and friend pledge to marry after he died. That is the testimony of the district, but the then there is a long backstory that shifts the perspective on the three and exposes the "what really happened." As I said, I thought this was the most interesting part of the book, with a sinister subtlety that you see in other French works like "Cousin Bette" or "Therese Raquin".
Just finished "Darling Rose Gold" by Stephanie Wrobel. Obviously inspired by the Gypsy-Rose Blanchard case, and possibly the 2020 film "Run", which involved Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, it was a very effective an well done thriller about a woman who is being released after 5 years in prison for abuse of her daughter, and her adult daughter's sinister retaliation. I would give it five stars - it did quite effectively what it set out to do, was very well crafted. The narrative alternated between present tense and past tense voices - I generally take a pass on books written entirely in the present tense, but it was logical here, due to the shifting narrative.
Read Richard Harding Davis' "The Bar Sinister" told from the POV of "Kid" a dog rescued from pit fighting, who has an upward turn of events. Very charming.
I read "The Mayfair Mystery" aka "2835 Mayfair" written by the Edwardian satirist Frank Richardson. Didn't find it a very interesting read, but of interest because Richardson also wrote a few of the earliest parodies of Sherlock Holmes.
I"m reading one of the Mrs. Jeffries books, "Mrs, Jeffries and the Alms of the Angel." These are Victorian mysteries, there are probably 40 book in the series and this is one of the more recent ones. I don't find it very "Victorian" and I just can't get into it - decent opener but then it just starts to drag. Maybe its just the writer got series fatigue, I don't know, but I'm not sure how many more tries I'm going to give it before it's DNF.
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So basically it's just the name of the publisher ? Why make it sound as if it's another type of book I wonder ?