Murder, My Dear Watson: New Tales of Sherlock Holmes

An anthology of Holmes pastiches that again also has extras in the form of articles or essays at the end. One of which here looks at Sherlock Holmes on the internet - being written by someone who has constructed such a site, and a list of major books of interest to those interested in studying Sherlock Holmes at a decent level. With a pretty decent overall story quailty, a worthwhile book for Holmes fans. Murder My Dear Watson : 01 The Adventure of the Dying Doctor - Colin Bruce Murder My Dear Watson : 02 The Adventure of the Young British Soldier - Bill Crider Murder My Dear Watson : 03 The Vale of the White Horse - Sharyn McCrumb Murder My Dear Watson : 04 The Adventure of the Mooning Sentry - Jon L. Breen Murder My Dear Watson : 05 The Adventure of the Rara Avis - Carolyn Wheat Murder My Dear Watson : 06 The Adventure of the Agitated Actress - Daniel Stashower Murder My Dear Watson : 07 The Case of the Highland Hoax - Anne Perry and Malachi Saxon Murder My Dear Watson : 08 The Riddle of the Golden Monkeys - Loren D. Estleman Murder My Dear Watson : 09 The Adventure of the Curious Canary - Barry Day Murder My Dear Watson : 10 Before the Adventures - Lenore Carroll Moriarty has some comet predictions and life insurance dodges. 3 out of 5 Watson looks into helping an old army acquaintance who helped him. 3.5 out of 5 Hermaphrodite heredity case. 3 out of 5 The Birth of A Nation has Holmes involved at a screening, with a crazed killer on the loose. 3 out of 5 The brothers Holmes come across the Maltese Falcon. 4 out of 5 An early Holmes stage actor does some deduction. 3 out of 5 Holmes and Watson have a case of Killer Queen. 3.5 out of 5 Holmes and Watson meet Sax Rohmer, who has a problem of his own regarding the man upon whom he based Fu Manchu. 4 out of 5 A strange poisoning to look into. 3 out of 5 Watson's recovery after the war, and some literary insight and advice. 3.5 out of 5

I enjoyed this anthology of new Sherlock Holmes stories. Most were well-written, if not earth-shattering. I appreciated the chance, in "The Adventure of the Young British Soldier," to look at characters from Watson's past in Afganistan. "The Adventure of Rara Avis" was a fun, fast-moving take on the Maltese Falcon. In "The Riddle of the Golden Monkeys" an old Sherlock Holmes and Watson meet the young author of Dr. Fu-Manchu and help him solve a problem. I enjoyed "The Highland Hoax." Although it was a bit confusing in bits, it had the adventurousness of a Holmes story. I'm not saying I believed all of it (I didn't, especially the conversation at the end that made Watson and Holmes sound quite disloyal to their royalty), but I had fun reading it. "The Adventure of the Curious Canary" caused me some quibbles. I have owned canaries and I know they do not tame easily, or frequently fly to people's shoulders, or allow you to stroke them. This figured heavily in the story, and drew me out of it with a jerk and a "huh?" "Before the Adventures" was a lot of fun, introducing "Budger," a lower-class prototype for Holmes. I really enjoyed how he arranged a seminal meeting in the story. The essays at the end were also enjoyable. Overall, this book was a fun read, and well-done. None of the stories made me overly confused, or strained my credulity beyond the point where it could bounce back, and all were fun. I felt like the authors showed up and tried hard, and I would be glad to read more Holmes stories by them.

"Murder, My Dear Watson" is one of the annual anthologies published by Carrol & Graf in their `New Tales of Sherlock Holmes' series. Most of these anthologies contain a few attractive stories with mediocre to bad stuff being presented generously. Fortunately, this particular collection scores significant points in terms of stories that involve Holmes' (albeit apocryphal) singular tales with certain `matters of interest'. Now for a very brief description of these tales: 1. "The Adventure of the Dying Doctor" by Colin Bruce is a very humane story where Watson (surprise!) is the main character, with a cameo by James Moriarty and Mycroft Holmes. 2. "The Adventure of the Young British Soldier" by Bill Crider is another story where Watson and his erstwhile orderly Murray take centre-stage. Of course Holmes is there, sharp as ever, poetic as well. 3. "The Vale of the White Horse" by Sharyn McCrumb is a complex tale with hints of bizarre hereditary traits and the consequences. It was a brilliant story with depths that are rarely aimed at. 4. "The Adventure of the Mooning Sentry" by Jon L. Breen is a mediocre story about one of Holmes' post-retirement `missions'. 5. "The Adventure of the Rara Avis" by Carolyn Wheat is a rather sensationalistic attempt to develop the tantalizing hints left by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle regarding the affair of the Addleton-Barrow' into a story about the Maltese Falcon. 6. "The Adventure of the Agitated Actress" by Daniel Stashower is a brilliant story about white might have happened on the stage before William Gillette's play "Sherlock Holmes" opened in London. 7. "The Case of the Highland Hoax" by Anne Perry and Malachi Saxon is an improbable, wild and poor story set in the Scottish Highlands. 8. ""The Case of the Golden Monkeys" by Loren D. Estleman is an almost Wold-Newton story involving Sax Rohmer and his Fu-Manchu model. 9. "The Adventure of the Curious Canary" by Barry Day is a good retelling of "The Speckled Band". 10. "Before the Adventures" by Lenore Carroll is a brilliant story about what could have happened to Watson before the entry of Holmes in his life. The non-fiction writings included in this book contain a plethora of information about the world of Sherlock Holmes and how a Sherlockian may enrich his knowledge in these matters. Overall, highly recommended.

Within the past three months I've read a dozen collections of Holmes pastiches, and found this to be the best. It includes several quotable "plums." Such plums were one of the key features of the original Holmes stories; they'd be a raisinless rice pudding without them. Here are a few: P. 13: The best way to tell a lie effectively is to tell the truth badly. P. 18: The moral, Watson, is that while life contains its hazards, it is the man who does not know how to calculate the risks who is in real danger. P. 67: An amateur. Which means he is either a genius or a dilettante. There is no in-between in such cases. P. 69: Swamp gas can only explain so much, sir, so much and no more. P. 154-55: I saw the small twitch of irony catch the corner of his mouth. The next moment the face had regained its classically sculpted lines, something poised between Roman senator and an American Indian. P. 161: He acted as though he expected to have the fatted calf killed daily on his behalf.