My Review (4 stars out of 5) Holmes and Watson embark on a new case on behalf of a friend of their landlady, Mrs Hudson, when a young girl goes missing. Together with the ever-present Inspector Lestrade, they soon find themselves embroiled in a case of abduction and murder. There’s something comforting about settling down…
Tag: Sherlock Holmes
‘The Cursed Writer’ by Holly Hepburn
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In her basement office within the Baker Street Building Society, Harriet (Harry) White has been given the job of responding to mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes. A telegram asking for the great detective’s help prompts Harry to investigate. A nephew of the author Philip St John is convinced…
‘The Complete Raffles – 1’ by EW Hornung
My Review (3 stars out of 5) Cricket-loving and thrill-seeking A. J. Raffles and his old school pal ‘Bunny’, embark on a series of burglaries in a bid to stay financially solvent. This is the first of two collections of 16 stories, including The Ides of March, Nine Points of the Law, and The Fate…
Reinventing Baker Street
Is it possible to transform two of the most famous characters in crime fiction into something new, without simply repeating what many others have done before? The popularity of Sherlock Holmes continually inspires writers to pay homage to the creations of Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as offering the opportunity to fashion new scenarios based…
‘The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu’ by Sax Rohmer
The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu Evil genius Dr Fu-Manchu sets in motion his plans for the conquest of China and the downfall of Western civilisation. But he must first deal with doggedly-determined hero of the Empire, Commissioner Nayland Smith and his pal Dr Petrie, who pursue him through the opium dens of Limehouse and…
‘The Hound of the D’Urbervilles’ by Kim Newman
The Hound of the D’Urbervilles (Audiobook) Professor Moriarty and his new sidekick Colonel Sebastian (Basher) Moran take on a whole series of dastardly deeds in this tale of Victorian ne’er-do-wells. They team up with a variety of villains, including the wicked Irene Adler (when she turns up with an interesting proposition), encounter the likes of…
Blogging – The Other Way of Writing a Book
There are two ways of writing a book – the first one is the obvious route: start at the beginning and write until you get to the end. The other way is to write a book that isn’t a book at all – in fact, it’s a blog. Years ago, we used to occasionally read…
‘The House of Silk’ by Anthony Horowitz
The House of Silk: The Bestselling Sherlock Holmes Novel Sherlock Holmes is dead and now his ageing companion, Dr Watson, also teeters towards death. With no-one left to answer to, the great detective’s biographer puts pen to paper one last time to document two very different, yet inexplicably connected, mysteries. When Edmund Carstairs turns up…
‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The twelve short stories collected together as ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ were first published in The Strand Magazine, beginning with ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’. Arthur Conan Doyle’s first two novels featuring the consulting detective (‘A Study in Scarlet’ and ‘The Sign of Four’) hadn’t made much of an impression…
‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles When a visitor leaves a walking stick behind, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson ponder on who their unseen caller might be. As usual, Holmes is able to describe the visitor in great detail, remarking on the man’s profession, his pet dog, his age, poor memory and even where he might…
Colin Garrow 