Worthy Adversaries All . . . for Sherlock Holmes

Professor James Moriarty's first and last appearance occurs in Doyle's story “The Final Problem,” where Holmes is focused on incarcerating Moriarty and his entire criminal syndicate. The Professor is determined to put an end to Holmes, and forces him to flee to the Continent to escape retribution. The criminal brain follows, and the pursuit ends atop the Reichenbach Falls where Moriarty falls to his death while fighting with Holmes.

It is interesting to note that, while Moriarty actually appears in only one story, he looms large as Sherlock Holmes’s infamous arch-enemy. Most every writer of Holmes pastiches is therefore confronted with the challenge of creating a rival as diabolical as James Moriarty. From the reviews of my recent book, it appears I may have achieved that goal.

In three of the five novellas that comprise Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years, Ciarán Malastier sets himself against Holmes and deals a blow that has the detective “down-for-the-count.” Holmes’s pursuit takes him “across the pond” and into the very heartland of America. When the two adversaries confront one another, Sherlock is forced to struggle with a darker side only hinted at in the original Canon.

In the last novella, “The Kongo Nikisi Spirit Train,” yet another “promising” adversary surfaces that harkens back to Moriarty himself.

Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years requires the aging Holmes to be at the top of his game, and he rises to this challenge (as we know he will), as long as he draws a breath.

Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years is available on AMAZON, and OTHER BOOKSTORES.

A Sherlock Holmes Lover’s Dream Come True

Heads up Holmes aficionados! Something good is coming your way -- the world’s largest collection of NEW Sherlock Holmes tales.

This project is currently in development by MX Publishing in London, so some of the details below may change before it goes to press this fall. Noted Holmesean author, David Marcum, is the editor. Inspired to support the Undershaw Preservation Trust’s efforts to save the Doyle home (http://www.saveundershaw.com/), David sought to create a collection of new Sherlock Holmes stories with ALL the proceeds going to this cause. You might recall that Undershaw was the home from which Doyle wrote most of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

When Marcum began this effort, almost a year ago, he could not have anticipated that his idea would grow into a “master collection.” He began to contact known authors of Sherlock Holmes pastiches -- those that write in a manner consistent with the original canon. I was asked to contribute, and felt honored because my story will be among some of the preeminent Sherlock Holmes stories in recent time.

David Marcum’s outreach was wildly successful. Authors from the U.S., Canada, U.K., New Zealand, India and beyond agreed -- 60 authors in all. Each author will donate their royalties to the Undershaw Preservation Trust.

The anthology will be two volumes, each around 400+ pages. These editions will be 6” x 9” hardcovers with dust jackets. They won’t be designated Vol. I or II, but rather organized chronologically by the dates of the stories. The draft cover design (shown here) may change a bit. I will keep you informed as this wonderful project unfolds in the months ahead.

It is interesting to note Arthur Conan Doyle original collection of Sherlock Holmes stories totals 60 stories. So, this new anthology is “Sherlock Holmes Redux.”

Hot off the presses in India!

While the Sherlock Holmes canon does not have Holmes spending time in India, there is reason to believe he was there during his “missing years” -- after Reichenbach Falls. This might account for the huge number of fans the legendary detective in this land of unity and diversity. Fortunately, these fans can get the newest collection of Sherlock Holmes stories from a local publisher -- Jaico publishing. Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years is for sale art about 259.00 rupee.

This collection of five new post-retirement adventures includes:

The Bonnie Bag of Bones that lead the infamous duo on a not-so-merry chase through London.

In the Curse of the Black Feather Holmes teams up with a gipsie matriarch, to expose a diabolical baby-farming enterprise.

Maestro of Mysteries begins with a summons to Mycroft’s office and ends with a deadly chase beneath the streets of London.

The Cure that Kills sees Holmes is in hot pursuit of Ciaran Malastier,  pitting himself against the Pinkerton Agency.

In The Kongo Nkis Spirit Train, Holmes and Watson travel to the Dark Continent to derail a “spirit train” that ensnares people’s spirit, and enslaves their bodies.

Check it out!

Why we love Sherlock Holmes

What is it that draws us to Sherlock Holmes and his wonderful tales -- the original canon, as well as the new pastiches?

As a writer of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, I have spent a good amount of time reflecting on this question. I don’t presume that I have “the answer”; but let me share where I am presently in my inquiry into what makes Sherlock Holmes stories so popular and sought after.

First, we love the character himself, a man both familiar and unfamiliar. Sherlock Holmes, like most of us, is far from faultless. His oddball Bohemian nature, his drug use, and his limited ability to empathize make him sympathetic, believable, and real. At the same time, his powers of deduction, attention to detail, and his ability to focus and block out extraneous information are what make him such so exceptional. Even so, while his extraordinary skill-level make Sherlock Holmes an master detective, they are all skills that any person can develop, and even master if they put their mind to it. Holmes is not a hero of the super-human, comic book variety, but rather of a delightful human variety.

Second, we love the stories themselves because they are short, easy to read, and almost always introduce us to new, strange, or unfamiliar people, places and situations. The stories do what all good fiction does, take us out of our world and put us completely into another - which brings me a third reason I believe we love Sherlock Holmes.

We love Holmes and Watson for the times in which they lived. While Doyle’s stories take us to some terrible places, the overall setting is Victorian and Post-Victorian England -- just before the world plunges deeply into the modern, technology-driven industrial era. Sherlock Holmes lived and worked in a simpler time and place - one that lures and invites us to escape today’s madding world . . . albeit for only thirty minutes.

Hopefully, you will find my analysis of the Sherlock Holmes canon above reflected in the five new tales in Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years. I honored the character of Holmes and strove to be true to it. My stories, while longer than the typical 8,000-word Sherlock Holmes tale, are set in a time just before The Great War - a simpler time to be sure. However, in the end, you (the reader) will be the judge. And, I invite your feedback and criticism.

Sherlock Holmes: Music hath charms to soothe a savage mind

Sherlock Holmes plays the violin. References to his playing are limited, but they are abundant enough to give us a picture of a cultured, atypical player who, of course, played a Stradivarius.

As for Holmes’s repertoire, there are no direct references to Holmes playing from a score. However, he does play some of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words for Watson’s listening pleasure in A Study in Scarlet. In his review, Watson says: “His powers upon the violin… were very remarkable but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments.”

The only story where Holmes’s violin plays a part in the plot is in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone. Here Holmes fools his foes by telling them he will play the Barcarolle from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann in an adjoining room. However, he puts on a record of the same piece. The scoundrels fail to notice that the music is a recording, rather than a live performance. This allows the master detective to listen in on their clandestine conversation and unravel the mystery.

Is Holmes a good musician? Here opinions are wide-ranging. While Watson is occasionally annoyed by Holmes’s playing, in The Red-Headed League, Watson is rather complimentary. He says that Holmes is . . . “an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit.”  

However, we may be missing the mark if we focus solely on Holmes’s musical ability. It seems clear that Holmes uses his violin playing as a “distancing method.” As many scientists, and creative individuals, will tell you, when they encounter a problem whose solution is not immediately apparent, it’s best to focus on something else in order to let your subconscious mind come into play. This would seem to born out by that fact that, shortly after Holmes plays his violin, we find him, once again, on his way to solving the mystery at hand.

While I did not ask Holmes to play for us in any of the five tales I wrote for Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years, I used his interest in music and the violin to draw him out of a deep depression. In The Maestro of Mysteries, a violin virtuoso, Fritz Kreisler, is brought to Watson’s apartment, where Holmes is staying. Fritz Kreisler was a real person—a contemporary of Holmes and Watson. And, as I attempt to make all my stories historically accurate, Fritz Kreisler had recently played at Wilton’s Music Hall in London near the time my story is dated. In my story, Kreisler plays Dvorak’s Humoreske, which (not coincidently) he played as an encore at his performance at Wilton’s Music Hall.

In The Maestro of Mysteries, Fritz tries to coax Holmes into joining him in Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins. But, Holmes laughs and replies. “In the shadow of such genius it [my violin] would not dare leave its dusty bin.” Kreisler replies: “Genius comes in many forms, Mr. Holmes. It is incumbent upon us to exercise those gifts that we each possess. You, my dear sir, are the maestro of mysteries.”

If you want to read The Maestro of Mysteries, and the other four stories in the Sherlock Holmes- The Golden Years collection, go TO AMAZON.

Unlikely Friends: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini:

It is difficult to reconcile Conan Doyle’s belief in Spiritualism with his rational creation Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur, in his later life, became a staunch advocate for Spiritualism. At this same time, Harry Houdini devoted his efforts to unmasking unscrupulous mediums and spirit guides. Ironically, Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were great friends. Both Doyle and Houdini are real life characters in the latest historical fiction collection of Sherlock Holmes mysteries: Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years.

In The Cure that Kills, Houdini meets Holmes and Watson aboard ship as they steam to America in pursuit of the diabolical Ciarán Malastier. As I attempt to have all my stories be historically accurate, it should be noted that Houdini did sail back to America after a triumphant European tour about the time my story is dated.

In another novella, The Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train, Sherlock meets his maker -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—at a séance in the Doyle’s Windlesham home. Like Houdini, Holmes subtly unmasks a “mostly fraudulent” medium called Margery—again, a real personality of the time. In this scene from the story, the logical Holmes remarks to Doyle: “Like Diogenes, Sir Arthur, I am, above all, a seeker of truth. And, if it be possible to discover the truth that lies beyond the grave, I myself might expect to find it in deep reflection and lucid prayer, and not around a ill-lit table.”

You can read these tales, and three others, in Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years—available on AMAZON and all good bookstores.

The Baker Street Irregulars: Alive and Well

The Baker Street irregulars are a gang of street Arabs whom Holmes employs from time to time to aid in his investigations. This back-street brigade serves to gather information, find missing people, track individuals, deliver communications, etc.

This urban army appears in the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study In Scarlet. They also have their own chapter in a subsequent novel, The Sign of the Four. They reappear some years later in The Adventure of the Crooked Man.

In the early stories, the irregulars are led by an older boy called Wiggins, whom Holmes paid a shilling per day (plus expenses), with a guinea prize (worth one pound and one shilling) for a vital clue. Of course, the irregulars are often included in various movies, television programs, and Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Indeed, they play a prominent role in several of the stories in my new collection – Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years. However, as my stories take place nearly twenty years after their last appearance, the the irregulars in my stories are led by a sixteen-year old boy named Archie, who has a tag-along little brother names Benjie.

As a writer, I find the irregulars fascinating. They create a poignant counterpoint to the richer society that is the focus of most of Doyle’s stories. Also, kids are just fun to write. They inject energy into a story. Having alleged this, you will not be surprised to learn that am planning to have the irregulars play a prominent role in most of my future stories. Indeed, I recently submitted a story called Blood Brothers for a new anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories being created to support the The Undershaw Trust’s efforts to save the Doyle home in Surrey, UK. This collection of about fifty original stories will debut sometime this fall – being published by MX Publishing in London.

I will alert you again when this fantastic anthology, which is edited by David Marcum, will be available. It is definitely one book you will want to have in your collection. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already done so, check our Sherlock Holmes the Golden Years – available ON AMAZON and most every on-line and main street book store.