Sherlock Holmes Abroad ???

The original adventures of Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are among the top ten most translated literary works in the world. Currently, Doyle’s stories have been translated into over 100 different languages. This despite the fact that Holmes and Watson ventured outside Britain in only one tale: The Final Problem, which took place in Meiringen, Switzerland. Within the Doyle canon, there are references that might lead a reader to believe that Sherlock Holmes may well have ventured abroad to Scandinavia, South America, Australia, and even America. It seems likely, though, that if Holmes did take cases outside Britain, they would likely be within one of the British colonies.

In Holmes’s time, the British empire consisted of over 13 million square miles -- 23 percent of the world’s land surface. Given this, would it be surprising if Holmes and Watson found themselves in British South Africa? I thought not - particularly if the case involved the greatest colonial project of all time -- Britain’s Cap to Cairo Railway project.

One of the most remarkable engineering projects ever conceived in modern times was the Cape to Cairo Railway--stretching over 5,700 miles from Cape Town South Africa to Cairo Egypt. The project faced, and overcome, many obstacles over the last 150 years—swamps, impenetrable jungle, the ravages of the white ants and termites, encounters with lions, elephants and other beasts, disease, and regional wars, to name a few. However, one of the most terrifying obstacles was the Kongo Nkisi  spirit.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson travel deep into the forbidding jungle of central Africa to unravel the mystery of the Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train. This adventure is one of five, totally new Sherlock Holmes adventures in my collection: Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years.

By the way . . . Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years as recently translated into Italian. And, it has also been published in India.

If want to see Sherlock Holmes at his best, check out: Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years on Amazon, and at most any on-line, or main street bookstore.

Sherlock Holmes meets G. K. Chesterton

Sherlock Holmes had notoriety in his time, but even more well known, at the turn of the century, was Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Nonetheless, today, most people have heard of Sherlock, while few know of Chesterton and his literary contributions. That is one reason he was introduced in Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years by Kim H Krisco. The hope was that the reader might be tempted to look into the works of this literary giant. And, if the reader did so, they would find him as relevant today as he was a century ago.

All the issues we struggle with in the 21st century, Chesterton foresaw, and wrote about, in the early 20th century. Social injustice, the culture of death, statism, assaults on religion, and attacks on the family, and on the dignity of the human person: Chesterton saw where these trends emerging in his time.

Chesterton considered himself to be a journalist, I supposed because he spent most of his life writing for newspapers. He wrote over 4,000 newspaper essays for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of columns for the Daily News. That’s the equivalent of writing an essay a day, every day, for twelve years. He was considered absent-minded, but that was likely the result of his mind being almost continuously consumed with some new thought that was gestating and finding its way into the next day’s newspaper column or story.

Chesterton took on most of the intellectuals of his time: George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, and Clarence Darrow.  He tackled what might be called the “big isms” of life: materialism, determinism, moral relativism, socialism, classism, and capitalism. He honored the “common man” and common sense. But what is just as amazing, he did this in a manner that made you chuckle or laugh.

Despite his monumental body of work, Chesterton is often neglected in classrooms, and his work is unknown by many who consider themselves “well educated.”  That is why he was introduced in a fictional story, “The Curse of the Black Feather,” which is one of the five tales in the collection Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years. In this tale, G. K. Chesterton brings a curious case to the great detective that sends Holmes and Watson on a series of madcap adventures that reach into the underground labyrinth beneath London, and across the Atlantic to America, as the infamous duo pursue one of the most diabolical villains Holmes has ever encountered.

Hopefully, this introduction to Gilbert Keith Chesterton opens the door to the works of this genius who deserves to be on the bookshelves of every serious reader. Such is also true of the most popular fictional character of all time – Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

Keeping the spirit of Sherlock Holmes and G. K. Chesterton alive!

Check out Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years – at AMAZON, and every good bookstore.

Women Marched Outside 221B Baker Street

There is a new movie making its debut - Suffragette, about those in Britain who lead the fight to give women the right to vote. This remarkable process played in the background of Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years by Kim Krisco.

Most Sherlock Holmes adventures do not bring in historical background to any great degree. So, this is one area where Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years adds an extra richness. Having done some research on the Suffragette movement in Britain, I have an appreciation for the courage of the women who lead the movement.

While the women’s suffrage movement in the United Kingdom began about 1872, with the formation of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, it didn’t make the daily headlines until the early 1900’s when the movement became more militant and violent.

WWI caused a temporary halt to suffrage activity and, in 1918, the Representation of the Peoples Act granted women limited voting rights. However, it wasn’t until 1928 when all women in Britain gained full voting rights.

Sherlock Holmes’s made a good attempt at going into retirement in Sussex Downs around 1905. He traded his lodgings at 221B Baker Street for a traditional thatched-roof stone cottage, and took up bee keeping. Indeed, he wrote a book on apiculture entitled: A Practical Handbook of Bee Culture with Some Observations Upon Segregation of the Queen. Most appropriate, as Holmes was an expert at keeping himself personally “segregated” from women – as it were. However, in his trips to the city, he could not help but confront some formidable ladies in the streets, as the suffrage movement was in full swing by 1905.

One of the key figures in the suffrage movement was Emmeline Pankhurst, who is one of several infamous historical characters that can be found in the new collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures. In the Curse of the Black Feather, Holmes and Watson meet Emmeline Pankhurst at a party where Watson has the dubious honour of escorting her to dinner.  Holmes, however, had a much more fascinating dinner partner that evening – Irene Adler, “the woman” who mysteriously reappears his life and haunts him in all five of the stories in this historically accurate 345-page collection.

In Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years the reader gets all the mystery and magic of Holmes at his best, interesting real-life historical characters, and a rich and highly accurate historical background, all of which adds great depth to the stories.

In Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years the reader gets all the mystery and magic of Holmes at his best, interesting real-life historical characters, and a rich and highly accurate historical background, all of which adds great depth to the stories.

You can buy Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years, as a book or E-book, at Amazon and other good bookstores.

Spiritualism: Holmes vs. Doyle

The book Sherlock Holmes — The Golden Years may get pigeon-holed as a British Mystery because it is a collection of five new Sherlock Holmes detective mysteries. However, an even richer reader experience awaits the reader because of the subtle way in which these stories explore other subjects such as eugenics, colonialism, and Spiritualism.

You may, or may not, know that Doyle spent the latter part of his life strongly advocating for Spiritualism — the belief that it is possible to commune with the spirits of people who have died.

For nearly 30 years, Sir Arthur researched, investigated, and promoted Spiritualism in its many forms. Sir Arthur’s legacy includes a three-volume collection of poetry. It also includes The New Revelation and The Vital Message, and Doyle’s most substantive book on Spiritualism The History of Spiritualism. Today, a plaque inside the door of the Rochester Square Spiritualist Temple in London reveals that Doyle was a major contributor the construction of the temple in the decade before his death in 1930.

There is a rare phonograph recording of Sir Arthur delivering a speech on Spiritualism on May 14, 1930, just two months before his death. He opened his talk by saying:

People ask, what do you get from spiritualism? The first thing you get is that it absolutely removes all fear of death. Secondly, it bridges death for those dear ones whom we may lose. We need have no fear that we are calling them back, for all that we do is to make such conditions as experience has taught us, will enable them to come if they wish. And the initiative lies always with them.

Sherlock Holmes — The Golden Years explores the curious juxtaposition of logic and rationality, represented by Sherlock Holmes, and the supernatural, represented by the man who created this beloved detective. In The Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train Holmes confronts Doyle after he attends a séance at Jean and Arthur’s home. Holmes remarks:

“Like Diogenes, 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.”

Whether or not you believe in ghosts and other supernatural phenomena, you are destined to enjoy the true spirit of Sherlock Holmes as he is portrayed in Sherlock Holmes — The Golden Years.

Available on Amazon, and all good bookstores.

From Baker Street to the backstreet: The irregulars

Sherlock Holmes, form time to time, employed a gang of street Arabs he referred to as the irregulars. They aided Holmes in his investigations by gathering 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. As these tales take place nearly twenty years after their last appearance, the irregulars in my stories are led by a sixteen-year old boy named Archie, who has a tag-along little brother Benjie.

I reprise Benjie and Archie in a story called Blood Brothers within a new three-volume anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories recently published by MX Publishing in London. As a researched the wrote Blood Brothers I was immediately aware that the irregulars were a fascinating collection of characters and offered a rich background the poorer side of London upon which Doyle seldom touched. My revelation is not surprising if we consider that one of the greatest novelists of all time, Charles Dickens, found the underprivileged in London provided some of the most memorable characters of all time: Oliver Twist, the Artful Dodger and, of course, Fagan. And so, while I would not pretend I am following in the footsteps of “The Inimitable,” as Dickens playfully called himself, my next writing project will center on the irregulars of London wherein Sherlock Holmes will play a significant, but supporting, role.

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 bookstore.

Sherlock Holmes: The musician

The iconic image of Sherlock Holmes is one in which he is playing the violin. References to his musicianship are limited, but they are abundant enough to give us a picture of a cultured, atypical player who, of course, played a Stradivarius. You might recall that he purchased his Strad at a pawn shop for 45 shillings. At that time, it would have been worth 500 guineas.

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.” Regardless, Holmes was obviously a music lover . . . especially fond of opera and German music. This is evidenced in the story The Adventure of the Red Circle wherein Holmes and Watson enjoy a Wagner night at Covent Garden.

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 or other good on-line and on-street bookstores.

The Grand Sherlock Holmes Anthology Has Arrived!

It’s here!  The largest and newest collection of Sherlock Holmes Stories has finally arrived and you can get it at your favorite bookseller.

 60 authors contributed to the 1200 page anthology bound in three hardback volumes. My donated story is titled Blood Brothers and will be found in Volume III:

“Blood Brothers” takes place in 1913, after Holmes is supposedly retired. Of course, we know this is not possible, as was made clear in Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years, with its five new “post-retirement” stories.

All royalties will go towards renovating Undershaw, the former home of Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle which will also serve as a school for children with learning disabilities. The new owners of the building Stepping Stones are restoring it back to its former glory, including the restoration of Conan Doyle’s study. One of the pledges from Stepping Stones to their Sherlockian supporters is that outside term time they will be making the house accessible to fans as much as possible; allowing them to visit the study and look out the very windows Conan Doyle did when he wrote stories such as The Hound of The Baskervilles.

Undershaw is where Conan Doyle wrote many of the original Sherlock Holmes stories. The building fell into disrepair over the years. Then, in 2009, developers tried to carve up the house for apartments or condos, a determined group of Sherlock Holmes fans fought the plan all the way to the high court. The group won an injunction in the high court. The developer appealed but that was finally quashed.

The anthology project is the brainchild of author David Marcum, who has written several collections of Holmes stories himself including The Papers of Sherlock Holmes. He has enlisted authors from all over the world.

"The response has been incredible," says publisher Steve Emecz. “David insisted all the stories should be new, but traditional in format so they are all set sometime between 1881 and 1929 and feature Holmes and Watson in their original Victorian setting. I don’t think we will ever see a collection on a scale like this again. The authors are so passionate about Undershaw and its new role as a special school, which is why so many have taken part".

The three volumes are available -- separately or together -- at most booksellers. They will look great on your bookshelf.