The Untold Story of the Irregulars and Sherlock Holmes

THE IRREGULARS were like many children in turn-of-the-century London is some ways, and different in other ways. It seems likely that their association with Sherlock Holmes, and the money they received from helping him, would give them a little advantage over most of the street urchins at that time.

Like most slum-dogs in London, the irregulars had to work instead of going to school. Some had their own professions such as chimney-sweeps, shoe-blacks, mudlarks, and the like. Such is the case with many of the irregular characters that I am creating for my next book. However, even with the help of Sherlock Holmes, the irregulars lived in the same stark environment as most poor children in the period.

The streets, particularly the slums, were disease-ridden because sanitation was bad and clean water unavailable. Many children died from illnesses such as cholera, measles, diarrhea, and tuberculosis. Of course, parents died as well, leaving many orphans. There were few orphanages for the poor. Workhouses were the only option for poorer orphans. Workhouses provided food and shelter in return for hard, unpleasant work. Conditions were so harsh that children would only go to workhouses as a last resort.

The irregulars were a band of street kids who worked together to avoid the workhouses. Many of them walked on the wrong side of the law, out of necessity. They banded together to avoid what were called the “lads-men,” of Dickens fame, who provided meager shelter and food in exchange for the lion’s share of the spoils from thievery. Despite this, it was likely that many of the irregulars were thieves. However, it is nice to think that, thanks to Sherlock Holmes, they had other ways to make a living -- other choices. This is the underlying premise of my new book tentatively entitled: Irregular Lives: The True Story of Sherlock Holmes’s Urchin Army.

As a writer, I find the irregulars fascinating because they provide a stark counterpoint to the richer society that is the focus of most of Doyle’s stories. Indeed, I recently published a story called Blood Brothers for the new multi-volume anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories being created to support the The Undershaw Trust’s efforts to save the Doyle home in Surrey. My story is in Volume III of The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories.

I will soon begin postong portions of the current work in progress in this blog. I invite readers, and followers, to offer opinions, ideas, and criticism. I am curious if this new focus for Sherlock Holmes stories -- the irregulars -- is something you, as a reader, might enjoy.  I hope to hear from you.

The Next Sherlock Holmes Movie . . . Hopefully!

Sherlock Holmes is obviously not new the cinematic screen. The first Sherlock Holmes movie was made in 1905. Thereafter, there have been many movies starring actors like Harry Saintsbury, Eille Norwood, John Barrymore and, of course, Basil Rathbone. Recently, Ian McKellen in Mr. Holmes, “put the cheery on the cake for me.

The public cannot get enough of Sherlock Holmes who is officially now the most portrayed fictional character in history.

My latest offering, Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years, is one of many on the bookshelf. However, I am planning to get my stories off the shelf and onto the silver screen. I have just finished a screenplay based on one of the stories in my collection and made it available via a website called Ink Tip-- a place studios, actors and directors go to find new material.

The script is tentatively entitled: Sherlock Holmes and the Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train. The action-packed story takes place around one of the most remarkable real life engineering projects ever conceived -- the Cape to Cairo Railway which stretched over 5,700 miles from Cape Town South Africa to Cairo Egypt. This turn of the century 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.

In my movie, Sherlock Holmes and the Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train, Sherlock Holmes travels deep into the forbidding jungle of central Africa to unravel a mystery that puts him among the walking dead.

The walls of Sherlock Holmes’s rational world crumble as an African witch, acting as an agent of illegal mining operation in the Belgian Congo, sets out to steal his soul. The spirit of “the woman” he loved intervenes, to try and save him. Sherlock Holmes does solve another mystery, but he is left to reconcile his ultra-rational world with his mystical experience.

So, tell all your friends in Hollywood about Sherlock Holmes and the Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train. And, in the meanwhile, check out the other 4 stories in my printed collection on Amazon.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson: The Consummate odd-couple

All, but four, of the Sherlock Holmes tales are narrated by Watson. But, the character Watson not only serves as a chronicler, but also as a story telling device. Watson often makes his own observations and offers his own theories, which throw the reader off track a bit, and thus make Holmes’s deductions and solutions all the more surprising.

If you have enjoyed any of the many Sherlock Holmes movies and television programs, you may have noticed that writers and actors interpret the character of John Watson in wide-ranging ways. In some adaptations, Watson is a bumbling fool, in others he is a wise and invaluable ally. So, two of the most important decisions I had to make, as I was writing a new collection of Holmes pastiches, were:

“What kind of man was Dr. John Watson?

And, “What was the nature of Sherlock’s and John’s relationship?

To some extent, I drew upon my own experience, as an older man, with long-time male friends. What kind of relationship do I have with some of my better male friends?

You will be able to see how I answered that question in my new collection of Holmes adventures – Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years.  One of the stories in this collection, The Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train, a character (Jameson) chats with Dr. Watson about what he sees as the role Watson plays in Holmes’s life and work. Watson says about his relationship with Holmes:

          "I am a mere acolyte.”

         Jameson held a glint in his eye. “I know better, John. You do what any good colleague does, and provide something that Mr. Holmes needs, even if he may not fully comprehend it.”

          “I cannot imagine what that would be.”

         “Certainly, a shared journey is richer, and more meaningful. You make that richness available to one another. But also, much of Mr. Holmes’s life is lived within his lofty intellect. You provide the tether that ties him to humanity, and grounds him in the world.”

            “I had never thought of our relationship in that particular manner.”

        “What is more, Mr. Holmes is a craftsman, an artisan. His craft is unique; but, like all craftsmen, his work must be seen and appreciated. As the master storyteller, you display his craft to the world.”

        “Mr. Jameson . . . Lanner . . . your sagacity and discernment are much appreciated. You hold up a mirror into which I seldom peer. Thank you.”

This and the other five new tales in this collection take place when Holmes and Watson are “retired” – 1912 to 1913. I felt it was important to show how their relationship had evolved, mellowed, and become deeper and richer in the decade following their supposed retirement in 1903.

I hope that my humble interpretation of their relationship contributes to their longevity as one of the most famous male duos in history alongside Laurel and Hardy, Cheech and Chong, and Han Solo and Chewbacca.

The book Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years is AVAILABLE ON AMAZON and most on-line and main-street bookstores.

http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Golden-Years-Post-Retirement/dp/1780926715

Kids with Irregular Lives

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 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 I have just begun writing a new book, or collection of stories, where the irregulars play a featured role. This book begins in 1919, when Holmes would be about 65 years old. The book is still in the research and outline phase, but as it unfolds, I will publish snippets in this blog.

I am writing in a small Mexican working town called La Penita. It's a dirty, dusty place were poverty is a very real thing. I see every day and it helps be to have a more visceral feeling for my subject matter. For, like every place, Mexico has its own version of the irregulars.

Adios!

A New Holmesian Book is Coming in 2016

In a slight departure from previous postings . . .

Sherlock Holmes - TheGolden Years will have a new “brother” before the end of this year. After spending much of this year moving higher into the Colorado Rockies and building a small office/cabin, Sara and I will be off to our tiny casita in La Penita Mexico for several months (see view from balcony). It is here where work on my next book will begin.

I have begun research as we pack. The new project is mostly formless. I know only that I intend to follow a format I created for the story “Blood Brothers” in the new MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Vol. 3.

In this new work, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson will share the stage with the irregulars. Indeed, the stories will focus on the “behind the scenes” efforts of the irregulars. This will give Sherlockians (and pothers) a glimpse of the poor in London around the turn of the century. Indeed, it will be a study of the poor that, then and now, comprise the vast majority of world’s population: Today nearly 1/2 of the world’s population — more than 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty — less than $1.25 a day.

Despite these daunting figures, the poor are “invisible” to most of us. We don’t see their faces in the inexpensive items we buy on-line and at mega-stores like Walmart. The poor are hidden the shadows of society. My hope is to shed a bit of light on them -- the limelight that shines on Sherlock Holmes as he struts the world stage.

Having declared this, I should quickly add that I fully intend to make my book, and stories, fully within the form and style Doyle’s canon. These new mysteries be worthy of the most serious Holmesian aficionado.

I will include updates, from time to time, on my progress, but will continue to post items more in keeping with this blog.

Kim H Krisco

Sherlock Holmes’s First (and last) African Adventure

Sir Leander Starr Jameson (1853 - 1917), after studying medicine at University College, London, seemed destined for a great future as a physician in Britain, but poor health and a strong sense of adventure led him in 1878 to the diamond mines in Kimberley, in southern Africa. There he met Cecil Rhodes. They became fast friends and shared a dream to extend British rule from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo.

On Rhodes’s behalf, Jameson undertook missions to charm Lobengula, king of the Matabele, into confirming mineral concessions in present-day Zimbabwe for the British South Africa Company and opened the door for passage of the Caper to Cairo Railway.

Jameson, Rhodes and Lobengula are just three of the dozens of actual, real-life characters that inhabit the new collection of pastiches entitled: Sherlock Holmes- The Golden Years. These three make their appearance in the Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train – the fifth and last story in the collection:

On a lovely summer morning in 1913, Leander Starr Jameson was ushered into the parlour of Watson’s London flat. What brought him there was an African mystery involving the Cape to Cairo Railway project - with 5,700 miles of rail track. As Jameson put it:

“The Cape to Cairo Railway has faced, and overcome, many obstacles over the last fifteen years—swamps, impenetrable jungle, the ravages of the white ants and termites, encounters with lions, elephants and other beasts, disease and unfriendly natives, to name a few. All of these have been overcome . . . until now.”

      I (Watson) leaned forward in my chair. “What has put a stop to the progress now, Mr. Jameson?”

      “The Kongo Nkisi. A native spirit-god.”

His report takes Holmes and Watson into the heart of the Dark Continent, and a confrontation with “the spiritless people.”

Leander Starr Jameson, also call "Doctor Jim” or "Lanner," guides Holmes and Watson into the jungle and, unknowingly, into the lair of the Kongo Nkisi spirit.

This tale is a fitting end to the five-part series of stories written in the style and voice of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If you’re seeking more authentic Sherlock Holmes stories – check out Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years.  You can find it ON AMAZON and all on-line and main-street bookstores.

Harry Houdini Meets Doyle & Sherlock Holmes

The man who created one of the most rational and grounded characters in the fictional world, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, believed that he and others could communicate with the spirits of the dead. Indeed, Sir Arthur, in his later life, was a staunch advocate of Spiritualism.

For nearly 30 years, Sir Arthur researched, investigated, and promoted Spiritualism in its many forms. This quest brought Houdini and Conan Doyle together in 1920. They became fast friends and even vacationed together in Atlantic City.

But, while they were personal friends, they were hardly allies with regard to Spiritualism. Both men trotted around the globe: Doyle advocating Spiritualism, and Houdini debunking spirit mediums, fortunetellers, and most anyone claiming supernatural powers.

This contrast is explored in new collection: 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. Later, in The Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train, Sherlock meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at a séance in which Holmes subtly unmasks a “mostly fraudulent” medium called Margery.

You can read these tales, and three others, in Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years – available on Amazon and most on-line and main-street bookstores.