Sherlock Holmes Interviews Kim Krisco – Part 2

 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes conducts a three part interview with Sherlock Holmes author Kim Krisco, who has just released Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years.  This is part two.

Holmes:            Philip K. Jones, a noted Sherlockian scholar, in a recent review, said that your collection . . . I quote: “is one of the finest sets of Sherlockian fiction I have seen.  The author has a good grasp of Nineteenth Century British politics and thought . . .” How were you able to accomplish this . . . especially given you are an American?

Krisco:            The same way you are able to meet and overcome challenges – relentless dedication, hard work, the required confidence to seek help when I need it. I read all your stories of course . . . indeed all of Conan Doyle’s works to better capture his style and voice. I did meticulous and deep research in libraries, the internet and, as I noted earlier, on site visits. Also, as I began writing, I engaged a “special editor” to help me – a fellow named Joe Revill in the UK. His job was, primarily, to help me with my language. He assisted in other areas as well, but he helped me write and think like a Brit – a one hundred year old Brit at that.

Holmes:            All well and good. You do seem to be giving due diligence to your craft and “The Canon,” as it is called. And, I must give you even more credit for the stories themselves. I was challenged and exhilarated by all the adventures you created for me – although I came much to close to death in a couple of them. The Cure the Kills . . . The Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train, among others, allowed me to exercise my singular skills to the maximum.

Krisco:            Yes my stories brought you to the mountains of Scotland, racing across America, and trekking into the jungles of the Belgian Congo. You also “shared the stage” with some turn-of-the-century celebrities: G.K. Chesterton, Leander Starr Jameson, Emmeline Pankhurst, Harry Houdini, and President Theodore Roosevelt, to name a few.

Holmes:            Yes, I will admit that I found the circumstances you put me in both exciting and harrowing . . . including my reunion with “the woman.”

Krisco:            Thank you. Yes, I wanted to create a rich “reader experience.”  I did this in a number of ways:  I created detailed historical backgrounds, but I also introduced a bit more action and suspense than one might find in a typical short story from the Doyle canon.

Holmes: Well sir, with that I think part two of our interview is at an end.

Krisco: But, not your stories. They are just beginning in Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years. (Available everywhere.)

End of Part 2

Sherlock Holmes Interviews Kim Krisco – Part 1

Mr. Sherlock Holmes conducts a three part interview with Sherlock Holmes author Kim Krisco, who has just released Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years.  This is part one,

Holmes:            Thank you for agreeing to this interview Mr. Krisco.

Krisco:             I was surprised by your invitation . . . especially given that you’re the fellow who seems to know all the answers.

Holmes:             A misnomer, I fear. I do not know all the answers, but I do know all the questions . . . which is the next best thing. So, let me begin with this question:

Why on earth did you not let me retire in peace?

Krisco:            You yourself said that you thought retirement would elude you. I don’t think anyone who knows you would believe that you would be content to raise bees, interesting as they are, on the Sussex seashore. But you must understand that it is not merely me who impinges upon your “golden years,” but your fans who are begging you to come out of retirement. One hundred years ago, your fans wouldn’t let Conan Doyle kill you off, and today your fans want the master detective in action once again.

Holmes:            So be it. But why you . . . an American?  Don’t get me wrong, I love America and Americans, but I might have thought you ill-prepared for the challenge.

Krisco:            Right to the point Mr. Holmes. Let me say that I am an ardent fan, and a writer by trade. But, I didn’t start out to write stories about you. I was initially planning a series of mysteries based upon British mythology. I traveled to the UK and Scotland in May of 2013. One of my research treks brought me to Ben MacDhui Mountain in Aviemore Scotland, to research the Legend of the Grey Man of Ben MacDhui. There I heard about a creature known locally as 'Fear Liath Mor'. Over the centuries dozens of sighting have amalgamated into an image of a humanoid about ten feet tall, covered in hair, and having long arms. I even uncovered a report, written in 1891, where a climber reported finding large footprints measuring over 14 inches and stride over 5 feet long. When I spoke with locals about this malign creature, one person remarked, “It’s a mystery that only Sherlock Holmes can solve.” That gave me the idea to change the entire series of mysteries into a series featuring you.

Holmes:            Knowing how our turbulent world needs reason more than ever, I am mystified by your pandering to the gullible masses . . . the Grey Man . . . really!

Krisco:            Funny . . . that’s exactly what you said in the first story in my collection – A Bonnie Bag of Bones.

Holmes: Well sir, with that part one of our interview is at an end.

Krisco: But, not your stories. They are just beginning in Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years. (Available everywhere.)

End of Part 1

Suffragettes Marching Near Baker Street!

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.

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.

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 newest collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures – Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years by Kim Krisco.

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 remarkable 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.

You can order Sherlock Holmes-The Golden Years, as a book or E-book,  at:

Amazon

Amazon UK

 

The BookDepository.com

Barnes & Nobles

Great Holmesean author Dan Andriacco’s Review

Just off the presses, Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years got a nod from one of the best and most prolific Sherlockian and “Holmesean” authors in the world – Dan Andriacco.  In his blog: BakerStreetBeat.

Dan said:

“Like many writers before, Kim H. Krisco provides some answers in Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years. That's not a title that immediately attracted me, but the book actually is golden. It's a series of five interrelated short stories, most of them featuring a well-drawn new villain. Some of the familiar characters of the Canon show up as well.

Dialogue is one of the delights of the book, as when Holmes says: ‘If honor appears as a choice, then you have already lost it.’ And then there's this, which I like very much:

‘You know what you want, but that is not the same as knowing, with any certainty, that your actions today will deliver what you want. Life is not a chess game in which there is a final end. The real world does not stop with check-mate. What is more, simply because something does not end well does not mean it is good and right.’

This comment by Sherlock Holmes is part of a debate with his brother Mycroft. The larger question they are contesting is whether it is right to join forces with one evil in order to defeat another. Almost a hundred years after the setting of the book, that question remains very much alive in our complicated world.”

His whole review is on his EXCELLENT BLOG. You really need to check out Dan’s blog as well as his new book: Rogues Gallery.  Dan has fashioned some modern day Holmes and Watson-type characters in the form of Sebastain McCabe and Jeff Cody that are rightfully developing a loyal following.

Go to: Dan Andriacco's Blog

Go to: AMAZON for Sherlock Holmes - The Golden Years

 THE BOOK IS HOT “OFF THE PRESSES” and here’s the first serious review: Sherlockian Expert offers great review for Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years

Philip Jones is familiar to most fans of Sherlock Holmes as he has over 100 reviews of Sherlock Holmes books on Amazon and maintains probably the most complete Sherlock Holmes database on www.sherlockian.net and other websites. His review of Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years appears below in its entirety:

Review: “The description on the back of this book caused me to worry that I was in for a set of tales steeped in the supernatural, but all such fears were put to rest by the first story.  Eventually, all five proved to be based firmly in reality, with only a few nods at another orientation in the final tale.  This collection of five novellas is one of the finest sets of Sherlockian fiction I have seen.  The author has a good grasp of Nineteenth Century British politics and thought and each of the tales looks at seldom seen sides of that world.  The author also plans to continue this set of tales in future.

“The Bonnie Bag of Bones” introduces Adaline Dart who is involved in the disappearance of one Godfrey Norton.  The narrative progresses, bringing in more of her family, as time goes on.  An explanation for the existence of the “Grey Man,” who is suspected of the murder is also presented.

In “The Curse of the Black Feather” we meet the primary villain in this series of tales, the man who wears the black feather.  This mystery begins with a request by G. K. Chesterton to investigate events that occurred following the birth of an illegitimate daughter to a former servant of his.  It also pits Sherlock against his brother, Mycroft and the rest of the “Intelligence” establishment.

The third novelette, “The Maestro of Mysteries” continues the investigation began in “Black Feather.”  This leads into a dark underground realm in London, to the “Society of the Golden dawn” and to international complications. Part of this tale illustrates the author’s understanding of the Government of the Empire’s attitude toward the rest of the world and some of the consequences of that attitude.

“The Cure that Kills” details the hunt for the perpetrator of the previous two tales and the clash between Holmes and the Pinkerton agents hired to help his search.  Among other things, it takes place mostly in Battle Creek, Michigan, for quite reasonable causes.

The final tale, “The Kongo Nkisi Spirit Train,” takes Holmes and Watson to Africa.  Native magic is holding up completion of the Cape to Cairo railway and Holmes is needed to put it back on track before the coming War demands its use.  Some events occur in this tale for which explanations are not provided.

These five tales are rich in details.  Many historical characters are portrayed, some with no more explanation than a name.  As an example, look up Irene’s son-in-law.  He was born in 1893 and he died in 1988 and I’ve read at least one of his books.  Many of the characters will reward further studies.  While these tales do not use Dr. Watson in the same fashion as do most of the Canonical tales, they approach Doyle’s methods in many ways.  Doyle used Dr. Watson for specific reasons and in particular ways in all but six of the tales.  This author comes close, but is more generous to “the Good Doctor.”

NOW AVAILABLE!

Amazon link to book

Amazon UK