My Sherlock Holmes: Untold Stories of the Great Detective [Hardcover]

Michael Kurland (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 2003

For over a century, readers have thrilled to the exploits of Sherlock Holmes through the tales narrated by his sidekick and official chronicler, Dr. John Watson. But do Dr. Watson’s tales really tell the true story of the great detective? In this collection of thirteen original tales, each told by a side character in the original canon, ranging from the famous (Irene Adler, Professor James Moriarty, and Mycroft Holmes) to the decidedy minor (Billy the page boy, Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars, and both Mrs. Watsons), readers finally get to hear another side of the legend.

From what Inspector Lestrade really thought of Holmes to the untold tale of his encounter with Dr. Fu Manchu, from the bitter reminiscences of him by C. Auguste Dupin to the thoughts of his longtime landlady Mrs. Hudson, the totality of the veil of mystery over the legend that is Sherlock Holmes is at last removed. With stories from Barbara Hambly, Cara Black, Peter Tremayne, and Michael Kurland, among others, My Sherlock Holmes is a unique and compelling entry into the literature of the world’s most famous detective.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edgar finalist Kurland (The Great Game) offers an anthology of 13 new, mostly top-drawer Sherlock Holmes stories, all featuring viewpoints other than Dr. Watson's. Richard Lupoff is true to Poe's descriptive, psychological style in "The Case of the Impecunious Chevalier," in which a youthful Holmes goes to Paris to help Auguste Dupin retrieve a rare golden bird icon. In Gary Lovisi's "Mycroft's Great Game," Sherlock's older brother finds himself in an implausible alliance with archfiend Prof. Moriarty while playing an exaggerated game of power politics. In Kurland's own outstanding tale, "Years Ago and in a Different Place," Moriarty defends his reputation against Watson's insinuations by telling of his undergraduate days with Holmes investigating a bizarre campus murder together. Peter Tremayne, Cara Black and Barbara Hambly also contribute worthy adventures.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Purists may balk, but this collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by a diverse group of authors and imitators is extremely entertaining. Rather than adhering strictly to Conan Doyle's narrative style, the featured authors write original tales recounted by characters other than Dr. John Watson. Drawn directly from the original canon, each of these characters brings a new sensibility and adds a new dimension to the Holmes legend. These characters, which include Irene Adler, Dr. Moriarty, Mrs. Hudson, both the first and the second Mrs. Watson, Colonel Sebastian Moran, and Billy the page boy, all view Holmes and his exploits through the prism of their own interests, experiences, and relationships with the great detective. Most Holmes aficionados will welcome this delightful addition to the ever-growing mythology of their immortal fictional hero. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (February 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312280939
• ISBN-13: 978-0312280932
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,197,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining feast!, March 26, 2007

By 

RIJU GANGULY "perceptive reader" (India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Sherlock Holmes: Untold Stories of the Great Detective (Paperback)

"My Sherlock Holmes: Untold Stories of the Great Detective" has been a Michael Kurland-special, so to say. Like his Professor Moriarty series, this book contains adventures truly and properly enshrined within the world of Sherlock Holmes, and yet are different in the sense that the protagonists are people whom we get to see only fleetingly in the `canon'. A brief description of the stories may be given as under:
1. "The Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier" by Richard Lupoff, involves Auguste Dupin, a rather disreputable Sherlock Holmes, and the Maltese Falcon (although unnamed).
2. "The Dollmaker of Marigold Walk" by Barbara Hambly is about the adventures of the 1st Mrs. Watson in Whitechapel (?!) in the year after that of the Ripper. This story also states that Mrs. Martha Hudson was the lover of Sherlock Holmes!
3. "The Adventure of the Forgotten Umbrella" by Mel Gilden presents the mentioned but never recounted (in the canon) adventure concerning James Phillimore.
4. "Call me Wiggins" by Norman Schreiber is the only case of detection attempted at (and succeded in) by the Baker Street Irregular Wiggins, involving Lewis Carroll and the Liddell family.
5. "Mycroft's Great Game" by Gary Lovisi presents both "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House" from Mycroft Holmes' perspective, with the additional twist that makes these stories so special.
6. "The Witch of Greenwich" by Gerard Dole recounts a rather sensational adventure shared by Billy, the page boy, with Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Gregson and a detective from across the channel, about the black death and `sorcery'.
7. "Years Ago and in a Different Place" by Michael Kurland tells us about the tragedy that led to the sharp divergence of path, between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, explaining Holmes' misogyny as well.
8. "Mrs. Hudson Reminiscences" by Linda Robertson presents the `could-have-happened' realistic account of the adventures of Mrs. Hudson and how Holmes played the role of the knight in shining armour in it.
9. "Cabaret Aux Assassins" by Cara Black is a melodramatized and over-romantic story depicting the events and conspiracies leading to the one-night "an affair to remember" between Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes, with the consequences.
10. "A Study in Orange" by Peter Tremayne is a rich account of the failure of Sherlock Holmes at the hands of Colonel Sebastian Moron and how it effected the course of the Irish history.
11. "The Riddle of the Young Protestor" by Michael Mallory is a `singular' story where the 2nd Mrs. Watson is the protagonist and Holmes is almost the spectator, in an adventure concerning the fabled treasure of the Duke of Monmouth.
12. "The Adventure of the Celestial Snows" by George Alec Effinger is a Wold-Newton delight in the sense that it brings together Sherlock Holmes and Fu-Manchu, through Reginald Musgrave.
13. "And the Others" by C. D. Ewing is the only light-hearted attempt in this anthology as it presents Sherlock Holmes from the perspectives of Inspector Lestrade, King of Bohemia, Stamford (with an astonishing twist to the historic encounter that took place at "Bart's" between Holmes and Watson), Conan Doyle and James Mortimer.
All in all, this anthology is a veritable feast for Sherlock Holmes aficionados, esp. for those who won't be affronted by being presented with the master's image drawn from unusual angles. Highly recommended!

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother, May 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: My Sherlock Holmes: Untold Stories of the Great Detective (Hardcover)

For want of a new Sherlock Holmes pastiche collection to read, I decided to give this one a try after reading about it in Booklist. The premise sounded interesting; alas, it plays out poorly. Holmes is so far out of character in most of these that it's not even funny. Yes, these stories are supposed to be other characters' views of him, but they could have at least retained some spirit of Doyle's original. Instead many writers take Holmes' character and run with it. For instance, the story involving Irene Adler's relationship with Holmes is not only unoriginal but ridiculous. I hope that there will be a new collection of pastiches, one that vastly outweighs this one in the quality department.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars High Hopes, Not Completely Dashed, November 6, 2007

By 

Mousinator "~Mousinator~" (none) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Sherlock Holmes: Untold Stories of the Great Detective (Paperback)

I had high hopes for this title. If they were not fulfilled, neither were they completely dashed. Several of the stories were quite good.

In particular, I would recommend the excellent "The Riddle of the Young Protestor" by Michael Mallory. I can't wait to read more these charming 'second Mrs. Watson' stories. It was pitch-perfect.

I did NOT like "Cabaret Aux Assassins." It felt as though Sherlock Holmes was just tacked on to a suddenly-French-spy Irene Adler story. Although the 'flashback' telling was smart, the idea of a child for the two of them was not original, and the handling of their affair felt 'phoned in' to me, and not handled with any real respect for the original Sherlock Holmes stories. Avoid!

"Mrs. Hudson Reminiscences" was a cozy, enjoyable tale told with a great 'voice' for Mrs. Hudson.

"The Adventure of the Forgotten Umbrella" was clever and fun, a great read. It tells the story of an 'unsolved' mystery mentioned in the Holmes stories.

"And the Others" was funny, featuring quotes from people who knew Holmes (and didn't think much of him), newspaper style. The psychologist-type fellow at the end was outrageously funny, with the "I shall say no more" prim insinuation he made about Mr. Holmes shooting Queen Victoria's initials in his wall.

"The Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier" was a fun story of Poe's detective Dupin and Sherlock Holmes. It was creepy and biazzre, and Holmes was *not* the hero, but somehow it worked.

"The Dollmaker of Marigold Walk" made me laugh. Sherlock Holmes... and Mrs. Hudson?! I recently read another theory online that linked Watson and Mrs. Hudson. I suppose people want to rope every Holmes character into relationships these days, but I find it silly. Otherwise, the story was okay, but not what I would have expected from a superb author like Barbara Hambly.

"Call me Wiggins" was pretty good, and "Mycroft's Great Game" was okay, although its ending did not quite hold up to its amazing beginning, in my opinion.

The other stories held nothing memorable for me. I would not recommend buying this book, but by all means borrow it from the library, if only to read "The Riddle of the Young Protestor."