Customer Reviews

My Sherlock Holmes: Untold Stories of the Great Detective

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"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!

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.

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."

Some stories are just awful and some too speculative.
Some deviates too much from the original Cannon characterization.
Overall too shallow and not a very thought provoking views on some Cannon characters. Instead I recommend people to read the original Sherlock Holmes.

said Sherlock Holmes in "A Study in Scarlet" and I totally agree with him about this book. The idea sounded promising but rendering is quite dissapointing.
I cannot better agree with other reviewer's comment -'Holmes is so far out of character in most of these that it's not even funny'.
Only the six stories of the anthology deserve printing and the three stories among them are worth reading.

"the Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier" by Richard Lupoff is a sort of literary joke. Sherlock Holmes and his precursor C. August Dupin set off in search of the Maltase Falcon & succeed the mission but......I think this is the best piece of the anthology.
The characterization of "the Doll Maker of Marigold Walk" by Barbara Hambly is faithful to the original, but the plot lacks ingenuity.
"the Adventure of the Forgotten Umbrella" by Mel Gilden and "Mrs. Hudson reminisces" by Linda Robertson are simply dull and vapid. (by the way, It appears to me that the author of the latter story can't know South Downs from Surrey).
"Call me Wiggins" by Norman Schreiber is not bad but rather lengthy & I don't think an ordinary reader of sherlock holmes pastiches (like me) is very anxious to know about the detailed private life of Lewis Carroll.
"Mycroft's Great Game" by Gary Lovisi begins comically but ends rather sentimentally to my dissapoinment.
The Plot of "the Witch of Greenwich" by Gerard Dole is highly improbable, almost impossible & I could' t even finish "Cabaret Aus Assassins" by Cara Black!
"Years Ago in A Different Place" by Michael Kurland tells the truth behind the rift between Sherlock Holmes and Prof. Moriarty. I think the explanation Kurland provides is rather simplistic but as a whole, the story is an interesting apocrypha.
"A Study in Orange" by Peter Tremeyne presents a conspiracy surrounding Irish Home Rule. The Plot is pluasible & the trick is simple but impressive. The narrator(colonel Moran)'s mocking tones made me giggle! Another pastiche of Tremeyne's which recounts Moran's misadventure, "Affray at the Kildare Street Club(included in "the Mammoth Book of the New Sherlock Holmes Adventures edited by Mike Ashley)" is highly recommended.
"the Riddle of the Young Protestor" by Michael Mallory is a treasure hunting story like "the Musgrave Ritual". The riddle is good & makes sense, but the characterization doesn't ring true & the overall circumstances are not convincing.
"the Adventure of the Celestial Snow" by Alec Effinger tries to bring together Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Fu Manchu but the combination doesn't work out and the narrative is rambling. If you want to know about the confrontation between the Great Detective & the Insidious Chinese Villain, then I recommend "Ten Years Beyond Baker Street" the excellent pastiche by Cay Van Ash, instead.

Having read quite a few collections of new Holmes mysteries, this was the least enjoyable. Although the stories are not without merit, they are written from the perspective of secondary characters in the original works. In reading the book, I seem to have very little interest in their perspectives and this seems to be an academic exercise to cobble a book together and publish it. Buyer Beware!

I enjoyed this book very much, although some of the stories were shakey. I was pleased to note that I have shared magazine space with one author, Michael Mallory, author of the Amelia Watson series which ran in Murderous Intent Magazine, which also published my gallows-humor poem "He Escaped". One often wonders just what others thought of Holmes when Mrs. Hudson is always described as "long-suffering" and Lestrade and Co. as "The best of a bad lot." Then there was Watson's wives, who surely must have been the world's most understanding women. And Irene "The Woman" Adler-Norton: Did she really consider Holmes "The Man" or just another "fool man"? Great stuff, guys and gals! Four Sherlock stars! And Mr. Mallory, I really must find me a copy of your book "The Adventures of the Second Mrs. Watson". I read all the ones in my subscription to Murderous Intent with relish! Quoth the Raven...

Though it would seem that every Doyle character and anyone of real fame or not the so famous from the late Victorian Era has had a shot at moving aside Watson to provide their Holmes viewpoint. This anthology proves that Dr. Watson has many more bedfellows as thirteen individuals, one to a tale, tells their side of a relationship with Holmes. Each contribution is quite good as the authors do more than just genuflect to the master by relating a thrilling adventure. Thus the Baker St. Irregulars will find MY SHERLOCK HOLMES a clever well-written anthology in which each protagonist or in some cases antagonist provides a unique first person account of an encounter with the sleuth.

Harriet Klausner