Customer Reviews

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's acquired disdain for his own renowned detective creation is legendary, and `tis said that when William Gillette wired him with the question, "May I marry Holmes?" (to a female character), Conan Doyle brusquely replied, "You may marry him or murder him or do what you like with him."

But one must draw the line somewhere. And notwithstanding Mollie Hardwick's excellent paean to the legend of Sherlock Holmes at the head of this collection of short stories, I wonder whether even Conan Doyle could have stomached some of these literary assaults upon it.

In "Sherlock Holmes and the Muffin", Dorothy Hughes presents us with a feminist Holmes and Watson who look forward to the day when women become doctors and scientists. Another swig of Women 100 Proof and Ms. Hughes would have had them lobbying from their 19th century perches for abortion on demand, free daycare, and a chocolate bar in the glove compartment of every SUV, a bottle of prozac in the pocket of every power suit.

And even THIS atrocity barely holds its own, as an atrocity, against the contemporary setting of Joyce Harrington's "The Adventure of the Gowanus Abduction", in which a delicate hippie-type Watson plays second fiddle to a ferocious liberated female Holmes - not only as "her" assistant but as "her " lover. Indeed, the story winds up with a broad hint of a rendezvous in the bedroom, but I think that this Watson will couple with this Holmes about as successfully as Tchaikovsky did with Antonina Milyukova.

This book also has its share of short stories that do considerably more justice to the Sherlockian tradition, and the best of these are Barry Jones's "The Shadows on the Lawn", Edward D. Hoch's "The Return of the Speckled Band", and Stuart Kaminsky's "The Final Toast". The Jones story, in particular, is very chilling.

But John Lutz's "The Infernal Machine" also deserves credit for craft and subtlety. The threat of an international conflagration and the new concept of the "horseless carriage" are crucial to the resolution of this story, and there's a passage in it where a young inventor asserts that in ten years, everyone in England will drive a horseless carriage. "Everyone?" Watson asks. "Come now!"

Holmes laughs and says, "Not you, Watson, not you, I'd wager."

How many readers realize that Lutz is paying homage to the last story in the Conan Doyle concordance, "His Last Bow", set on the eve of the first World War, in which Watson does indeed drive an automobile, in the guise of a chauffeur? Not many, I'd wager.

It must have taken a lot of commendable restraint for Lutz to simply rely on his readers' perspicacity and to resist the sore temptation of finding a way to directly point to the Conan Doyle story.

For that matter, Malcom Bell, the villain in the Kaminsky story, may be based upon Dr. Joseph Bell, one of Conan Doyle's medical instructors, who is said to have been the chief inspiration for Conan Doyle's creation of Sherlock Holmes.

Stephen King's contribution might be the cleverest, if not the best written. He apparently wrote his own Sherlock Holmes story in response to a challenge from the editors, but King's normal writing style doesn't quite click with the sober Watsonian chronicling presented by Conan Doyle.

And King is usually a good researcher, but this skill fails him on at least two occasions. He presents us with several images from the Victorian Era that Conan Doyle withheld from delicate sensibilities, including orphans losing all the teeth out of their jaws in sulphur factories by the age of ten and cruel boys in the East End teasing starving dogs with food held out of reach.

But the authentic Sherlock Holmes, having learned that Jory Hull was a painter and having deduced that he had no need of monetary support from his cruel father, would have further deduced - without asking Lestrade - that Jory probably gained his independence by painting professionally.

And the authentic Holmes, as Watson says in the Conan Doyle classic, "A Study in Scarlet", has a good practical knowledge of British law. Stephen King is surely wrong to have Holmes ask Lestrade what sort of treatment the murder suspects might expect to receive under it.

Still, we must be grateful to King for bringing to our attention the one case in the lexicon where Watson actually solves the mystery before Holmes does - and yes, it happens in a plausible manner. As Loren Estleman has pointed out, Holmes's brilliance wouldn't be appreciated by us as much if it were not for the buffer provided by the savvy but unremarkable earnestness of Watson`s narrative. We admire Holmes, but we empathize more with his Boswell, and it's wonderful to learn of a case in which Watson has his moment in the sunlight.

This collection has its share of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the just plain silly (Peter Lovesey`s "The Curious Computer"). The reader is advised to judge each story on its own merits. Don't be too impressed with Dame Jean Conan Doyle's endorsement of the volume as a whole. But do ask, as another renowned English author once did, "What's in a name?"

"The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" was like a breath of fresh air. Lately I have come across some anthologies which just aren't up to par as far as the quality of the plots. These stories I found to be entertaining and fun to read. Two which stood out for me were "Shadows on the Lawn" and "The Return of the Speckled Band". There's even a story in there for Watson lovers, "The Doctor's Case", penned by none other than Stephen King. Though there were a few which I didn't really care for, this is a worthwhile read.

I love anything about Holmes and Watson. These were well written stories that I truly enjoyed reading. It took me back to when I read all of Doyle's stories about Holmes and Watson. I recommend it highly.

An ingenious recapturing of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories. Some are better than others, but all are good, and who can beat a collection that includes Steven King!

There are many collections of Sherlock Holmes stories written after Conan Doyle closed the canon of the official 56 short stories and 4 novels. Conan Doyle had disdain for his character sometimes (he thought that attention to Holmes distracted from his more serious work), but he also had regard and affection for him at times, and in the end remained his creator. Many of these stories have kept more or less to the spirit of Holmes and Watson in the originals, but few match the canonical grace (of course, this can be said of some of the stories Conan Doyle penned himself).

There are some well-known names here (Stephen King gets top billing, but other names such as John Gardner and Michael Harrison, a well-known Sherlockian scholar and writer, also bear repeating). Some of these stories take their inspiration from canonical happenings and sidelines, while others go further afield and involve Holmes and Watson in new situations.

For example, Harrison's story is entitled 'Sherlock Holmes and "The" Woman', a clear reference to Irene Adler of 'A Scandal in Bohemia' fame. In this story we find out that both Adler and her Bohemian counterpart in the mystery are in fact different people than original presented. It makes for a mystery within a mystery, and a nice twist.

Stephen King's contribution was reportedly done on a wager, and involves Dr. Watson solving a case first, perhaps the only time Watson solves a case rather than Holmes (albeit other non-canonical stories pick up on this same theme). In this story, we learn that Watson outlives Holmes by forty years or so; of course, die-hard fans see Holmes as immortal, so one has to accept the idea of Holmes' death. What a curious pairing of options...

This collection was produced to celebrate the centennial of the 'birth' of Holmes, stories of whom were first published in 1887; this book was first published in 1987. It includes, in addition to the sixteen new stories, a poem by Mollie Hardwick, which includes the lines

Were a time-restoring charter
Granted by grace of Heaven,
Who would not this tired age barter
For a night of 'eighty-seven,
When, as fog through pane and curtain
Softly grey comes creeping in,
Wise - immortal - strange and certain -
Sherlock plays his violin.

Holmes' violin, a recurring element in the canon, features in stories here. There is much familiar from the setting of 221B Baker Street, the same London and the same Victorian Age. This is a worthy collection of honour and hommage to one of the stellar figures in modern mystery.

The game is afoot.

Recently, I have read many of the "new" collections with Sherlock Holmes as the main character. While all have been enjoyable reading, this seems to be one of the best volumes available in that the stories have preserved the role of the main characters in their familiar habitats but with original plots. While not uninteresting, the collections which have involved Holmes with historical incidents or those told from another perspective other than Watson's or attempts to implant a new theme or agenda have not been as satisfying.

As far as Sherlock Holmes anthologies goes, this one is not good. It starts fine, and ends fine, it is just all the stories in the middle that aren't very good, and several are subpar.

As a centennial celebration I am sure some people getting this would be disappointed in several of the stories for not being faithful at all to the style.


New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 01 The Infernal Machine - John Lutz
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 02 The Final Toast - Stuart M. Kaminsky
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 03 The Phantom Chamber - Gary Alan Ruse
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 04 The Return of the Speckled Band - Edward D. Hoch
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 05 The Adventure of the Unique Holmes - Jon L. Breen
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 06 Sherlock Holmes and The Woman - Michael Harrison
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 07 The Shadows on the Lawn - Barry Jones
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 08 The Adventure of the Gowanus Abduction - Joyce Harrington
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 09 Dr. and Mrs. Watson at Home - Loren D. Estleman
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 10 The Two Footmen - Michael Gilbert
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 11 Sherlock Holmes and the Muffin - Dorothy B. Hughes
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 12 The Curious Computer - Peter Lovesey
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 13 The Adventure of the Persistent Marksman - Lillian de la Torre
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 14 The House That Jack Built - Edward Wellen
New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 15 The Doctor's Case - Stephen King


Conspiracy and murder surrounding a new Gatling gun.

3.5 out of 5


Execution method changing, and a trap for Holmes.

3.5 out of 5


Relatives and ghost scams.

2.5 out of 5


Stoke Moran serpentess is a black widow.

3.5 out of 5


Acting for the Great Detective.

2.5 out of 5


Who was that Irene Adler?

2.5 out of 5


Death impersonation, and for a sick boy.

3 out of 5


Ancestral Adler adventures.

3 out of 5


Domestic farce.

1.5 out of 5


Servant villains.

2.5 out of 5


A charismatic intelligent young servant, some jewellery, and a passel of young ruffians.

3.5 out of 5


Strippers and police machine intelligence.

3 out of 5


Any shot will do, to get rid of him. If you are dodgy, don't invite Sherlock over, either.

3 out of 5


A mental battle for Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty and Riddler style.

3.5 out of 5


Watson works one out ahead of the master, but they have to decide what to do with the criminals.

3.5 out of 5




2.5 out of 5

I like Sherlock Holmes, but I think that the stories in this anthology were misguided.