Customer Reviews

The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Writing pastiches of Conan Doyle's famous detective has become something of a cottage industry for many years. Some good stories are written, and some bad ones. This book belongs to the former category: a well written series of nine stories purporting to give some insight into what Holmes was doing after his "death" fighting Professor Moriarity. In these stories he travels throughout Asia, encountering various historically correct characters and many fictional ones, and solving several intriguing mysteries. There are beautiful women, dastardly villans, and helpful assistants, not to mention a unique travelogue of intriguing places in the Orient. The writing reminds one of Doyle, which is good, and Holmes appears to stay very close to his creator's character. I assume that there will be more stories "found" about Holmes by this author, and I look forward to reading them very much.

this was one of the ver best pastiches i've read. each separate chapter was a mini story in itself, but each is a thread in an overall tapestry. while this is the first holmes pastiche that riccardi has written, we can only hope it's not the last.

Having adored the original stories, I consume Holmes pastiches and am always on the look-out for one that meets my high expectations. A good pastiche has to feel like Conan Doyle wrote it. Many fail because they don't capture the essence of Holmes. Others fail because they diverge so far from any situation Conan Doyle could have contemplated that they feel like they're breaking the rules. This set of nine stories gets Holmes just right -- brilliant, arrogant, and surprising. And the stories dovetail, so far as I could tell, perfectly with the canon. Many of the characters and places in this pastiche are ones Conan Doyle alluded to in the original stories. I'm grateful that someone has so competently and colorfully fleshed them out. I've rated it four stars simply because five should be reserved for the real McCoy.

Like a trip to Nepal and India, with the Scotland Yard sleuth as good as ever, very mysterious and always knowledgable. I really enoyed the "otherness" of these places and people. Some of the tales reminded me of Kipling's India, especially the backdrop of the great game. I kept waiting for Kim to show up! Sherlock was inscrutable as ever, but also there was something caring about him that made him more interesting. One thing though: I think the villian IS Moriarty, not the brother!
Anyone who doesn't like this book has read too many knock-offs and not the real thing!

There are many authors who try and do Sherlock Holmes stories, putting him everywhere from his native London to Minnesota of all places, and peopling the background of the stories that he's in with everyone from Dracula to Jack the Ripper, Dr. Freud, or the legendary Flashman. Holmes seems to be everywhere, and this book is merely another attempt to fit him into another set of stories.

Author Riccardi, a mid-east scholar, starts out well. For one thing, while the Holmes canon (those works written by Conan Doyle) consists of 54 short stories and 4 very short novels, modern writers feel the need to write novels of a more robust length, typically 300 pages at least. Riccardi has chosen a different route, writing nine short stories, though several of these would rival one of the Conan Doyle novellas in length, I think. At least we're in the ballpark as to the framework of the story, though.

From there things get a bit problematical. For one thing, the author seems to be unfamiliar with Holmes' methods, and so the stories have him doing things that aren't very Holmesian, to say the least. Holmes was always obsessed with physical evidence, minutely examining crime scenes, gazing at evidence through the trademark magnifying glass, taking samples of substances, using his encyclopedic knowledge of tobacco ash to identify the type smoked by the killer or a witness. In only one or two instances does Riccardi's Holmes do any of these things. Instead, he lurks around in disguise, and thwarts the criminals in various straightforward, inelegant ways that aren't particularly clever.

Further, the books don't sound like Watson, or more properly Conan Doyle, constructed them. One of the things I find most entertaining about the stories is Conan Doyle's ignorance about the rest of the world, especially those parts of the British Empire that consist of Asia and the Middle East. The difficulty is that Riccardi, being a modern academic who studied the region, knows way too much about the region, customs, and culture there.

This makes the book different from the Holmes canon, in terms of realism and atmosphere. Because it's so authentic, it comes off as not-so-Holmes-like. While I enjoyed it, I also was somewhat disappointed, and I'll only hope that the author, if he decides to continue his work, improves on what he's built here so far.

Not only is he alive, but Professor Riccardi has captured the idiosyncrasies, brilliance and enthusiasm of the beloved literary figure without missing a beat.The nine exotic tales of Holmes's unusual escapades in late nineteen century Asia are described in exquisite detail. It soon becomes apparent to the reader that Riccardi has spent much serious time in this part of the world.
Once drawn into the first episode, the reader can't wait to savor the next. Before I knew it, I reached the end and was aching for more. Characters and places are real and what is truly remarkable is the way the author has combined his knowledge of religion, philosophy, geography, history and language to spin the "Oriental Casebook" stories into a delightful read.
Whether or not you're a fan of the "world's greatest detective," this collection of clever stories is wonderful. "An Envoy to Lhasa," my favorite, should become a classic short story.
I can't wait until my granddaughter, a Harry Potter fan, is older so she can read the book, an old atlas in hand, following Holmes's travelogue. She'll have a great time.

To say that I was very disappointed is an understatement. As an advid reader of mysteries and a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work, this book was a waste of my time and money. There have been other authors who have created additional works of ledgendary characters such as Robert Parker writing Philip Marlowe stories and actually pulling it off. But at no point in this book did Riccardi show true knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes character.

The author is a professor of Middle East cultures and if he was writing a history or fact book on the subject that would have been fine. Instead, what we have is a historical/cultural textbook with a sprinkle of the Holmes and Watson characters and simplistic mysteries that are so obvious that any mystery lover could solve them without Holmes' genius. [...] These are short stories that drone on and on, giving you enormous background which is simply filler for those subpar "cases" that Holmes painstakingly solves. Though some of the short stories were better then others, this book does not intrigue a true Sherlock Holmes lover to keep on reading. Riccardi gives a wealth of information (and it would be great if we were going to be tested on it), but his lack of understanding Holmes and Watson is clearly present from beginning to end.

It disheartens me to read a book about one of the greatest detectives that ever graced the pages of literature to be reduced to a cheap dime-store character in mediocore storylines and boring premises. Riccardi's desperate attempts to captivate the reader was unsuccessful. Even Holmes and Watson would consider this book criminal.

The book arrived as promised in excellent condition. I would not hesitate to purchase from this person again.

Also, the stories are fun to read and well plotted. I'm a bit of a sucker for Sherlock Holmes pastiches and this is another good read.

I spent a nice afternoon sipping coffee and reading these tales wishing there were more of them included in the book.

These nine stories are delightful. Ted Riccardi fills the void left after Holmes disappeared at Reichenbach Falls with vivid accounts of Holmes' exploits in Tibet, British India, and Dutch Indonesia. Characters like Captain Fantome and the Regent of Tibet are compelling; the scenes of decaying colonial empires are memorable. Riccardi matches Arthur Conan Doyle's style so well that I honestly flirted with the idea that his explanation of the stories' provenance might be true. If there's any shortcoming of the stories, it is that Watson couldn't be there along the way and retells them only upon Holmes' return.

I've been a long-time fan of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and have read all of Conan Doyle's stories--some several times. The Original Casebook of Sherlock Holmes looked promising when I browsed through it in the book store. The author captures Holmes' style and rhythm of speaking just fine. However, the author is an academic expert on the history and cultures of India and Nepal and suffocates each story with more tedious detail about these countries than the great majority of Holmes fans could ever want to know. Since each story is "as told to Watson by Holmes", there is no involvement of Watson in the stories. Holmes simply recounts his Lone Ranger episodes to Watson. The pacing and threading of each mystery simply gets buried under the avalanche of things few want to know about India and Nepal. I stopped reading half way through the fifth story (of nine stories) and gave up. I no longer could stand the tedium. My sense of the book is that the author was far more interested in telling you arcane things about India and Nepal than writing crisp, tight mysteries.