Customer Reviews

Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes (A&B Crime S.)

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

 

 

June Thomson has written a number of collections of Sherlock Holmes stories, of which this is the fourth. As with the others, she sets out to relate the otherwise untold investigations of the Great Detective, as mentioned in passing in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In choosing to write these "untold stories", there is a problem: there are so many people telling them! I have, in the last two weeks, read three different versions of the story of the repulsive red leech, of which the world was not ready to hear. In many respects, authors who write completely new stories are (perhaps!) Doing the readers a favour.

Having said that, many of the attempts can be patchy, and so it is often good to relax with an author of known quality and see what she has to say on these.

The stories presented here don't particularly push the boundaries of the Holmesian experience, but are certainly on par with many of the works of Doyle, so readers seeking a "true" recreation of Sherlock Holmes will be satisfied. But, with those boundaries unpushed, and with the sheer quantity of Sherlock Holmes stories to read, I'm afraid that this book doesn't rise above three stars for me.

A pretty ordinary collection, really, not helped by the author's propensity to put square bracket type footnotes throughout the text as informative asides. You want to do that, fine, but do it at the end, or end of the story. Rather painful to put up with, at times.

The conceit is this is a newly discovered collection of Watson's work that was supposedly destroyed decades ago.


Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes : 01 The Case of the Ainsworth Abduction - June Thomson
Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes : 02 The Case of the Boulevard Arseassin - June Thomson
Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes : 03 The Case of the Wimbledon Tragedy - June Thomson
Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes : 04 The Case of the Ferrers Documents - June Thomson
Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes : 05 The Case of the Vatican Cameos - June Thomson
Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes : 06 The Case of the Camberwell Deception - June Thomson
Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes : 07 The Case of the Barton Wood Murder - June Thomson

A circus mystery.

3 out of 5


Bulletproof gear and disguise.

3.5 out of 5


Poison on the menu.

2.5 out of 5


A dodgy little dog.

2.5 out of 5


A fence, an old source and some Italian double dealing.

3.5 out of 5


An acquaintance of Watson's first wife has the pair involved.

3 out of 5

A possible ritual murder sewercide.

3 out of 5