Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes in America

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

 

 

This anthology consists of an Introduction, fourteen stories, three essays (one by A. C. D.) and notes about the editors. Each tale is preceded by a short note about the author. The Introduction calls this "a collection of new stories ... in which Holmes and Watson strike out for the United States" and that more or less describes the theme of the book.

The fourteen tales included begin with an account of "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness," by Lyndsay Faye, as cited in ENGR. In this tale. Watson tells Holmes of a mystery he encountered in San Francisco years before and Holmes provides an explanation. It serves as a good introduction to the book's theme in addition to being an interesting narrative. Lloyd Rose's "Ghosts and the Machine" recounts a visit, with their father, of the youthful Mycroft and Sherlock to America. They encounter Colonel Henry Olcott investigating some `Psychic' events shortly before he met Madame Blavtsky and they founded the Theosophical Society. The Holmes boys were not impressed by the events but did find Colonel Olcott admirable.

Steve Hockensmith's "Excerpts from an Unpublished Memoir..." gives us an interesting glimpse at Sherlock's career on the stage. Robert Pohle's "The Flowers of Utah" tells of a trip Holmes and Watson took to Utah financed by by an English Mormon following events in STUD, "to solve the case, once and for all." Their findings, of course, upset the Doctor's comfortable view of the resolution of that tale. Lauren Estleman's "The Adventure of the Coughing Dentist" introduces Holmes and Watson to another pair of prominent companions, Wyatt Earp and `Doc' Holliday. Then, Victoria Thompson tells us of Holmes solution to the disappearance of a prominent Minister's daughter at the request of Theodore Roosevelt, then Commissioner of the New York City Police Department in her "The Minister's Missing Daughter."

Gillian Linscott's "The Case of Colonel Crocket's Violin" treats us to the sight of Holmes being asked to identify the `real' violin of Davy Crocket from three possible competitors. Bill Crider renews Holmes' acquaintance with `Buffalo Bill' Cody, Frank Butler and Annie Oakley in "The Adventure of the White City" at the Columbian Exhibition, where Holmes shows an amazing grasp of recent events in the `Wild West.' In her "Recalled to Life," Paula Cohen tells us of a fascinating sidelight to one of the tasks Sherlock performed at Mycroft's request during `The Great Hiatus.' Daniel Stashower spins another tale of `The Great Houdini' as detective in his "The Seven Walnuts." As usual, brother `Dash' steers Harry into finding the truth, this time by asking him to write to Holmes about a disputed point.

In Matthew Pearl's "The Adventure of the Boston Dromio," Holmes and Watson investigate the murder charges against the Doctor who saved Watson's life in Afghanistan. Carolyn Wheat describes a unique method of murder in "The Case of the Rival Queens" while Holmes and Watson explore a Theosophist community. Jon L. Breen teams Holmes with a former acquaintance, Clive Armitage, in "The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarters." He also treats us to a close-up view of Amos Alonzo Stagg, an icon of College Football. In "The Song at Twilight, Michael Walsh tells us the long-awaited story of the creation of Altamont, the beginning of "His Last Bow."

In general, the tales are well done. There are few outright contradictions of the Canon and most of the `Americanisms' are appropriate. Unfortunately, none seem to stand out either. The most powerfully written tale was also the least `Sherlockian,' while few offered any new insights into either Holmes or Watson. The historical characters were either unpleasent or, for the most part, uninteresting, although Estleman's Earp and Holliday seem to be an exception to this generalization. In fact, Thompson's `minister's daughter,' who never appears in person, seems to be the most interesting character in the lot.

Some of these stories are spot-on with Doyle's style, although as the title shows, none happen in Merry Old England. A couple pastiches have alternative narrators, but all in all, if you like the original flavor of Holmes stories, than you will greatly enjoy this. It is refreshing that a few of the authors actually put in some deductive methods, which many modern SH authors are remiss in doing.

Enough to send you raving back to tha canon to savour the exquisite taste of sanity. Good for one (and singularly singular) read only. Therefore, my humble recommendation would be to get it from nearby library.

"Sherlock Holmes in America", far from being a radical reimagining of the life of the quintessential English detective, is a very carefully thought-out and faithful effort to portray some of Sherlock Holmes' "missing" adventures in the United States. The 14 short stories written for the collection are arranged in roughly chronological order, ranging from the 1870s through 1913, and take place all over the map of the continental U.S. Holmes (mostly but not always with Watson) investigates crimes on behalf of both private citizens and celebrities, often while being treated like a celebrity himself.

The leadoff story in the collection, "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness", is Watson's retelling of a mystery he encountered in San Franscisco long before being introduced to the Great Detective; Holmes, hearing the story, is naturally able to solve it without even leaving his chair. The next two stories, "Ghosts and the Machine" and "Excerpts From An Unpublished Memoir", are first-person accounts (neither by Watson) of an adolescent Holmes, set respectively in New England and Colorado. "Ghosts" is authored by Lloyd Rose, one of the few authors in this collection I'd read before; her previous work (the novel The City of the Dead (Doctor Who) and an episode in Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 7) is highly recommended.

Both "The Flowers of Utah" and "The Case of the Coughing Dentist" are follow-ups to A Study in Scarlet, the first being a sequel (and a chance to retell the ending of the earlier story), and the second quickly spinning off into a tale of the American West. "The Minister's Missing Daughter" is Holmes in New York City; interestingly, so are both "Recalled to Life" and "The Seven Walnuts", but as both of those latter two stories are set in between "The Final Problem" and Holmes' subsequent resurrection by Doyle, there's a twist to each one.

While Manhattan gets a trilogy of stories, so does Chicago: "The Adventure of the White City" is set during the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and features a wealth of historical guests. "The Song at Twilight", the final story in the book and set during Holmes' retirement, features a 60-something Sherlock reluctantly undercover for the British government, at the behest of his brother Mycroft. This story is meant to explain some references in the Doyle story "His Last Bow", and also contains some interesting parellels to Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service: James Bond Series #11. "The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarters" is a play on a similarly-named Doyle story; it's set during the early years of college football and as such contains some amusing potshots at the professional game of today.

As an interesting counterpoint to both "Three Quarters" and "Twilight", "The Case of the Rival Queens" features another real-life athlete (a retired 19th century baseball player), and a prefiguring of Holmes' later avocation as a beekeeper. Finally, "The Adventure of the Boston Dromio" is possibly the only story in the collection that left me disappointed; it starts off with Holmes attempting to clear Watson's old mentor of a murder charge but winds up being more a celebration of cats. The lengthy descriptions of frolicking felines is perhaps a bit too precious.

The collection ends with three brief non-fiction essays, the last one adapted from Conan Doyle himself. Overall there are a lot of neat historical surprises to be had -- I won't spoil the array of well-known figures who show up -- and in the end "Sherlock Holmes in America" is well researched, well structured, and clearly put together by people with great affection for the legacy of Arthur Conan Doyle.

I enjoyed some of these stories, others I found a bit bland. While I felt that the different authors did a good job of getting Sherlock Holmes to the US and having him solve a "case" while there, I felt some of them tried too hard: their stories didn't feel easy and natural. A mixed collection.

Collections such as this, of stories by various authors about a single subject, tend to be hit or miss prospects. Add in that they are basically fan-fiction of something so dear and well-known as Doyle's canon, and you have certain expectations most collections can't esteem to meet. This one does fairly well.

The collection, for the most part, does not read like Doyle. It wasn't written by Doyle, so it shouldn't. We can't expect the authors to try to duplicate Doyle, as doing so would feel forced and cramped (which a few stories in this collection do). Overall, the different writing styles add a lot to the effect (though at least one I very much disliked). On the whole, the plots are interesting, and it's fascinating to see how other authors would write Holmes, especially set in America.

If you thirst for new situations, and new settings for Sherlock Holmes, and you can understand this will not read like Doyle, you will enjoy it. If you insist that anything that couldn't pass for Doyle isn't Holmes, you may want to skip this one. As a rabid fan, I enjoyed the read very much. I probably won't re-read it, but it was thoroughly worth my time and money to read it once.

If I was strictly a Holmes fan, I would probably rate it a 3. As a lover of creative writing excercises, I would rate it a solid 5. On the whole, I'll call it a 4.

MM Greenberg, Lellenberg and Stashower are very good in their choice of short novels in all her compilations. So it's a pleasure to read those stories even if it's hard to believe M Holmes went travelling as far as the USA.
I'm looking forward reading new stories collected by these gentlemen

What if British fiction's greatest detective crossed the Atlantic? "Sherlock Holmes in America" is a collection of original fiction by many authors, weaving stories of the famed detective as he brings Dr. Watson along to solve mysteries and problems in nineteenth century America. All the authors are Holmes fans, and their passion rings through their stories. "Sherlock Holmes in America" stays true to Doyle's characters while providing new adventures, and is a top pick for classical mystery fans.

I eagerly looked forward to new stories of the worlds greatest consulting detective. I am still looking for it. Most of the stories are very lame and some have almost nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes at all. A couple of the stories are very good but the one by Steve Hockensmith rambles on about absolutly nothing and describes a Holmes that is fat and short. I wonder if he ever read any of the real stories!!?? I recommend that if you need a great Sherlock Holmes, go back to the Canon. I never tire of reading the real thing by the only real master.

Some of the stories in this book are quite good. Some are not. Contradictions abound. Which, I suppose, is to be expected when different authors write about the same period of Holmes' time in America. Still, it is jarring to read back-to-back stories with totally different tales of his adventures. And the final non-fiction piece by Walsh on anti-Irish sentement in the original stories is a perfect example of the worst sort of vacuous psychbabble.