Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes and the American Angels: A Manuscript Believed to Be from the Pen of John H. Watson

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The book opens in London in 1902 ,when Holmes becomes aware of a series of coded messages appearing in a local newspaper .They are from "Benjamin
Franklin" to "Charles Stuart" and the great detective is not peruaded they are as innocent seeming as they appear,suspecting they may be linked to the cause of the Jacobites -those dissidents working for the restoration of the Stuart dynasty to the throne of Britain.He also suspects an American connection .He goes ,with the faithful Watson in tow ,to Regent's park where the correspondents are due to meet ,and discovers the murdered body of one of them-the Benjamin Franklin of the pair .Soon another body turns up in a London hotel room -that of a lawyer McNair,the Charles Stuart of the messages.

Holmes is advised by the US secret service representative in London of the "American angels"-gold coins ,minted in France and destined to fund the American cause in the War of Independence but which never reached America .It is believed that they may have been located in Scotland and been targetted by American anarchists behind the recent assassination of President McKinley ,in order to fund further atrocities.Holmes sets out for Scotland to ferret out the truth ,and the whereabouts of the gold and to forestall the conspirators in the process.

What follows is a busy and lively plot ,with some fine descriptive writing of the Scottish countryside by way of a bonus.There is murder ,grave robbing and attempted poisoning before the resoltion of the case.It is fast moving ,nicely melodramatic and has some nice creepy scenes in a haunted island graveyard.The whole thing is well written ,nicely researched addition to the Holmesian pastiche genre and is recommended with confidence to those who read such titles

Barrie Roberts has a winner with "Sherlock Holmes and The American Angels" and this is his best Sherlockian tale to date. While there are a couple things that some Sherlockians might be picky about, this is a very well done mystery. His description of London and the Scottish countryside during this period is very well handled. Also there are bits of lore from ancient times and the middle ages that will be an added bonus to anyone who is a history buff. I will have to add that there is a bit of early Ian Fleming in some of the writing. A book well worth adding to any collection on The Great Detective.

Roberts in my view is the best writer doing Sherlock Holmes pastiche novels in recent years. His mysteries are clever, his tone and language spot on. The Holmes and Watson of Barrie Roberts truly sound and act like the originals. The title is deceptive; the mystery unfolds in the Highlands of Scotland. "American Angels" refers to a treasure of gold pieces sent by the French and aimed to the Colonies (American, pre-revolution) but waylaid somewhere in Scotland, where various murders and intrigues attend attempts at recovery. With crisp description, Roberts brings the reader right into the locale, with clues worthy of the great detective, and enough action to keep the modern reader engageed - providing an armchair adventure that will delight Holmes purists, and newcomers to this classic genre equally. Buy this to enjoy on a train trip through Scotland, or on your favorite sofa at home during a rainy weekend.

I just finished this book and enjoyed it thoroughly. I agree with the previous reviewers that it is entertaining, and was especially happy to find that the characterizations of Holmes and Watson did not jar with my conception of the original Doyle characters, although Holmes did seem a bit mellower and not as razor-sharp as the original. As mentioned by a review for another Roberts pastiche, this may be attributable to his age. The settings are also well done; I have traveled in the highlands of Scotland, and find the author's description faithful to my impressions of the landscape. My only criticism is that of a failing on the part of the proofreader. There are elementary (forgive me), grammatical errors that I found distracting. One is a consistent misuse of the objective pronoun, by a variety of characters who should be too well-educated to make that mistake. A made-up example: she served the cake to Holmes and I (instead of "me"); another is the use of plural pronouns where they should be singular. These errors are not a deliberate part of vernacular speech on the part of a character, I'm afraid. Other than these minor concerns, it was definitely "a good read" and I would recommend it to readers who enjoy a good Holmes pastiche.

Quite good. A fine story set in Scotland, with some American History thrown in, as well as ancient European. This Holmes could've been a little more observant and brilliant to match the original, but all in all, you will greatly enjoy this book. Recommended to enjoy by a warm fire and with hot tea and biscuits.

This is the ninth and final Sherlockian novel by Barrie Roberts. That is, of course, unless my friend Andrew Gulli has another tucked away somewhere. Nine novels and eight short stories is a regretably small output from so talented a writer as Mr. Roberts. In my opinion, he had a knack for capturing Dr. Watson in his tales in very much the same way as he appears in the Canon. Others will surely disagree, but most will concede Roberts had the gift of storytelling and an ear for Sherlockian dialogue.

`Angels' is an odd tale, as are most of Barrie's novels. Holmes notes a set of coded messages in the newspapers, solves the code and learns of a scheduled meeting between the two carrying on the conversation. He and Watson decide to observe this meeting and, instead, find a dead body. Shortly, another corpse is found and it appears that both the correspondants have been killed by yet another party. As things progress, Holmes acquires a client, the venue moves to far rural Scotland and the politics of the situation become very complicated.

The `Angels' of the title are found to be gold coins, minted by Bonnie Prince Charlie and the passle of rogues chasing them includes Americans, Scotsmen and Irish, all muddled up together. A murder method unique to the Inuit is put to use and stones placed by the aboriginal inhabitants of Western Europe provide a solution to a mystery. Holmes and Watson alternately chase and are chased, the list of suspects grows and shrinks with surprising regularity and the police provide good comic relief.

The resolution of the mystery is typical of Roberts. Holmes clears all the mystery away and everything is explained, in some detail. This is, to my mind, the weak point in Roberts' writing, no loose ends are left to dangle and everthing is explained. I have never found this to be true in real life and I suspect it in a mystery. It is permissable, perhaps, in shorter stories, but novel-length tales should have some room for the unexpected and the unexplained. Such things occur daily, to all of us.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones; March, 2010.