Sherlock Holmes and the Panamanian Girls [Paperback]

Frank Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 2004

Frank Thomas presents this intriguing excerpt from the memoirs of the esteemed John H. Watson, M.D. which he discovered in the famous dispatch box in the ruins of Cox

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (October 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413467261
• ISBN-13: 978-1413467260
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More games afoot!, January 4, 2006

By 

Rory Coker (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes and the Panamanian Girls (Paperback)

So common has the Holmes pastiche become over the past 30 years that it almost forms its own literary genre, apart from mysteries and historical novels. Veteran stage, TV and screen actor Frankie Thomas wrote a number of Holmes novels in the mid-1980s, including GOLDEN BIRD, SACRED SWORD, TREASURE TRAIN and MASQUERADE MURDERS. The series of paperback originals was cut short when the US publisher went paws-up, so that a number of Frankie's novels were never published here, although they were issued in Germany, Israel and other spots overseas where there live many Holmes fans.

Now the "lost" novels are being published in the US for the first time, and here is another edition of the first of them, in which Holmes and Watson tackle a baffling case that first seems to turn on shady international finance, then on the whereabouts of four priceless oil paintings, the "Panamanian Girls".

If Frank's take on this genre is new to you, I might mention that Frank's Holmes, although quite true to Conan Doyle's original, is more like Doc Savage and The Shadow in relying heavily on a small core of highly specialized assistants--- in this novel, one of them is the legendary safe cracker Jimmy Valentine!

I found it to be compelling reading and the turn-of-the-century English color and locales seem authentic.

It's great to have these novels in print, and I hope the other "lost" episodes will soon follow. Highly recommended for fans of the World's First Consulting Detective.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Games Afoot!, August 2, 2000

By 

Rory Coker (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes & the Panamanian Girls (Paperback)

So common has the Holmes pastiche become over the past 25 years that it almost forms its own literary genre, apart from mysteries and historical novels. Veteran stage, TV and screen actor Frankie Thomas wrote a number of Holmes novels in the mid-1980s, including GOLDEN BIRD, SACRED SWORD, TREASURE TRAIN and MASQUERADE MURDERS. The series of paperback originals was cut short when the US publisher went paws-up, so that a number of Frankie's novels were never published here, although they were issued in Germany, Israel and other spots overseas where there live many Holmes fans.

Now the "lost" novels are being published in the US for the first time, and here is the first of them, in which Holmes and Watson tackle a baffling case that first seems to turn on shady international finance, then on the whereabouts of four priceless oil paintings, the "Panamanian Girls".

If Frank's take on this genre is new to you, I might mention that Frank's Holmes, although quite true to Conan Doyle's original, is more like Doc Savage and The Shadow in relying heavily on a small core of highly specialized assistants--- in this novel, one of them is the legendary safe cracker Jimmy Valentine!

I found it to be compelling reading and the turn-of-the-century English color and locales seem authentic.

It's great to have these novels in print, and I hope the other "lost" episodes will soon follow. Highly recommended for fans of the World's First Consulting Detective.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but...!, March 9, 2007

By 

RIJU GANGULY "perceptive reader" (India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes and the Panamanian Girls (Paperback)

Decency demands that the good things should be commented upon first. So, here it goes:

1. The story is very good and realistic.

2. The English used on behalf of Watson is brilliant and authentic, sometimes better than the precise dictum used by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

3. Holmes does nothing that grossly violates the canonical principles.

However, the deficit side can not be covered entirely and the following points emerge from it:

1. Sherlock Holmes would have NEVER employed so many "specialists" (including two crack 'safesmith'-s, one professional con-man, one political agent with numerous questionable skills, etc. etc.)to do some job that he has taken up.

2. Watson's repeated query related to potential pecuniary benefits of the exercise in question becomes boring at one stage.

3. In his effort to surround Holmes with the 'best-of-the-best' types, the author has created characters whose very presence in Victorian London would have made Sherlock Holmes (and also Mycroft Holmes) redundant.

4. Basil Selkirk has seemingly become something like "deux-ex-machina" for the author, because whenever the author and his Holmes faces an unsurmountable situation, pop comes the Selkirk.

Overall, the novel is a good-pacy read, but don't expect serious stuff.