Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes and the Tomb of Terror

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British journalist and magician Val Andrews has written too many Holmes pastiches for me to easily count, during the past decade and a half. Most have been published lately by British magic publisher Martin Breese, who says this particular novel is his favorite. It is told in a somewhat more leisurely manner, with more attention to period detail and style, than the usual Andrews offering.

Holmes and Watson are basically blackmailed into a dangerous expedition to a little-known Saharan kingdom, where they wind up being buried alive in the tomb of a recently dead king! Despite the carefully wrought motif of Victorian adventure throughout (H. Rider Haggard is explicitly referred to), Holmes is treated according to the Conan Doyle Canon pretty much, although at novel's end Mycroft is seen doing something utterly preposterous--- at least for Mycroft. The payoff regarding a "mysterious mineral" in the lost kingdom is also pretty thin stuff.

In general I enjoyed it, and if you like other novels by Andrews, you're certain to like this one. By the way, magician Andrews has Holmes use a couple of sideshow magic stunts in the course of the novel; watch for them.

While its title bears the name of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great creation this book owes more to Sir Henry Rider Haggard than it does to Doyle ,being a tale of adventure in Africa and involving the search for a lost civilization -both characteristically Haggardian themes .Indeed ,the text explicitly references Haggard -and indeed Jules Verne the science fiction luminary of the era

It opens in Baker Street on New Year's Eve 1899 when Holmes and Watson are visted by Abdul ,the Cambridge educated heir to the Sheikhdom of Marrafaze in Africa .He fears that his brother Mustapha ,and his father's right hand man ,The Wazir of Marrafaze are plotting to kill him as they fear his modernising tendencies .Holmes and Watson at the instigation of Holmes brother Mycroft emabark on a mission to discover the whereabouts of the country and bring back a signed agreement giving the British mining rights over a key mineral that is reported to exist in large quntaties in Marrafaze and which may be useful in any future war with Germany

The trek over the Sahara is long and arduous involving a perilous descent down mist shrouded cliffs and thier welcome at Marrafaze cools with the death of the Sheiokh and the ascent to power of Mustapha and the Wazir who entomb them alive in a subterranean cavern -the eponymous tomb .How they resolve their problem forms the last part of the book

It is more adventure yarn than detective story and indeed the detective element -the resolution of a jewel theft in Tangier-is merely extraneous padding to make the book a more saleable length .The result is lively and readble enough but not really the material of a genuine slice of Holmesiana

It is brisk and readable and will divert adequately well for an few hours but its not a major work by any means

A total waste of my book money. This author doesn't catch the Holmes/Waton/Mycroft characters at all. A collector's item, maybe, just for the Holmes name on the book, but the storyline is weak and ho-hum. I don't recommend this book at all. Or any others written by this author. Quoth the Raven...

It's New Year's Eve and Watson is watching the city-wide fireworks festivities out the Baker Street window when he and Holmes get a visit from a strange man named Abdul, who turns out to be the heir to throne in the somewhat mythical kingdom of Marrafaze. It seems that things aren't going too well back in the old homestead and he's come seeking protection from agents of his brother Mustapha, who is scheming to take the throne with the help of his father's counselor, the Wazir. As it turns out, Marrafaze is a place of some interest to both the British and the German governments; Mycroft guilts Holmes into accepting a mission to Marrafaze. So off go Holmes & Watson into a desert adventure.

As far as I'm concerned, this is way off the map in the Holmes & Watson territory and the whole Saharan trek was just not believable. It's just out of character for Sherlock Holmes so it was a tough read. My advice: if you're reading this group of books (the Breese books collection), you can actually skip this one.