Customer Reviews

The Singular Adventures of MR Sherlock Holmes

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book captures the heart and soul of Sherlock Holmes quite well except for the last story. There is no way that Holmes would deliberately expose Watson to such danger. Holmes often did not take Watson into his full confidence, simply because Watson was an astutely honest face that was poor at any form of deception. But as Sherlockians may recall in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs when the villian wounds Watson, Holmes coldly informs him that if Watson had been killed the villian would never have left the room alive. So having Holmes expose Watson to deadly danger and then be caviler about it is unthinkable. But the rest of the book is a solid four Sherlock stars! Good work! Write some more and pay more careful attention to detail. Quoth the Raven...

I confess I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, Mr. Stockwell does an outstanding job on the hardest part of any Sherlock Holmes story; thinking up mysteries clever enough for the Great Detective to solve. With only a couple of exceptions these are some very adroit stories and the author never cheats by bringing in a late character at the end to conveniently be the criminial. The reason I did not rate this book any higher though involved the always gray area of characterizations for both Holmes and Watson. Holmes is mostly on his bad behavior here, with little of the quirky charm or humor to relieve it. He is extremely rude to several of his clients. Yes, they are stupid and/or greedy but I can imagine Holmes informing them of their faults and then waving a hand, saying 'begone.' I can't see him taking the time to lecture and insult these people the way he does in this book, time and again. Watson, too, is a bit 'off'. His job seems to be primarily standing around saying, 'well done, Holmes' and marveling at his friend's bad manners. Only the final story has a big emotional kick and it is a bit of a shocker.
Everyone has their own mental pictures of Holmes and Watson and Mr. Stockwell's versions may be more to your taste than mine. If you are keen on brain teaser stories though, this is a definitive keeper.

PRO: The author avoids the trap of overloading his stories with gratuitous references to Holmes trivia (the opium syringe, the persian slipper, the coal scuttle, "the game's afoot!" etc.). Thanks to this, the stories read like genuine new Holmes stories and not cookie-cutter pastiches.

CON: However, to me the tone is not authentic. It sounds almost 20th Century American in places, although I understand the author is British. Holmes at times behaves in so un-Holmes-like a way as to suggest that an imposter has taken his place. He tends to be more uncooperative and disagreeable than the Holmes of the canon, and shows some curious intellectual and logical lapses in solving, or failing to solve, the mysteries. He occasionally does things, as in the last story, that Holmes simply wouldn't do.

The stories themselves present true problems (as opposed to being simply action stories featuring a character named Sherlock Holmes). However, the solutions tend to be a bit obvious in some of them.

I will happily read almost any pastiche, and I enjoyed these, but I'd place them no higher than the middle of the pack overall because of the inauthentic tone and sometimes unimaginative plots. (Of course Doyle sets a high standard.)

The re-release of Alan Stockwell's The Singular Adventures of Mr. Sherlock Holmes goes deeper than the original. Here are all the wonderful original stories, plus three great new adventures to whet the appetite of any true Holmes aficionado! Stockwell also has edited "The Spurious Ambassador", bringing that story, the one small spot in his original book into line with the world of Holmes. Doyle himself could have penned any of the three new stories. Like a master chef, Stockwell has blended the three things needed for a true Holmes story: A solid mystery, a well-written plot, and believable villains. Everything is done to perfection as a chef prepares a soufflé: Just enough spice to make it ambrosia, not enough to make it unfit for human consumption. A wonderful collection of tales, told by one who has mastered the world of Sherlock Holmes! Quoth the Raven...

While most of the stories are based around clever plots and stories the tone and overall writing ruins any sense of authenticity.

The stories sound 20th century...since when do English gentlemen in Victorian times use words like "a lot"?? Also while tame by today's standards, many of the words (hell, damn) are used too frequently and would have been considered completely inappropriate during the late 1800's.

Some of the mysteries are not mysteries at all but odd stories about nothing in particular.

The writer should have followed the tone and style of the originals...

There are fifteen excellent stories here, most of them very inventive and several with really ingenious plots. There may be one or two infelicities of language but I think the author captures the Arthur Conan Doyle style very well. Even the great man was responsible for using "disillusionize" in one of the canon stories! I bought the book because "Sherlock" magazine recommended it saying it was one of the best collections of Holmes pastiches for some time. I heartily agree.

For one, I very much disliked how the book began. The book begins outlining the death of Sherlock Holmes, as a Sherlockian that will never occur to me. Holmes lives and will continue to. The stories were mediocore to me and I moved through the book slowly as the interest was not complete.

I like the stories, several are very clever, but the leading characters are a bit too weak, Holmes in particular is often quite rude. The dialog of Holmes and Watson doesn't ring true enough often enough.
The other part that's disappointing is the paucity of clever deductions that makes reading the canon so much fun. Holmes could tell a lot about a person by examining their watch, etc., but here we have little of those delightful moments that reveal the great man's talent.

The mysteries posed by this author are generally very inventive and of a standard worthy of the originals, although I can claim that I had the case of the abandoned bicycle cracked very quickly. (However, I am still not convinced of the feasibility of the method used by the criminal in this case - have a read and judge for yourself.)

I feel that the tone of this collection largely remains true to Sir ACD's original canon. There is great enjoyment to be had from rereading the originals, but new stories which are a match for them are a real treat. I would heartily recommend this collection to any Holmes fan.

GREAT READING.
MAKES ONE THINK.
ENJOY THE BOOK.
IN THE STYLE OF DOYLE.
AMAZON DELIVERS WELL.