Sherlock Book Reviews - The Further Undiscovered Archives of Sherlock Holmes
Posted by Steve Emecz on
Sherlockian pasticheur John Lawrence is back with another excellent collection, this time three new novellas that display both his Sherlockian knowledge and his excellent understanding of history.
Lawrence worked in the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill from the mid-1970’s until his retirement in 2013, with his last position being Chief of Staff for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It’s with this insightful background that he approaches writing Sherlock Holmes adventures.
His previous Holmes works include “The Undiscovered Archives of Sherlock Holmes”, made up of short stories collected from previous collections (such as “The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories”), and “Sherlock Holmes: The Affair at Mayerling Lodge”, relating Holmes’s participation in politically-tinged events from 1889.
Now, in “The Further Undiscovered Archives”, Lawrence presents three cases – one related to the atrocities committed by King Leopold II of Belgium in the Congo, another related to the famous disappearance of the keepers of the Flannan Light, and the third involving Holmes in the intrigues associated with the first aeroplanes – and meeting one of the famed Wright Brothers in the process.
I knew a bit about these events, but these stories added a great deal of depth, and also prompted me to research and find out more. Mr. Lawrence is also a teacher, so he didn’t just provide more excellent adventures about the TRUE Sherlock Holmes – i.e., not a broken murderer or a modern-day sociopath – but he also taught me something along the way. I look forward to seeing what he tells us next.
Further Undiscovered Archives is available from this site.
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About This Book:
Sealed away from public view more than a century at the instruction of their author, Dr John Watson, these three cases of Sherlock Holmes are available here for the first time. Like the earlier volume in this series, each reveals the role Holmes and Watson played in investigating crimes involving actual historical events and prominent personages.
“A Grotesquery in Limehouse” explores Holmes’ involvement in solving the mutilation and murder of a Belgian businessman near the London docks, a crime that is linked to the despicable role of King Leopold II in brutally exploiting the people and resources of the Belgian Congo.
“The Disappearances at the Flannan Light” recounts Holmes’ role in solving a century and a quarter long mystery concerning what befell the three keeps who vanished without a trace from the remote Scottish Flannan Lighthouse on the cusp of the twentieth century.
“The Case of the Shattered Propeller” plunges Holmes and Watson into the inquiry into the disastrous crash of the Wright Flyer during its military trial flight in Fort Myer, Virginia in 1908, revealing long-concealed aspects of this tragic moment in aviation history.
These stories have been prepared for public release by John Lawrence, who has edited numerous historic Holmes adventures in the volumes of the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures as well as the novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Affair at Mayerling Lodge. He worked for 38 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and is a history Ph.D. and professor living in Washington DC and Santa Fe, New Mexico. His non-fiction works include Arc of Power: Inside the Speakership of Nancy Pelosi, and Class of ’74: Congress After Watergate and the Roots of Partisanship.