Sherlock Holmes Review - Mr Holmes Advent Calendar Volume 1 and 2

This week, author and playwright David MacGregor reviews the first two (from four) volumes of the Mr Holmes Advent Calendar. Each one has 24 mysteries to solve.

You can get all four from Amazon USA and Amazon UK.

Volume 1

These clever and fanciful mini-mysteries are somewhat reminiscent of the old Encyclopedia Brown stories, in which readers are presented with a baffling scenario and then invited to propose their own solution, before simply turning a page to discover what the master detective has deduced. With an appealing variety of murders to be solved and codes to be cracked (all accompanied by a festive array of art), these are an excellent way to challenge your wits (or someone else's wits) for a few minutes every day. In fact, they would make for a splendid group activity, whether it be family members, classmates, coworkers, and so on. There are occasional whiffs from the original Sherlock Holmes tales of Arthur Conan Doyle, but then there are mysteries involving spontaneous combustion, a touch of cannibalism, and allusions to famous mysteries by other writers (e.g., Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter"). Written with a wry sense of humor, they include festive artwork, and little Easter Egg surprises for devoted Sherlock Holmes fans, ranging from the appearance of his older brother, Mycroft, to that most mysterious gathering place for London's most unsocial men—The Diogenes Club.

Volume 2

This second edition of a Sherlock Holmes Advent Calendar picks up where the first edition left off. Once again, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are faced with any number of bizarre (and extremely short) mysteries which require a peculiarly penetrating intellect to solve. If you and your friends fancy pitting your wits against Holmes in a wide variety of cases featuring cyanide, Christmas ghosts, Santa Claus, pickpockets, Inspector Lestrade, Irene Adler, and the notorious Jack the Nibbler, this is just the thing for you. There are murders to be solved and codes to be broken, if you are up to the task. The mysteries are inventive, varied, whimsical, and with references to roasted chestnuts, fish and chips, and dark deeds occurring in Whitechapel, they cleverly evoke the essence of Victorian London and the world of Sherlock Holmes.

About the reviewer...

David MacGregor was born in Detroit and writes plays, screenplays, and novels. He is a Resident Artist at The Purple Rose Theatre (Chelsea, MI), where ten of his plays have been produced. His work has been produced from New York to Tasmania. He adapted his play "Vino Veritas" into the feature film starring Emmy-winner Carrie Preston, and his short play "For Old Time's Sake" was adapted into the film "Easy Way Out" starring Oscar-nominee John Savage.

His plays have been published by Playscripts, Applause, Smith & Kraus, and Heuer Publishing. His three Sherlock Holmes plays ("Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Elusive Ear," "Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Fallen Soufflé," and "Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Ghost Machine") are all published by Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW) and have enjoyed productions from Louisiana to New Zealand.

He adapted his trilogy of Sherlock Holmes plays into novels for MX Publishing, and he is also the author of the nonfiction two-volume "Sherlock Holmes: The Hero with a Thousand Faces," which esteemed Sherlockian Roger Johnson described as "a welcome addition to my rather select list of the really important books about Sherlock Holmes."

His latest collection "Sherlock Holmes Takes The Case" brings us a host of traditional short stories.