News — book review

"Amy Thomas isn’t the first to make Irene Adler the focus of a series, but the way she develops the woman’s relationship with Sherlock Holmes is particularly appealing. As The Detective, the Woman and the Silent Hive opens, Irene brings Holmes a problem: her bees have died, and she wants to know how and why. The mystery, rooted in the detective’s past and involving far more than the silence of the bees, is presented alternately from her angle and from his.” The Detective The Woman and The Silent Hive is available from all good bookstores including   Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In...

"John Heywood is a new name to me, and a welcome one. The seven stories in The Investigations of Sherlock Holmes (MX; 28 April;) are among the best I’v come across. Character, place and plotting ring true, and Mr Heywood is one of the few who can capture the authentic Watson style – a deceptively difficult feat.” The Investigations of Sherlock Holmes is available for pre order from all good bookstores including   Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository .

"Eddy Webb’s WATSON IS NOT AN IDIOT (2013; 201 pp.) is not a rehabilitation of Watson (who doesn’t really need one any more), but rather (as it’s subtitled) "an opinionated tour of the Sherlock Holmes canon" that offers insights into the stories." Watson Is Not An Idiot is available from all good bookstores including  Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In ebook format it is in Amazon Kindle,  Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

"In January of 2013, I reviewed Dean P. Turnbloom’s first Sherlock Holmes novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Vampire. I was pleasantly surprised by Turnbloom’s book as it was far more complex and deeper than I ever expected it to be. So, when I learned that Turnbloom was writing a follow-up, I anxiously awaited its release. That sequel, Sherlock Holmes and the Body Snatchers is the subject of today’s review. Picking up right where Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Vampire left off, this novel finds Holmes and Watson disappointed in being unable to stop Baron Antonio Barlucci, the titular vampire, as well as his latest...

"This is a collection of six novellas which mostly follow up on the author’s first collection,The Untold Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  There are several villains spread across the six stories and, frankly, the collection of ‘bad guys’ makes the late Professor Moriarty look like a progressive and imaginative businessman. The first story, “A Study in Hysteria,” presents a peculiar suicide attempt by a patient under treatment by Dr. Sigmund Freud, an old acquaintance of Holmes.  It quickly becomes apparent that much more than a patient’s delusions are occurring and Holmes, Watson and Freud are soon chasing a terrifying murderer.  In...