News — Book Reviews

“Sherlock Holmes and The Case of The Edinburgh Haunting by David Wilson is a great read and an excellent addition to the fund of Sherlock Holmes stories. The availability of free online copies of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works led us to read his entire Sherlock Holmes output not so very long ago and the two overriding impressions that emerged were, firstly, how superbly crafted his stories were, and, secondly, how disappointing it was that he did not write more of them. MX Publishing have stepped into this gap, and ’The Case of The Edinburgh Haunting’ is one of a range of...

“This collection includes seven novellas drawn from a variety of times during Holmes’ career.  The letter by Dr. Watson that precedes the stories explains that these tales were not told earlier for a variety of reasons but mostly to prevent further harm to the victims.  There seems to be no common thread or theme among the tales included. 'The Adventure of the Poisoned Affair' tells of Holmes’ involvement, at the request of the new widow, in the investigation of an apparent suicide by poison.  Anomalies at the scene convince Holmes that the ‘suicide’ is actually a murder.  'The Adventure of the...

“This author is new to Sherlockian fiction, with his only previous book a history of U-Boat warfare in the Gulf of Mexico.  For a first effort at Sherlockian fiction, or any fiction, for that matter, this book is remarkable.  The events recounted take place in the 1980s and the story is hard to define.  It is a mystery and a horror story and a romance, all combined.  It has supernatural elements if one chooses to read it that way, yet it is also intimately involved in psychology and, of all things, Theology.  Perhaps I can explain my viewpoint best by...

“The title of The 1895 Murder by Dan Andriacco (MX Publishing, www.mxpublishing.co.uk; £9.99/$16.95/€12.99) refers neatly to a play based on ‘The Bruce-Partington Plans’, written by Professor Sebastian McCabe of St Benignus College, Erin, Ohio. As he proved in No Police Like Holmes and Holmes Sweet Holmes, Mac is a devoted Sherlockian and a highly skilled detective, so when a man is shot dead outside the theatre where he’s playing Mycroft Holmes, he and his brother-in-law Jeff Cody are pleased to help find the killer. Well, mostly. Jeff‘s mind, naturally, is on his impending wedding and the need for diplomacy with...

“Very few writers have tried to imagine what sort of things Holmes got up to, and what sort of people he met during his years living as the disaffected Irish-American, Altamont. He began his ‘pilgrimage’ in Chicago, so it’s natural that he would run into Diamond Jim Colosimo’s criminal organisation and encounter one of its youngest members, Al Capone. Natural too that he would visit the Café de Champion on West 31st Street, to meet its famous owner, Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion. The great boxer is actually the central character in a powerful novel, Anomalous: The...