News — Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

29th July - Mrs Hudson is back - and this time it’s New York Accompanied by Holmes and Watson, Mrs. Hudson crosses the ocean to attend the wedding of her cousin’s daughter. They disembark to discover that the young lady’s fiancée, a pitcher for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, stands accused of an attempt on the life of JP Morgan and the death of his aide. A self-declared enemy of Morgan and the robber barons, the ballplayer ran from the scene of the crime and, when captured, was found in possession of a gun with two spent cartridges, the same number and...

It’s 1906. Far from England, the Ottoman Empire ruled by the despotic Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid 11 is on the verge of imploding. Rival Great Powers, especially Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany, sit watching like crows on a fence, ready to rush in to carve up the vast territories, menacing England’s vital overland routes to her Indian possessions. At his medical practice in London’s Marylebone Watson receives a mystifying telegram. It’s from Holmes. ‘Dear Watson, if you can throw physic to the dogs for an hour or two I would appreciate meeting at the stone cross at Charing Cross railway station tomorrow noon. I...

“I thoroughly enjoyed all five of the stories in the ‘Tangled Skeins’. All very different but all have the same A.C.Doyle magic woven into them by the author. David Marcum captures the real feel of London and it’s populace during the period when Holmes was practicing and also beyond, when in retirement. Vivid scenes are set and he brings them to life with just sufficient detail to allow your imagination to fill in the rest. Bravo! I shall definitely be reading more of Mr Marcum’s work!” Reviewed by Dick Gillman Sherlock Holmes - Tangled Skeins is available from all good bookstores...

“This hardback edition, published in 2014, combines two earlier collections. Volume I consists of traditional pastiches, ranging from the faintly comic to the genuinely tragic, and even including a case-within-a-case. All the stories are cleverly plotted and very much in Conan Doyle’s own style. The latter tales are more ambitious, in that they begin during the period of Holmes’ supposed “retirement,” when (at his brother Mycroft’s urging) he worked to counter German espionage prior to World War I, as recounted by Doyle in “His Last Bow.“ That poignant case was hardly Holmes’ last bow for David Marcum. With remarkable originality,...

“… Wendy C. Fries writes with such wonderful humour and joy, not one story falls short. Holmes and Watson are portrayed vividly and with such skill you do not need the date markers or hansoms or the London Eye to tell whether you’re in Victorian London or in modern London…” Reviewed by The Melbourne Review of Books Read the full review here. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Day They Met is available from all good bookstores including   Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository . In ebook format...