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"The Story and the Scripts Behind No Place Like Holmes: Select Episode Scripts From The Hit Sherlock Holmes Web Drama Comedy by Ross K Foad. MX Publishing. 2012. 252pp. At www.nplh.co.uk/ you’ll find No Place Like Holmes, a series of comedy-dramas written and directed by Ross K Foad (who also plays Sherlock Holmes), based on the premise that Holmes and Watson were frozen in a time-spell by the demonic Hugo Baskerville, emerging eventually in the year 2010. We witness them, as the website says, fighting both evil masterminds and modern appliances. The films — thirteen so far, plus three Mary Morstan Mysteries, two reminiscences from the...

"Lynnette Porter is the editor of Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century: Essays on New Adaptations. Here she surveys Cumberbatch’s career as an actor, touching on his extra-curricular life only to the extent that it influences his acting or is influenced by the transition from jobbing actor to star to celebrity. The facts are meticulously (but not tediously) referenced, and the writing is both literate and engaging. Sherlock is the turning-point, but it’s good to be reminded of the extent and importance of the actor’s career, before, during and after the breakthrough to stardom: acclaimed rôles in Rhinoceros and Hedda Gabler at the Royal Court, After the Dance at...

"It’s Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee but festive celebrations are not the only thing afoot in this riveting and exciting read by Mike Hogan. I couldn’t help by find myself thoroughly engaged throughout this novel. I enjoyed that Mike didn’t just make use of the classic canonical characters such as Mycroft and Lestrade, he also makes use of characters from the Greek Interpreter along with his insertion of historical figures. Mike keeps true to Doyle’s style and the characteristics of Doyle’s characters. I enjoyed the relationship between Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, and young Winston Churchill. The three play off each other...

"This book looks at a wide range of Sherlockian topics from dentistry (Hirayama is a dentist in Tokyo) to the tracking of Heidegger’s bicycle. Hirayama is best known as the driving force behind The Shoso-in Bulletin, an international Sherlockian journal published from 1991 to 2004. This work consists of 28 articles/essays written by Hirayama for his publication and also others. Four of the articles are coauthored with John Hall, a English Holmesian. For the Sherlockian purist, the articles on the first nine cases in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes may be the strongest in the book. But all are interesting, and this book will...

"A new ‘Sherlock Holmes’ novel has a lot to live up to. And frankly, I was not hopeful for this offering. As an avid Arthur Conan Doyle – and Holmes – fan, I was sceptical that anyone could match Conan Doyle’s intellect whilst matching his fast-paced and gripping style. I was wrong. Symonds story could be described as a gripping yarn, which captured the essence of both Holmes and Watson very well. The story in short; Holmes and his faithful sidekick were contacted by the mysterious and duplicitous Prince Regnant of Bulgaria, following the theft of an ancient and sacred manuscript. Holmes is tasked...