News

It's day 6 of 56 ahead of what's widely being tipped as the biggest Sherlock Holmes debate ever and here's an update of how the teams are shaping up. The audience fan page is growing well too with (at time of writing) 174 people registered from over 20 countries around the world - although around half those registered so far are from the USA. The audience tickets (80) will be released in a few weeks time on the Great Debate Facebook page. Several society heavyweights, authors and a film director have joined in the first week and rumours of several...

Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Dr Who, The League of Gentlemen) has written the foreword to what Holmes fans are eagerly expecting to be the most important new Arthur Conan Doyle book of 2011. Author Alistair Duncan has a very hard act to follow with his new book, An Entirely New Country. His last book, The Norwood Author won the 2011 Howlett Literary Award (Sherlock Holmes book of the year) and was widely recognised as one of the most important Conan Doyle books in recent times due to the new information Duncan uncovered during his meticulous research. The challenge is that Conan...

"The characters are interesting and the story is written to be continued.  Another book is planned and if it is good as the first, I’m sure it will lead to a popular series." Philip K Jones (aka The Ill Dressed Vagabond) reviews the debut novel from Felicia Carparelli - Murder In The Library. The book has recently been picked up for translation and will come out in Italian in early 2012. Here is Phil's review: "This book is a Sherlockian mystery only by courtesy.  The characters are knowledgeable about the Canon and there are Sherlockian echoes in the clues and...

Philip K Jones (aka The Ill Dressed Vagabond) is one of the USA's most respected Holmes reviewers and maintains a huge database of Holmes pastiches and fiction. Here is his review of The Case of The Russian Chessboard; "This is a short novel set in the late 19th Century in London.  Holmes and Watson are drawn into an investigation of Russian revolutionaries plotting and recruiting among London’s Liberals.  It brings them into the world of plot and counterplot, agent and counteragent that set the standards for 20th Century Social Commentary.  The Emigrés and the Okhrana define the moves and relations...

After several Holmes heavyweights joined the side of the BBC's Sherlock, the Guy Ritchie side was looking a little light - but no more. Gerry O'Hara has worked with some of the most famous actors of all time from Laurence Olivier (Richard III) to Joan Collins (The Bitch) and has directed many Hollywood movies - including working on the Academy Award winning Tom Jones. He's no stranger to television either having worked on The Avengers, The Professionals, Hammer House of Horror, Cats Eyes and a host of other programmes. He's a record breaker too. He wrote the adaptation of the...