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Christmas at Happy Life - Day 5 - Midwife, Geese and Swimming

One of the highlights of this trip has been meeting Erin, one of the daughters in the group from Dubai. Erin is thirteen and wants to be a midwife and has been helping out at the Jesse Kay Children’s hospital (part of Happy Life Kasarani) during the trip. We caught up with her on the ward.     Visiting projects like Happy Life is a wonderful life experience for teenagers to give them a sense of perspective and appreciation for how fortunate they are in their lives in the West.  We were at a bit of a loss as to...

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Christmas at Happy Life - Day 4 - Power Cuts, GoPro and Candfloss

The team from Dubai has been over at Juja Farm for the last few days and Craig has a GoPro and has created some neat videos. We’re excited to be heading over there on Monday. Until then, here’s a link to one of the videos;  (GoPro Video from Craig - Fellowship Dubai)   Over here at Kasarani we had another split day of feeding (Sharon infants, Steve toddlers). One of the really sweet kids is Charity who loves to dance and with a bit of encouragement Steve managed to get her dancing with Melissa. With fifteen toddlers to keep happy...

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Book Review - Eliminate The Impossible

Book Review - Eliminate The Impossible

"Alistair Duncan knows his Holmes, and he brings a fresh eye to this 240-page survey of the Canon and its film and TV off-shoots. Eliminate the Impossible is well written and entertaining. The story summaries are concise and accurate, and the notes are frequently incisive. Most interesting, to my mind, and most controversial, are the comments on film and television portrayals." Sherlock Holmes Society of London The book begins with a brief examination of the effect that the stories have had on modern crime literature. It goes on to examine the origins of the character of Holmes himself from his...

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A World Without Sherlock Holmes? - We Owe A Great Debt to Bertram Fletcher Robinson

Devon author and Holmes investigator, Paul R Spiring has proved that if it were not for Conan Doyle's close friend, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, we would not have the Sherlock Holmes character we know and love today. In local newspaper articles from the Herald Express and Western Morning News and in a BBC Wales radio interview Paul revealed how he came across the letters that prove that Arthur Conan Doyle had more than a little help with the key story that launched Holmes worldwide. Winding the clock back to the early 20th century and Arthur Conan Doyle had killed Holmes off and while the character...

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Christmas at Happy Life - Day 3 - Local Community, Zen and Thunderstorms

One of the highlights of visiting Happy Life is definitely the infant feeding but as Steve has a head cold whilst Sharon has the angelic babies, he has the challenging toddlers. Whatever clothes you wear to feed the toddlers (about fifteen) will end up in the washing pile. Try as he might Steve couldn't get Melissa to smile for the camera (she smiled plenty during feeding of course....). Over Christmas there are lots of local families that come to donate food in particular and its wonderful to see how three generations of this family came long to visit Happy Life...

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Christmas at Happy Life - Day 2 - Planning and Milkshakes

Another hot and humid day in Kasarani and a morning of meetings with the key people at Happy Life. First up is the wonderful Sarah who is the head administrator. One of the favourite tasks of the year is sitting with Sarah and handing over all the donations. This year this included proceeds from events, donations from several authors and friends and family.  We then had a great hour with Bishop Peter and his wife Faith to get an update on the latest plans for Happy Life in 2020. The main goals are surrounding the new high school. Happy Life...

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Christmas at Happy Life - Day 1 - Christmas Day

We arrived in Nairobi just before midnight after the 8 hour flight from London and awoke to the humid and noisy neighbourhood of Kasarani where Happy Life Children’s Home is based.   For those new to Happy Life you can read more here - Five Ways You Can Help Us Change Lives This Holiday Period) The children’s home is always busy and vibrant – with sixty children under the age of four, twenty of them infants below six months – there’s always something happening. For three of our seven years coming here we had been the only volunteers over Christmas, but this...

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Happy Holidays From MX Publishing

More Mystery, More Deduction, More Adventure from Sherlock Holmes Dear friends, As we pack our bags for the long flight to Nairobi, Kenya for our 7th Christmas at Happy Life Childrens Home , we wanted to thank all our readers, authors, editors and fans for another fantastic Holmes filled year. 2019 has been a pivotal year for MX Publishing. Across all publishing formats (print, ebook and audio) we've grown more than 50%. The watchword for the year was ‘innovation’ with us embarking on several new projects and breaking new ground in the world of Sherlock Holmes.  We've published plenty of traditional and authentic Holmes stories too, launching over fifty new titles in 2019. As...

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Book Review - Sherlock Holmes These Scattered Houses

Book Review - Sherlock Holmes These Scattered Houses

"A previously untold adventure of the “Great Hiatus”. Holmes, travelling in the guise of Professor Keevan Sigerson, is being pursued across Europe by Moriarty’s henchmen. Narrowly escaping death for the umpteenth time, he resolves to return to London, but is forced instead to take passage to New York. Seriously injured, he finds his way to Poughkeepsie and takes refuge in the Vassar Women’s College, where he is soon embroiled in a mystery. The pace of this novel is well-judged. From the outset it is a gripping and colourful adventure with lots of action. Clear respect for the Canon is demonstrated...

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Book Review - A Baskerville Curse

Book Review - A Baskerville Curse

"What a bonkers idea! To recreate in LEGO scenes depicted by Sidney Paget from Sherlock Holmes’ stories. How can this possibly work? And yet LEGO enthusiast P. James Macaluso jr has done just that and for at least thirteen stories from the canon. Apparently he sources his figures from existing collections, such as the Harry Potter sets, since the LEGO company has not yet realised the potential of Sherlock Holmes. The latest in the series, but the first I have seen, plopped through my letterbox the other day. It’s called A Baskerville Curse and is of course based on The Hound of the...

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