David Stuart DaviesBesprekingen

'Locked-room' mystery stories are fundamentally flawed, in that they require considerable suspension of disbelief just to accept their improbable scenarios, let alone their often even-more-improbable solutions, but once you accept all of this they become a lot of fun. This means that even though the quality of the stories in Classic Locked-Room Mysteries vary, the book itself is consistently entertaining.

After a great introduction from David Stuart Davies, who compiled this 2016 collection, which summarises an interesting tale from Herodotus and provides useful colour on the various authors included in the volume, Classic Locked-Room Mysteries actually begins unpromisingly, with the unspectacular 'The Aluminium Dagger'. It then proceeds to Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' which, although it deserves immense respect for practically inventing the detective genre and its formula, has a solution which is pretty silly to modern readers.

Fortunately, the book then proceeds to a quintessential 'locked-room' story in Jacques Futrelle's 'The Problem of Cell 13', complete with deductions, conundrums and outlandish solutions. The next story is a real and surprising gem, Lord Dunsany's 'The Two Bottles of Relish'. I won't spoil its rewards, but it unfolds fantastically and its success whets the appetite for the rest of the book. With this goodwill built up, Jepson & Eustace's 'The Tea Leaf' proves entertaining and has one of the best solutions of the collection. Things then dip slightly with Howel Evans' 'The Mystery of the Taxi-Cab'. Wilkie Collins' 'A Terribly Strange Bed' is a better story for its atmosphere than for any ingenuity, as is Hodgson's 'The Thing Invisible'.

A Sherlock Holmes story is always welcome in any company, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Adventure of the Retired Colourman' is effortlessly rewarding even if its not Holmes at his absolute best. David Stuart Davies then uses his editorial remit to insert his own story, 'The Curzon Street Conundrum'. This inevitably feels more modern than the other (classic) stories, even if it is set in the same period. But though it seems out of place, it doesn't feel inferior by any means.

The best is now past, and the rest of the book is just for the reader to indulge in the concept of the locked-room. Aldrich's 'Out of His Head' is curious, and Melville Davisson Post's 'The Doomdorf Mystery' is the best of this late sequence of stories. The American West setting of 'Doomdorf' is a nice change of pace from the British parlour-room atmosphere of most of the other selections, and its solution to the locked-room murder as delightfully far-fetched as any of the others.

The Williamsons' 'The Adventure of the Jacobean House' passed me by, unfortunately, though G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown story 'The Invisible Man' redeemed this with some quality writing. That said, Chesterton's solution seemed the most unlikely of the lot. The collection ends with the return of Jacques Futrelle, the only author included twice. 'The Motor Boat' isn't a locked-room story, making it an unusual inclusion, but it's a fun mystery regardless.

All told, Classic Locked-Room Mysteries does exactly what it says on the tin. There's just something satisfying about stories like this; figuring out how someone was murdered in a room locked from the inside, or escaped from a cell. The stories are, by-and-large, well-chosen and sequenced well and the book will entertain any willing reader throughout.

In this spin off novel, Oliver Twist is a 28 year old junior lawyer in the marvellously named firm of Gripwind and Biddle. Oliver and his assistant who is none other than Jack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger, are tasked with making an alteration to the will of Sir Ebenezer Throate. The old man, disgusted with his wastrel of a son, charges the pair with finding his long lost illegitimate other son, offspring of a "moment of madness" with a maidservant a quarter of a century before, so that he can make him his heir. The plot is twisty and turny with various red herrings as to the identity of someone making successive attempts on the life of Sir Ebenezer, though the central device of the wastrel brother and the virtuous brother of course mirrors the roles of Monks and Twist themselves in Dickens's novel. This was colourfully written, if rather implausible in places and, as in Dickens's novel, Twist is actually probably the least interesting character in the story. The final line hints at further stories featuring Oliver and Jack, but this does not seem to have been followed up by the author so far. The book also contained rather a lot of typos. Overall, worth a read, though I didn't enjoy this as much as the author's spin off Sherlock Holmes novels of which I have read two so far.½

One of the most famous incidents mentioned in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories as having taken place "off the page", as it were, is that of "the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared", mentioned in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. This is the second full length novelisation I have read based on this throw away line, and it was much better I thought than Paul D Gilbert's interpretation. This one has a thick atmosphere of dread as the foul scheme of Baroness Emmuska Dubeyk to spread bubonic plague through London emerges and her hypnotic powers are used effectively against the Great Detective himself to secure his temporary and unwilling support for her dreadful cause. My only issue was with the conclusion, where I thought the Baroness and her dread creatures were defeated rather too easily through the course of nature, and without Holmes's direct intercession, which felt a bit of a cop out.½

This compendium of information about Sherlock Holmes stories would be most useful for someone with limited knowledge of the stories and the background to their composition. For each story there is a summary of the plot, something on any composition issues (eg dramatic devices) and a box or two on relevant context. Some of the stories (and of course the novels) have lengthier treatment than others.

The perspective is very much 21st century (eg in discussions on attitudes to race). At the end there are sections on film and stage representations and more contextual material. This is very much the product of an editorial team rather than a single guiding hand, and there is an air of it being assembled by committee. Still worth buying, though it is not a substitute for a fully annotated set of the canon.

Ten new stories detailing the investigations of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I enjoyed reading them all but especially The Reichenbach Secret. Also a young Holmes in The Secret of the Dead. Would recommend to fans of Holmes. Look forward to reading them again.
a NetGalley Book

1940 and for Johnny Hawke for war is already over. The ex-policeman and invalid decides to become a private detective. Life is not going well until the Palfreys approach him to find their missing daughter.
But the case leads to murder. His life becomes complicated when he gets involved with the runaway Peter.
An enjoyable and interesting well-written read. A good solid start to this series.

1941 and during the blackouts a murderer goes about killing prostitutes. But personal matters lead him into the case, and into the investigation of the Britannia Club. A right wing organisation based in London.
An enjoyable well-written story

1942 London, and Harryboy Jenkins is AWOL and arrives in London. Rachel Howells has left Wales and her boring life ready for excitment. On meeting Jenkins she believes she has found it. But trouble is coming her way. Hawke has been employed to find out by Sandra Riley if he husband, Walter, is having an affair. Unfortunately this only brings trouble to Hawke. But Peter Blake is having he own trouble down in Devon.
An interesting and enjoyable thriller and crime story

1943 and Raymond Carter is now a successful ventriloquist. But he has started to receive threats. This has led him to employ Johnny Hawke for help. But then a dead body is found. Who is tormenting him and why. Will this be the last body.
Another enjoyable well-written mystery in this series with its very likeable main character and secondary ones.

1895. Colonel Sapt needs the help of Sherlock Holmes. He is in the service of King Rudolf V of Ruritania. Due to an illness the help of the King's impersonator is needed again. But he has gone missing.
An enjoyable adventure story

Can Holmes and Watson save London from the Giant Rat of Sumatra and the bubonic plague.
An entertaining read

1943 Brian Garner employs Hawke to find his dead wife. For he is convinced he has seen her on a tube station platform. Meanwhile a protection racket has started in the area, one that is affecting his friend Benny, seemingly orchestrated by the Bernstein gang.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery

i don't remember when i read this, i'm going through the books marked read on my kindle and making sure i don't re-read anything i don't want to and i don't want to read this one again. i might not remember when i originally read it but i do remember that i didn't like it.

This one disappointed me. It felt like the conclusion of all that plot was just... lackluster.

I distinctly remember getting halfway through this book and stopping because I thought it was mediocre.

I definitely remember this one. I'm a sucker for anything to do with Ancient Egypt and Egyptology and I enjoyed this one.

From a series of books in the same format that I have read, e.g., Classical Music. A fun read. Quite comprehensive with lots of visuals and interesting tidbits.

I read most of Sherlock Holmes books but I still found new things in this book.

The two greatest literary creations of the late 19th century meet in this pastiche where Sherlock Holmes confronts Dracula, and which is also a sequel to Hound of the Baskervilles. As such it carries a lot of literary weight and stories can sometimes sag under such weight. This one works for the most part, though, with a good sense of mystery and horror and an authentic Holmesian feeling. Unlike Hound of the Baskervilles and also Conan Doyle's much less well known Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, the plot explanations here were genuinely supernatural, not cases where villains were exploiting the supernatural to hide their crimes. A good read, though I'm not generally a fan of literary creations meeting each other.

A more apt title would be Tales of Misery & Misfortune. The blurb on the back of the book lead me to believe that these were supernatural short stories. Only one story contains a ghost and it's not even the one with the word 'ghost' in the title!

Overall, these are well written, and if you don't go into this collection thinking they're all going to be spooky you won't be disappointed.

most stories boring, some you know who did it, some just taking too long to tell the story

I am going to put this on hold indefinitely. I do want to finish it but I am struggling. Some of the stories are okay and some I don't get at all. The only one that has stuck with me is "Afterward", which I have read once before and also seen on the telly. Moving to "abandoned" so it isn't constantly looking over my shoulder on the main page.

It's Sherlock Holmes...Hammer-Style! A fun little read that takes Holmes firmly into occult territory and pits the Master Detective against a coven of satanists determined to raise the Devil himself. Davies, a dab hand at the Watsonian voice, tells a cracking good tale that owes as much to Hammer films of the 50s and 60s, specifically The Devil Rides Out and The Witches, as it does to Conan Doyle. Enjoyable from the start through to the slightly wobbly finish. 3.5 stars.

Ah, the delightful world of ‘what if’. What if everything we thought we knew about Dr. John H. Watson was a lie? What if Watson wasn’t really Watson? What if the events surrounding the momentous meeting between Holmes and Watson in A Study in Scarlet was all a set-up orchestrated by that criminal mastermind Moriarty? What if David Stuart Davies took the above as a starting point for a new pastiche?

Well, to answer the last ‘what if’, the result is David Stuart Davies first pastiche to be published by a non-Sherlockian press - The Veiled Detective. While Davies is no stranger to Sherlockian pastiche, having thrown Holmes up against the likes of Dracula and into the midst of the Prisoner of Zenda, The Veiled Detective takes Holmes, to say nothing of Watson, along a very different path. Rather than taking the traditional approach of throwing Holmes and Watson into non-traditional stories, Davies instead reimagines the very core of what we know about our heroes. In essence he has taken the traditional Holmes story, in this case mostly using A Study in Scarlet and later The Final Problem, and changed the basic characters populating it. Not in an altogether unpleasing manner either.

Davies begins on a strong note, we find ourselves privy to events in Afghanistan on a fateful night in 1880 that lead to the court martial and disgraced dismissal of Dr. John H. Walker. While heading back to England aboard the Orontes, the despondent Doctor, facing a future with no employment or prospects for income, finds himself being recruited for some enigmatic business concern by a suave fellow who keeps mistakenly calling him Watson. Upon arriving in England, Walker soon finds himself face to face with that great over-used Sherlockian plot-device Professor James Moriarty and here is where the plot begins to thicken. You see, the Professor is concerned about some young upstart named Sherlock Holmes, while he admires Holmes intellect, he also wisely sees the young detective as a potentially serious threat to the well being of his vast criminal organization so wishes to keep an eye on the fellow. Rather than simply have Holmes killed, he enjoys the challenge of playing a game against a comparable intellect too much, so he invests in a plan to put a spy in Holmes’ camp who can report back on any potentially threatening investigations. Walker is of course just the fellow for the job according to Moriarity’s recruiter, but he is an honorable man and wants no part in the plan… until his life is threatened and a handsome monthly payment is dangled before his eyes. Reluctantly Walker is given a new name (Watson) and his background is effectively covered up so that he can begin a new life. He rationalizes his acceptance of the spying job by thinking that he will never have to raise a hand in violence and that all he need do is send written reports to Moriarty if Holmes comes too close to any of the Professor’s machinations. So in short, John H. Walker becomes a half-pay medico called Watson newly returned from Afghanistan looking for lodgings in London. If that isn’t twisted enough for the reader, Davies then really lays on the tough to swallow stuff by having the house in Baker Street set-up by Moriarty, even including a dodgy actress as housekeeper, has pressure applied to Holmes landlord in Montague Street to evict the young lodger, and uses Stamford’s gambling debts to manipulate an introduction between Watson and Holmes that leads to their sharing of rooms. Once the introduction occurs, things settle into mostly familiar territory and a slightly skewed version of the main plot of A Study in Scarlet unfolds. Walker/Watson develops an admiration of the arrogant young detective and a protective friendship develops. Walker/Watson goes so far as to keep very damaging information, the sort that could put Holmes on the gallows, from both Moriarty and the Law. Things move along so well for Walker/Watson through The Sign of Four that Moriarty even allows him to marry and move from Baker Street. Needless to say, sooner or later things start to unravel leading, rather predictably, to a climax that is a variation of events in The Final Problem.

Davies, as usual, demonstrates an engaging style and useful knowledge of the form that is never totally at odds with the Canon. The exception being, of course, that Watson has lied to us. He deftly weaves a world that is both instantly familiar yet radically at odds with our expectations. Unfortunately, the radical start, labyrinthine plotting aside, soon gives way to a sense that Davies is playing it safe after-all. Sure he throws a few curveballs in presenting a warts and all view of Holmes, and an even odder view of brother Mycroft, but one gets the sense that he could have pushed the intriguing premise considerably further. I’m not suggesting the sort of re-imagining that we were given in the television production Sherlock: A Case of Evil but I did feel that having everything settle into the Canonical view post-Reichenbach was something of a let-down. Is it as radical a re-imagining of events as in say Nick Meyer’s Seven Percent Solution? Possibly. Does it transcend the medium of pastiche and will it crossover to a mainstream readership in the same way? Not a chance. Is it as good or will it have the same sort of impact on the Sherlockian reader? Doubtful at best, but perhaps that is the result of 30 years of pastichery that has taken Sherlock Holmes to almost every extreme, dulling our senses to what should be a radical interpretation, that in the end makes this seem like just another well-written and researched ‘what if’ that didn’t quite push the envelope as far as it might have. Whatever the case, it is an entertaining enough variation to make it a worthwhile read and addition to the Sherlockian pastiche bookshelf!

The Bottom Line: Recommended for pastiche enthusiasts who enjoy something off the beaten path, but not recommended for those who prefer the traditional pastiche approach.

For those interested in the film, television and stage portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, David Stuart Davies book Starring Sherlock Holmes is a `must have'! This beautifully designed and laid out large format hardcover is a treat in nearly every way. Most noticeable on the first read through are the glorious illustrations, nicely balanced between monochrome and colour, many of which seem to be previously unpublished, while images from some rather obscure productions are also present. While the pictures alone nearly justify the book, Davies text is equally rewarding.

The book begins with an introduction by Ian Richardson followed by a few pages of background on Conan Doyle, it then moves into a solid breakdown of films in a chronological manner. The early silent films are lumped together over 4 pages in a general overview sort of way, although Eille Norwood and John Barrymore each receive their own two-page spread. From those Davies moves into the talkies, generally giving one or two pages to each film, with major series (such as those featuring Wontner and Rathbone) being accorded individual title listings. The film listings are occasionally broken up by the insertion of nice background/overview pieces such as Basil Rathbone: The Ideal Holmes, Curtain Up: Sherlock Holmes on Stage and Jeremy Brett: Dancing in the Moonlight. These inserts allow the author a chance to range beyond specific titles and address various trends, periods or influential actors. My only criticism of the inserts is that these are occasionally teasers with rare photographs dropped in without much explanation other than a caption (as in a photo of Frank Finlay as Conan Doyle with Richard E. Grant as Sherlock Holmes from a production entitled "he Other Side) or productions given short shrift in one or two-line mentions (as in the Russian Holmes series featuring Vasily Livanov). Television productions are included, although anything prior to the 1950's Sheldon Reynolds series is lumped into a 4-page insert entitled Holmes in View: The Early Television Adventures. Major series such as the Wilmer and Cushing productions of the 1960s each receive a 2-page spread with individual episodes being listed only in the Filmography section (which includes general production data, air dates and key cast lists) at the end of the book. Needless to say, Jeremy Brett and the Granada series receive a great deal of coverage, with separate 4-page spreads for each series and 2-pages apiece for each of the individual 2-hour productions. The titles represented are extremely current and run up to and include the recent Matt Frewer version of The Sign of Four.

The layout for each of the specific programs is nicely done, with a tight synopsis heading each listing followed by interesting commentary, liberally laced with appropriate photographs, on the particular production under consideration. While I often find myself disagreeing with David Stuart Davies analyses, I found the writing to be both highly enjoyable and informative. Quotations from other critics are regularly included, adding a nice balance. While the book has the benefit of being the most up-to-date at the moment, it doesn't make previous books on the topic, including the authors own Holmes of the Movies, redundant. The level of detail provided here on specific productions is not generally as far-reaching as in some other books of this type, but the sheer breadth and beauty of Starring Sherlock Holmes, plus the amazing array of photographs, makes it a worthwhile compliment to the Holmes film-analysis bookshelf