Tag: romance

Orlando Pearson, The Redacted Sherlock Holmes Vol VIII  (MX Publishing 2023)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215075825-the-redacted-sherlock-holmes—volume-8

Continues the recounting of Sherlock cases, emulating the original Victorian style

This book, 8^th in the series, follows on from Arthur Conan-Doyle’s stories about the famous fictional Baker Street detective by revealing ‘what happened next’.

In six new cases, as reported by Dr Watson, we learn some things we had always wondered about: why Moriarty was ‘the Napolean of crime’; what happened before Holmes and Watson met; what happened to Holmes’ fiancée Agatha; and just what was the nature of Watson’s war injury.

Holmes rescues aristocratic sinners from blackmail, cracks codes, saves royal families from potential assassination, lays ingenious traps for ne’er-do-wells, undertakes tricky espionage missions during WWII and calculates cricket batting averages. As is common with many fictional detectives, a seemingly random comment or an incidental observation often sparks his immense intellect.

To the enjoyment of modern readers, the writer emulates the wordy Victorian elegance of Conan-Doyle, though the style is less stilted. It also features a similar understated, self-deprecating, very British humour. An adorable example: French président Félix Faure, who died ‘in the embrace of his mistress’, was said to have ‘struggle[d] with the fourth line of the Marseillaise’ (the one about raising the flag).

Often the cases and their solutions are so understated you almost have to read it twice. The fictional narrator decries ‘sensationalism’. The point is not so much the solution to the case but the very Holmesian way Holmes handles it. He says things like, ‘by Jove’ and ‘this is quite a three-pipe problem’. They smoke cigars and ‘have elevenses’. Character is everything. Watson, Lestrade, Mycroft and Mrs Hudson are also great characters.

Readers will also find pleasure in discovering by Google searches that many of the odd details such as the Prince of Wales’ fauteuil des voluptés are taken from history.

Some familiarity with Holmes’ past cases will help but is not essential. An easy read, perfect for bedtime or beach.

This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.

Orlando Pearson, The Redacted Novels II, A Study in Statecraft-The memoirs of Mycroft Holmes  (MX Publishing 2023)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/182109331-a-study-in-statecraft?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=stQioF2RUg&rank=1

We’ve not heard much about the older brother of the famous Baker Street detective. Mycroft is mentioned in only two of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, where it is said that he ‘IS the British government’.
His specialism, he says in these memoirs, is not in the ‘minutiae’, ‘the forensic area of crime’ or in ‘lying on my face with a lens to my eye’ like his famous brother, but rather in statecraft—‘getting people to agree to what they might not otherwise agree to’. Another difference is that brother Sherlock often acted a judge as well as detective, personally exonerating some criminals he considered worthy. Mycroft doesn’t make the decisions—he advises.
Intending to leave behind a textbook on the art of diplomacy, Mycroft chronicles how he manoeuvred the belligerent nations into signing the Armistice after WWI, how he convinced Edward VIII to abdicate.
Many of the stories are narrated by Sherlock’s biographer and crime-solving partner Dr Watson, keeping the familiar format. The flowery, verbose prose style of the time is somewhat replicated, through which the modern reader struggles, yet it does achieve a feel for the period. Despite the wordiness, the episodes are interesting, although the resolutions aren’t spectacular. The ‘episodes’ weave the fictional diplomacies around real historical people, making the stories credible.
Some are follow-ons from previous cases. The first case ‘An Individual of High Net Worth’ is a sequel to ‘The Beryl Coronet’. So, it assumes some familiarity with the Conan Doyle stories.
There are little nods to present day circumstances. Mycroft uncovers evidence of ‘jollifications’ at Number 10 during the Spanish Flu pandemic. He advises the Prime Minister on the ramifications of the King marrying a divorcée. The connections to our modern day are spelled out in ‘afterword’s’, which I would have preferred to instead remain inferred.