Sherlockian tales by others than Watson
This book is an Anthology of pastiches 'told' by characters from the Canon other than John H. Watson, MD. There are thirteen tales, written by a number of familiar hands as well as newcomers to the world "where it is always 1895".
Richard Lupoff provides The Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier, written from the viewpoint of the Chevalier Auguste Dupin. This tale does not, necessarily, mesh with either of his earlier pastiches; The Adventure of the Boulevard Assassin or The Adventure of the Second Anonymous Narrator. Kurland's tale, Years Ago and in a Different Place, fits well into his developing life of Professor James Moriarty. I'm looking forward to his next entry in the series, The Empress of India.
Michael Tremayne continues his picture of an Anglo-Irish Holmes with A Study in Orange, by Colonel Sebastian Moran. It fits well with his earlier tales; The Specter at Tullyfane Abbey, The Affray at the Kildare Street Club and even with The Siren of Sonnen Cove. All these tales emphsize Holmes' celtic heritage and understanding of the life of minorities in Victorian England.
Michael Mallory treats us to another, slightly skewed, vision of Holmes by the 2nd Mrs. Watson called The Riddle of the Young Protestor. Some of his earlier stories of the facinating Amelia Pettigrew Watson have been published as The Adventures of the Second Mrs. Watson and I hope more will be made available somewhere other than in old detective magazines. George Alec Effinger provides (alas, he died in 2002) his final pastiche, The Adventure of the Celestial Snows, another tale, like his The Musgrave Version, told by Reginald Musgrave. Apparently, his semi-Sherlockian Castle Falkenstein novel, The League of Dragons, will not see publication as it was promised some time ago but didn't appear.
There are also interesting first efforts at pastiches in the collection. Barbera Hambly presents The Dollmaker of Marigold Walk, written by Mary Morstan Watson and Mel Gilden explains the Untold Tale of Mr. Phillimore's Umbrella in plausible fashion with The Adventure of the Forgotten Umbrella. Norman Screiber mixes Holmes and Professor Charles Dodson with some pathos in Call Me Wiggins, by the sometime leader of the 'Baker Street Division of the detective police force'. Gary Lovisi, a long-time publisher of delightful exotica, including a number of interesting Holmes pastiches by fantasy writers, has tried his hand at 'pasticherie' with Mycroft's Great Game.
Linda Robertson presented an unpublished interview by a reporter from English Fireside Magazine, titled Mrs. Hudson Reminisces, which clears up some questions left open by the Canon. Cara Black included a long letter from Irene Adler Norton to her daughter, Neige, in Cabaret aux Assassins, and C. D. Ewing, a writer of 'dubious and questionable memory', provided an article from a lost edition of Hogbine's Illustrated Monthly, titled As They Knew Him - Sherlock Holmes.
Taken as a whole, these are amusing tales, but almost all of them suffer from language difficulties. For example, 'to decimate', in modern usage, seems to mean to destroy or to obliterate, but to Victorians, it held its original, Roman meaning, to destroy one in ten. A 'prerequiste' meant a requirement to start, not a requirement to continue which was merely a requisite to Victorians. Further, a learned Victorian gentleman, when speaking as a professional, would not split infinitives and sound like a TV news broadcaster.Read full review
