Murder, My Dear Watson

After reading Arthur Conan Doyle's complete body of Sherlock Holmes stories, I was pleased to run across these recent stories written by devotees. They are written in Conan Doyle's style (more or less), and set in the same time period. Most are excellent, and save for occasional wider-ranging storylines, indistinguishable (to me, anyway) from Conan Doyle's work. Here we have the purported first meeting of Holmes with a fledgling Moriarty, some essays and reference material about the great detective, and a particularly creative story in which actors portraying Holmes and Watson in a play are called upon to solve a crime -- and do so, in a way which does credit to Holmes himself. An enjoyable read; I look forward to tracking down the show more first book in this series (this one is the second). show less

I am often disappointed by collections of Sherlock Holmes short stories. They often contain a number of stories that I do not consider worth of publication or not yet ready for publication. Many collections, including this one, are padded with Sherlockian essays. I like to ready essays as well but I don't like to mix them.

I have started looking at anthologies in a different manner. I now consider whether there is at least one story making the purchase of the book worth while. In this one there are 3: The Adventure of the Rara Avis (based on the Maltese Falcon), The Adventure of the Agitated Actress in which actor William Gillette must solve a mystery (with the constant chorus of "I am not Sherlock Holmes") and The Case of the Highland show more Hoax which is what Caleb Carr's Italian Secretary should have been like. Others have some good features and some poor features but those three alone justify the cost of the book.

I was disappointed by The Adventure of the Curious Canary. Why did Holmes and Watson stand by as the victim died? Why did Dr.Watson make no attempt to revive him? Elementary CPR was known in those days and for goodness sake Watson is a doctor! show less

A treasure chest of short stories and interesting knowledge about Sherlock Holmes. Each perfectly packaged story is a thought evoking treat. This is a must read for those who can't get enough of Holmes and Watson.