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Lost Sherlock #3
The Execution of Sherlock Holmes: And Other New Adventures of the Great Detective
Five tales:
1 The Execution of Sherlock Holmes - elude noose when drugged and manacled in dank Newgate cell
2 The Case of the Greek Key - crack German codes
3 The Case of the Peasenhall Murder - prove man innocent of slaying pregnant serving girl
4 The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid - stop arsenic-wielding magician
5 The Queen of the Night - foil malevolent Moriarty
Notes
1 The Execution of Sherlock Holmes - elude noose when drugged and manacled in dank Newgate cell
2 The Case of the Greek Key - crack German codes
3 The Case of the Peasenhall Murder - prove man innocent of slaying pregnant serving girl
4 The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid - stop arsenic-wielding magician
5 The Queen of the Night - foil malevolent Moriarty
Notes
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
22 people are currently reading
391 people want to read
About the author
Donald Serrell Thomas
66 books31 followersaka Francis Selwyn
Donald Serrell Thomas is an English author of (primarily) Victorian-era historical, crime and detective fiction, as well as books on factual crime and criminals, in particular several academic books on the history of crime in London. He has written a number of biographies, two volumes of poetry, and has also edited volumes of poetry by John Dryden and the Pre-Raphaelites.
Donald Serrell Thomas is an English author of (primarily) Victorian-era historical, crime and detective fiction, as well as books on factual crime and criminals, in particular several academic books on the history of crime in London. He has written a number of biographies, two volumes of poetry, and has also edited volumes of poetry by John Dryden and the Pre-Raphaelites.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
January 27, 2016
A viper bit Milverton- what was his plight?
The viper, not Milverton, died of the bite.
Execution of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of five not-so short stories. In my opinion out of the five stories here only three are very good: they keep you guessing and maintain the thrill throughout; and the rest two are not bad and can be enjoyed. What makes this pastiche of Holmes different: We are shown the non-super human side of our beloved sleuth. By 'non-super human' I mean 'ordinary'. (But mind you that ordinary-ness of Sherlock Holmes is way above than our standards of ordinary-ness). In the first story itself we are shown the other side of Holmes, which we'd never seen, where Holmes struggles for his life and tries to save himself from his blood thirsty enemies. In all these stories there is one more thing different about Holmes is that we actually see what Holmes is doing to catch his prey or saving his client - unlike the originals where we do not exactly know everything what Holmes is doing (just like JOKER from The Dark Knight). All in all, this book shows Sherlock Holmes from a different perspective: which can have its admirers, and critics.
1). The execution of Sherlock Holmes: 3.8/5.0
It is the first of the five stories, and is the title of the book. It was 90 pages long. The title says very much about the story. Sherlock Holmes is kidnapped and is kept as a prisoner by his blood thirsty enemies. He is given a trial at their court; and is sentenced to be hanged till death. The main focus is: how Holmes escape from the captivity of his enemies. Overall the jailbreak part was fascinating and thrilling.
2). The Case of the Greek Key: 2.8/5.0
It is the second story. This story is all about cryptography, and code breaking. People at Admiralty intercepts some secret information being passed to German Navy using Morse code. And soon it is clear that there is a spy in Admiralty who is helping in sending the highly sensitive information to Germans; but it is the encrypted information they are not able to retrieve- they cannot break the code. After two months of futile efforts, at last, the Admiral (Fischer from Naval Treaty) approaches Sherlock Holmes. The premise of the story was very interesting, but I didn't liked this story much. I felt it a bit dry and, for me, it was a just an average read. It lacks that awe inspiring genius of Sir Doyle. The last story Execution of Holmes was better than this one.
3). The Case of Peasenhall Murder : 2.5/5.0
...I really don't remember much of the story but I'm pretty sure that Holmes never catches the real culprit.
4). The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid: 3.6/5.0
I was taken by surprise on finding this story to be interesting, satisfying and well executed. It all starts with a very ordinary case which ultimately culminates into something really extraordinary and ends with descent, if not great, climax. I enjoyed this story very much.
5). The Queen of the Night: 3.8/5.0
This story was woven in a very different style than previous four stories. This last story was connected with the first story 'Execution of Sherlock Holmes', and the thread was Col. Moriarty and a priceless diamond. The story moved quite straight forwardly but always keeping the reader guessing and not revealing much. The climax could've been a bit more revealing and detailed but it end a little too prematurely. But it was interesting read.
The viper, not Milverton, died of the bite.
Execution of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of five not-so short stories. In my opinion out of the five stories here only three are very good: they keep you guessing and maintain the thrill throughout; and the rest two are not bad and can be enjoyed. What makes this pastiche of Holmes different: We are shown the non-super human side of our beloved sleuth. By 'non-super human' I mean 'ordinary'. (But mind you that ordinary-ness of Sherlock Holmes is way above than our standards of ordinary-ness). In the first story itself we are shown the other side of Holmes, which we'd never seen, where Holmes struggles for his life and tries to save himself from his blood thirsty enemies. In all these stories there is one more thing different about Holmes is that we actually see what Holmes is doing to catch his prey or saving his client - unlike the originals where we do not exactly know everything what Holmes is doing (just like JOKER from The Dark Knight). All in all, this book shows Sherlock Holmes from a different perspective: which can have its admirers, and critics.
1). The execution of Sherlock Holmes: 3.8/5.0
It is the first of the five stories, and is the title of the book. It was 90 pages long. The title says very much about the story. Sherlock Holmes is kidnapped and is kept as a prisoner by his blood thirsty enemies. He is given a trial at their court; and is sentenced to be hanged till death. The main focus is: how Holmes escape from the captivity of his enemies. Overall the jailbreak part was fascinating and thrilling.
2). The Case of the Greek Key: 2.8/5.0
It is the second story. This story is all about cryptography, and code breaking. People at Admiralty intercepts some secret information being passed to German Navy using Morse code. And soon it is clear that there is a spy in Admiralty who is helping in sending the highly sensitive information to Germans; but it is the encrypted information they are not able to retrieve- they cannot break the code. After two months of futile efforts, at last, the Admiral (Fischer from Naval Treaty) approaches Sherlock Holmes. The premise of the story was very interesting, but I didn't liked this story much. I felt it a bit dry and, for me, it was a just an average read. It lacks that awe inspiring genius of Sir Doyle. The last story Execution of Holmes was better than this one.
3). The Case of Peasenhall Murder : 2.5/5.0
...I really don't remember much of the story but I'm pretty sure that Holmes never catches the real culprit.
4). The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid: 3.6/5.0
I was taken by surprise on finding this story to be interesting, satisfying and well executed. It all starts with a very ordinary case which ultimately culminates into something really extraordinary and ends with descent, if not great, climax. I enjoyed this story very much.
5). The Queen of the Night: 3.8/5.0
This story was woven in a very different style than previous four stories. This last story was connected with the first story 'Execution of Sherlock Holmes', and the thread was Col. Moriarty and a priceless diamond. The story moved quite straight forwardly but always keeping the reader guessing and not revealing much. The climax could've been a bit more revealing and detailed but it end a little too prematurely. But it was interesting read.
March 18, 2012
This anthology consists of 5 stories, all written by Donald Thomas. The first 4 ranged from good to great and I was willing to give this book 4 stars - but then the last one happened, "The Queen of the Night".
In this short story, Sherlock Holmes went against Col. Moriarty, Prof. Moriarty's brother, unfortunately, it was overly complicated and Watson was made an idiot: Holmes was unwilling to tell Watson what exactly was going on and when Watson reacted, based on his incomplete information, Holmes' reaction was rather venomous and honestly, if I were Watson, I would have told Holmes to go to hell. This story undermined all the pleasure I took from reading the previous 4 stories.
Other than that, the first two stories - "The Execution of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Case of the Greek Key" - felt more like spy stories than mysteries. The first one was very MacGyver like, the second one reminded me of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" because Holmes was trying to find a mole.
In "The Case of the Peasenhall Murder" Holmes wasn't looking for a murderer, he was trying to prove that the accused did not do it; the murder itself remained unsolved.
And "The Case of the Phantom Chamberlain" was interesting only because Watson was allowed to actually do something and used his medical knowledge.
In this short story, Sherlock Holmes went against Col. Moriarty, Prof. Moriarty's brother, unfortunately, it was overly complicated and Watson was made an idiot: Holmes was unwilling to tell Watson what exactly was going on and when Watson reacted, based on his incomplete information, Holmes' reaction was rather venomous and honestly, if I were Watson, I would have told Holmes to go to hell. This story undermined all the pleasure I took from reading the previous 4 stories.
Other than that, the first two stories - "The Execution of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Case of the Greek Key" - felt more like spy stories than mysteries. The first one was very MacGyver like, the second one reminded me of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" because Holmes was trying to find a mole.
In "The Case of the Peasenhall Murder" Holmes wasn't looking for a murderer, he was trying to prove that the accused did not do it; the murder itself remained unsolved.
And "The Case of the Phantom Chamberlain" was interesting only because Watson was allowed to actually do something and used his medical knowledge.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2011
Started out pretty good. The first mystery was interesting but not a typical mystery. However, if you are going to write about Sherlock Holmes as Arthur Conan Doyle did you have big shoes to fill and the second mystery in this book quickly doused any interest I had.
March 10, 2025
The title story did not interest me in the slightest. But The Case of the Greek Key is a ripping yarn of codes, spies, and naval secrets. The Peasenhall Murder is a sordid case of perjury. The Phantom Chambermaid is first rate and very mysterious, though I have my doubts about the technical details. Finally, the last tale did not impress.
So a fair score might be two or three out of five. But I'm going to give it four stars, because you can just skip the rubbish and I wouldn't want you to miss the best bits.
So a fair score might be two or three out of five. But I'm going to give it four stars, because you can just skip the rubbish and I wouldn't want you to miss the best bits.
July 21, 2013
By Donald Thomas. Grade B+.
This is my first from the famous Donald Thomas series on Sherlock Holmes, and may I say that he has done a wonderful job in capturing the essence of the original Conan Doyle work with a collection of five different stories of the world’s most popular detective and his loyal sidekick.
The book’s title caught my attention the moment I saw it as, obviously, Sherlock Holmes has never been executed before in any adaptation. This story revolves around Holmes’ kidnap and a mock trial by his enemies. Holmes is drugged and chained to a dingy old cellar where he is watched 24×7 . The curiosity is insatiable because the author painstakingly lays out the insurmountable odds in front of the reader. As ever, the workings of his mind will leave you flabbergasted. Despite the rather passive role of Watson, I enjoyed the story.
Sherlock’s legendary powers of logic are skillfully displayed in “The Case of the Greek Key,” in which a German code must be cracked to preserve some vital military secrets. The way Holmes decodes the cipher made me a fan of his all over again. More than a mystery, this one seemed like a twenty first century spy thriller, with all the right elements.
In “The Case of the Peasenhall Murder,” Holmes undertakes the investigation of the murder of a serving girl to clear the “guilty” of charges since he believes him to be innocent. This particular story was open-ended and a little bit of a downer.
“The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid” leads Holmes to uncover a horrific murder plan while investigating the circumstances that led to the dismissal of an innocent maid working at a hotel. After the first story, this one is a must read! Thomas managed to give dear Watson some role finally.
In “The Queen of The Night” Holmes shows his meticulousness as he tries to catch the infamous Colonel James Moriarty while the latter plans to steal during the Coronation ceremonies of His Majesty, Edward VII.
The write up and the way Thomas has described every event, occurrence and scene is remarkable and it makes the reader picture every little detail, even if it does across as a bit flat at times. The denouement too, was bland in most of the stories. The author’s research is splendid though, it sounds more Victorian than the original stories.
One major drawback was the injustice to Watson. His role was minimal at best and he didn’t prove to be of much help in any of the stories. His chemistry with Holmes was notably found lacking.
What made the book interesting were the plots. The first story was the best of the five as the iconic Sherlock Holmes is made to expand to his limit in this one. The fourth one proved to an all rounder. With his logic, clarity and an ever-observant nature, Holmes beautifully pulls together multiple meandering threads and trumps all obstacles.
When you’re writing about Sherlock Holmes, you have got huge shoes to fill, and Donald Thomas accomplishes that to a certain extent. Not the best adaption of the marvellous detective, but worth a read nonetheless.
Let’s sum up:
The Plots-Amazingly spun
Watson-Irrelevant
Holmes- As good as always.
Originally reviewed at Vaultofbooks.com, a close-knit community of fanatical readers. We are looking for perceptive readers who can write well, and we are eager to provide lots of free books in exchange for reviews. Shoot us a mail at [email protected]
This is my first from the famous Donald Thomas series on Sherlock Holmes, and may I say that he has done a wonderful job in capturing the essence of the original Conan Doyle work with a collection of five different stories of the world’s most popular detective and his loyal sidekick.
The book’s title caught my attention the moment I saw it as, obviously, Sherlock Holmes has never been executed before in any adaptation. This story revolves around Holmes’ kidnap and a mock trial by his enemies. Holmes is drugged and chained to a dingy old cellar where he is watched 24×7 . The curiosity is insatiable because the author painstakingly lays out the insurmountable odds in front of the reader. As ever, the workings of his mind will leave you flabbergasted. Despite the rather passive role of Watson, I enjoyed the story.
Sherlock’s legendary powers of logic are skillfully displayed in “The Case of the Greek Key,” in which a German code must be cracked to preserve some vital military secrets. The way Holmes decodes the cipher made me a fan of his all over again. More than a mystery, this one seemed like a twenty first century spy thriller, with all the right elements.
In “The Case of the Peasenhall Murder,” Holmes undertakes the investigation of the murder of a serving girl to clear the “guilty” of charges since he believes him to be innocent. This particular story was open-ended and a little bit of a downer.
“The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid” leads Holmes to uncover a horrific murder plan while investigating the circumstances that led to the dismissal of an innocent maid working at a hotel. After the first story, this one is a must read! Thomas managed to give dear Watson some role finally.
In “The Queen of The Night” Holmes shows his meticulousness as he tries to catch the infamous Colonel James Moriarty while the latter plans to steal during the Coronation ceremonies of His Majesty, Edward VII.
The write up and the way Thomas has described every event, occurrence and scene is remarkable and it makes the reader picture every little detail, even if it does across as a bit flat at times. The denouement too, was bland in most of the stories. The author’s research is splendid though, it sounds more Victorian than the original stories.
One major drawback was the injustice to Watson. His role was minimal at best and he didn’t prove to be of much help in any of the stories. His chemistry with Holmes was notably found lacking.
What made the book interesting were the plots. The first story was the best of the five as the iconic Sherlock Holmes is made to expand to his limit in this one. The fourth one proved to an all rounder. With his logic, clarity and an ever-observant nature, Holmes beautifully pulls together multiple meandering threads and trumps all obstacles.
When you’re writing about Sherlock Holmes, you have got huge shoes to fill, and Donald Thomas accomplishes that to a certain extent. Not the best adaption of the marvellous detective, but worth a read nonetheless.
Let’s sum up:
The Plots-Amazingly spun
Watson-Irrelevant
Holmes- As good as always.
Originally reviewed at Vaultofbooks.com, a close-knit community of fanatical readers. We are looking for perceptive readers who can write well, and we are eager to provide lots of free books in exchange for reviews. Shoot us a mail at [email protected]
May 14, 2018
Having read a previous Donald Thomas Sherlock Holmes collection Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly: And Other New Adventures of the Great Detective, I thought I'd try another. The first was all right, and I did like Thomas' style and use of language.
This set was more disappointing. Not only was he clumsy in historical references, shoehorned in like he was furiously consulting Wikipedia and adding details in in rewrites, but he doesn't have a very firm grasp on the character of either Holmes or Watson.
The first story which gives the book its title was intriguing, with Holmes in a very different sort of situation: a prisoner of some of his many enemies and people he'd foiled in the past. However, the story had virtually no examples of deductive reasoning or great intellect, only a McGuyver-style cleverness and the following stories were all pretty flat.
From Sherlock Holmes instructing England's chief of intelligence on how to handle a mole using the most obvious and well-known ideas on controlling leaks to his duel with Moriarty's older brother it just felt all wrong in terms of the characters. And worst of all was his treatment of Mycroft who instead of being even smarter than Sherlock (but much more lazy) he was kind of an insulting dolt and upper class twit.
Very disappointing overall, despite a few interesting bits.
This set was more disappointing. Not only was he clumsy in historical references, shoehorned in like he was furiously consulting Wikipedia and adding details in in rewrites, but he doesn't have a very firm grasp on the character of either Holmes or Watson.
The first story which gives the book its title was intriguing, with Holmes in a very different sort of situation: a prisoner of some of his many enemies and people he'd foiled in the past. However, the story had virtually no examples of deductive reasoning or great intellect, only a McGuyver-style cleverness and the following stories were all pretty flat.
From Sherlock Holmes instructing England's chief of intelligence on how to handle a mole using the most obvious and well-known ideas on controlling leaks to his duel with Moriarty's older brother it just felt all wrong in terms of the characters. And worst of all was his treatment of Mycroft who instead of being even smarter than Sherlock (but much more lazy) he was kind of an insulting dolt and upper class twit.
Very disappointing overall, despite a few interesting bits.
April 17, 2011
This book is both more singular and, I think, more consistent than the other Holmes pastiches by Mr. Thomas that I read before this volume. Overall I think this collection of stories had more “punch”. I also find myself writing more “details” into this review than I normally do; maybe not so much as to be spoilers, but enough to illustrate specific thoughts about the collection. Again I find myself only giving it a "3" because it just doesn't quite deserve the "4" - call it a definite "3.5".
On a side note, I an many others are so picky about the Holmes stories that at times we may lose sight of the great pleasure they bring us. For true fans any tale of the Great Detective is satisfying because it gets us another "fix". The irony of course is that Conan Doyle wrote his Holmes tales quickly and they are rife with errors and contradictions and yet these are the "gold standard". One should have pity on the author who dares take up the pen (word-processor?) to follow in his footsteps. Instead, we judge more harshly because they are not Conan Doyle. I suspect I am as guilty as anyone else in this regard. That's it for the mea culpas.
To be sure the opening tale, “The Execution of Sherlock Holmes” is very different and dark. We get Holmes’ tale as it occurs to him; Watson adding in a “framing story” of how he acted during this time and how Holmes related his part to him. While the author may have woven a nugget of historical fact into the story (an explosion and fire), it brings together a collection of villains intent on the destruction of SH. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but after completing the collection I wondered how this SPECTRE-like association began. It made for good reading, nonetheless.
The quality of writing is very high, as it has been in all of Mr. Thomas’ books so far. In this book, I felt fewer of the moments when a phrase or mannerism grated on my sense of Holmes and Watson. But, the author traded small issues for larger ones. The title tale is one such; cleverly written, but very bold. Another has Holmes operating as a one man code-breaking organization (ok, Watson does lend his assistance.)
Now, it is true that Holmes has broken codes (cryptograms, too) in the “official canon” (one thinks immediately of “The Dancing Men”), but those were ciphers created by individuals or criminal organizations, not the intelligence arm of a foreign government! It is an engaging tale, to be sure. There is an excellent mix of detection mixed in with the code-breaking and there may have been some historical fact (other than the names and types of British warships prior to WWI) used, but that I cannot judge. Does this strain the credulity of even the most ardent Holmes fan? I thought it was reaching a bit.
The remainder of the stories is a decent group of tales spanning a man falsely accused of murder in a small village, the early 20th century fascination with “spiritualism”, “mesmerism” and “phantasms”, and the coronation (a year after his mother’s death) of Edward VII. Each is a fairly well-constructed tale (the murder accusation being perhaps the weakest in the group) and holds the reader’s attention. The final one brings back a character (discussed, but never met) from the first story, which is the foil against whom Holmes judges himself.
In this last tale, the villain is stuck on a railway bridge, over the Thames, cut off on one end by Lestrade and a group of policemen. On the other side, Holmes and Watson are advancing as the man fires off his last shots – the final one being aimed at Holmes over a short distance. Now, this is what I object to: rather than both firing simultaneously like in some many other tales (think Peter Gunn, or a western, or film noir), Holmes fires only after further approaching the man. Now is that sporting or what? It most certainly isn’t cricket!
I think it diminishes Holmes, making him feel smaller and pettier than he should. True, he had stated throughout the story that this was to be a duel from which only man would survive, infuriating his brother Mycroft and Lestrade along the way, but it still feels wrong. Holmes is not the wild gunslinger who we expect to shoot first (or an unarmed man). Not that shooting first is a bad thing; I am one who strongly objects to George Lucas re-writing the original Star Wars film so that Han Solo does not fire first in the bar.
Overall, I think this collection of stories worked best for me (so far). There is plenty of good plotting, detection, and characterization throughout the author’s expansion of the adventures of Holmes and Watson. I would not have a fan miss any of them. Read and enjoy.
On a side note, I an many others are so picky about the Holmes stories that at times we may lose sight of the great pleasure they bring us. For true fans any tale of the Great Detective is satisfying because it gets us another "fix". The irony of course is that Conan Doyle wrote his Holmes tales quickly and they are rife with errors and contradictions and yet these are the "gold standard". One should have pity on the author who dares take up the pen (word-processor?) to follow in his footsteps. Instead, we judge more harshly because they are not Conan Doyle. I suspect I am as guilty as anyone else in this regard. That's it for the mea culpas.
To be sure the opening tale, “The Execution of Sherlock Holmes” is very different and dark. We get Holmes’ tale as it occurs to him; Watson adding in a “framing story” of how he acted during this time and how Holmes related his part to him. While the author may have woven a nugget of historical fact into the story (an explosion and fire), it brings together a collection of villains intent on the destruction of SH. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but after completing the collection I wondered how this SPECTRE-like association began. It made for good reading, nonetheless.
The quality of writing is very high, as it has been in all of Mr. Thomas’ books so far. In this book, I felt fewer of the moments when a phrase or mannerism grated on my sense of Holmes and Watson. But, the author traded small issues for larger ones. The title tale is one such; cleverly written, but very bold. Another has Holmes operating as a one man code-breaking organization (ok, Watson does lend his assistance.)
Now, it is true that Holmes has broken codes (cryptograms, too) in the “official canon” (one thinks immediately of “The Dancing Men”), but those were ciphers created by individuals or criminal organizations, not the intelligence arm of a foreign government! It is an engaging tale, to be sure. There is an excellent mix of detection mixed in with the code-breaking and there may have been some historical fact (other than the names and types of British warships prior to WWI) used, but that I cannot judge. Does this strain the credulity of even the most ardent Holmes fan? I thought it was reaching a bit.
The remainder of the stories is a decent group of tales spanning a man falsely accused of murder in a small village, the early 20th century fascination with “spiritualism”, “mesmerism” and “phantasms”, and the coronation (a year after his mother’s death) of Edward VII. Each is a fairly well-constructed tale (the murder accusation being perhaps the weakest in the group) and holds the reader’s attention. The final one brings back a character (discussed, but never met) from the first story, which is the foil against whom Holmes judges himself.
In this last tale, the villain is stuck on a railway bridge, over the Thames, cut off on one end by Lestrade and a group of policemen. On the other side, Holmes and Watson are advancing as the man fires off his last shots – the final one being aimed at Holmes over a short distance. Now, this is what I object to: rather than both firing simultaneously like in some many other tales (think Peter Gunn, or a western, or film noir), Holmes fires only after further approaching the man. Now is that sporting or what? It most certainly isn’t cricket!
I think it diminishes Holmes, making him feel smaller and pettier than he should. True, he had stated throughout the story that this was to be a duel from which only man would survive, infuriating his brother Mycroft and Lestrade along the way, but it still feels wrong. Holmes is not the wild gunslinger who we expect to shoot first (or an unarmed man). Not that shooting first is a bad thing; I am one who strongly objects to George Lucas re-writing the original Star Wars film so that Han Solo does not fire first in the bar.
Overall, I think this collection of stories worked best for me (so far). There is plenty of good plotting, detection, and characterization throughout the author’s expansion of the adventures of Holmes and Watson. I would not have a fan miss any of them. Read and enjoy.
October 9, 2013
This collection includes five stories, the first one being the title story of the book. Sherlock Holmes is captured by his enemies and tied up in a dingy old cellar. A ‘trial’ takes place, which is clearly not very fair, before his execution. As odds are stacked up against Sherlock, he has only his brain and quick thinking to depend upon. “The Case of the Greek Key” deals with a German code that must be cracked to preserve military secrets. Once again, the wheels in Sherlock’s mind spins faster than anyone to get the job done. In “The Case of the Peasenhall Murder”, Sherlock undertakes the task of clearing the name of a maid who he believes is not guilty. In “The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid” Sherlock uncovers a murder plan. In “The Queen of The Night” Sherlock is up against Moriarty while trying to stop the plan to steal the crown jewels.
Having read one of Donald Thomas’s books before, I thought that I was ready for what was to come in this book. The one thing that had kept nagging while reading Sherlock Holmes & the Ghosts of Bly was the dynamics between Sherlock and Watson. I was hoping it would be different in this one and well it was – because Watson was hardly featured in this one! He featured only in one of the stories where his medical expertise was required, other than that it was a bummer! On the other hand, Donald Thomas manages to maintain the vision of Sherlock as a brainiac pretty well. On the other hand I also have to admit that I feel that he does have a very effective way of narrating his stories. They are detailed and descriptive and makes for an interesting read. The plots are mostly well rounded and action packed.
Overall, I guess that as far as detective stories go, these are good. However, Sherlock and Watson being the lead – I guess expectations run really high and in that case some maybe disappointed. Read it without expectations and with an open mind – you will like them.
Having read one of Donald Thomas’s books before, I thought that I was ready for what was to come in this book. The one thing that had kept nagging while reading Sherlock Holmes & the Ghosts of Bly was the dynamics between Sherlock and Watson. I was hoping it would be different in this one and well it was – because Watson was hardly featured in this one! He featured only in one of the stories where his medical expertise was required, other than that it was a bummer! On the other hand, Donald Thomas manages to maintain the vision of Sherlock as a brainiac pretty well. On the other hand I also have to admit that I feel that he does have a very effective way of narrating his stories. They are detailed and descriptive and makes for an interesting read. The plots are mostly well rounded and action packed.
Overall, I guess that as far as detective stories go, these are good. However, Sherlock and Watson being the lead – I guess expectations run really high and in that case some maybe disappointed. Read it without expectations and with an open mind – you will like them.
June 2, 2013
The book starts off where "The Game of Shadows" was left off i.e. in the mold of more of a action adventure rather than being a mystery. Author himself gets entangled in trying to create the mystery(e.g. Linear code B)and hence, just has to conclude Holmes solved it. Few things make no sense at all( Execution of Holmes - no arrests at all) Miss the basic traits of Sherlock - Watson chemistry.(Instead of being Holmes, you will see many instances, Watson refers to him as Sherlock Holmes)Tries to get into details which irrelevant to the situation and at times looks lost. Sorely lacking in a build up, the writer instead focuses on the approach to solve crime like any other detective would do.Ideas are nice but shouldn't have used them on Holmes. My advice - forget you are reading Sherlock and you might enjoy, however, not one for the purists.
July 14, 2013
A mediocre pastiche at best. Stories are uneven, maybe 2 are interesting, the rest are flat at best, tedious at worst.
Plenty of canonical name-dropping, and the author has obviously done a lot of Victorian research, but he is actually fairly poor at his reproduction of Doyle's characters. Mycroft Holmes, in particular, stops being a brilliant, but lethargic, counterpoint to Sherlock, and instead became a tiresome, not too bright older brother more concerned with his status than anything else.
A book to be avoided.
Plenty of canonical name-dropping, and the author has obviously done a lot of Victorian research, but he is actually fairly poor at his reproduction of Doyle's characters. Mycroft Holmes, in particular, stops being a brilliant, but lethargic, counterpoint to Sherlock, and instead became a tiresome, not too bright older brother more concerned with his status than anything else.
A book to be avoided.
August 27, 2008
A fun but forgettable collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. They were slightly longer than I would have liked, five stories in a book of 350 pages, and Watson's voice didn't ring entirely true to me--maybe his upper lip wasn't stiff enough in his descriptions of certain characters? Also, Mycroft comes across as very irritating and not very smart. I always thought he was supposed to be even more brilliant than Sherlock, but exceptionally lazy.
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June 9, 2016For people who will insist on having more of their hero, this collection of Sherlock Holmes stories is not bad. I personally think it sad that readers can't accept the original and so support this fan fiction.
July 3, 2015
Great audio for car ride. Five short stories written in the style of the Sherlock Holmes stories. They were sufficiently mysterious to keep my attention but still allow safe driving.
August 1, 2008
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
As someone who for a long time now has been dedicated to the newest of the new in the contemporary arts, I of course have a low tolerance for so-called "comfort food" projects; that is, the act of revisiting a set of fictional characters or a certain fictional milieu over and over again, not because the milieu is necessarily good but merely for the warm, cozy sense of the familiar such an activity provides. After all, it's this exact compulsion that inspires the lowest and crappiest forms of the arts altogether: the endless soap operas, the endless cop and lawyer and doctor television shows, the endless mystery novels all featuring a quirky detective protagonist. But that said, I confess that I too fall prey to this pleasant sense of the familiar sometimes, that happy sense of the known and understood that comes to eventually supersede whether or not any particular project is any good, the artistic equivalent of sleeping every night in a favorite t-shirt despite it being old and ratty and a little smelly.
One such comfort-food subject for me, for example, is that of Sherlock Holmes, that delightfully sociopathic private detective of Victorian-Age London, the invention of doctor-turned-author Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1800s, a character who ended up being featured in a total of four of Doyle's novels and 56 of his stories. After all, even since a child I have always deeply connected with Holmes, and have always empathized with the tortured situation he found himself in; a brilliant rationalist with a barely disguised contempt for humanity, he was much too smart to be a cop and much too arrogant to be a politician, instead adopting the freelancer's life and collecting massive amounts of knowledge just to satisfy his own intellectual curiosity, forced into heavy opium use during down-times of his life just to get his brain to slow down a little. Add to this, then, that Doyle's Holmes stories were one of the first projects of my childhood to introduce me to Victorian-Era England, a time in both history and the arts I have come to have a deep love for as a middle-aged adult; perhaps, then, you can see why the mere idea of Sherlock Holmes produces a certain sense of happiness and contentment in me, the mere thought of sitting down and reading yet another one of his adventures.
And of course, I'm far from alone in this yearning over this exquisitely complex character; in fact, you could argue that the 125-year-old Holmes is more popular than ever with mainstream society these days, with for example not just one but two competing new movie deals recently being announced by competing Hollywood studios, one of them being directed by no less than gonzo-action veteran Guy Ritchie. And a big part of this, frankly, can be attributed to the fact that the copyright on Sherlock Holmes expired awhile ago; it means that for several decades now, pretty much anyone who wants to can legally sit down, write and publish their own story featuring the detective, which of course has led to hundreds and hundreds of new projects coming out over those decades. (This is in fact one of the biggest arguments over why copyrights need to be held down to a decent but not infinite duration, just long enough to benefit that artist and their immediate family; when you allow corporations to own the creative rights of certain characters and stories into perpetuity, society never gets a chance to expand and build on these characters and stories. And that's an integral part of the arts, is the chance to grow and add to the things that have come before, something that is getting profoundly tampered with these days through the exact Disney-led effort to get copyrights lengthened into perpetuity.)
And thus do we come to The Execution of Sherlock Holmes, by a veteran genre author named Donald Thomas who has actually cranked out a number of other books in the past of Holmesian adventures; this latest is a collection of five long stories, ones that in true Doyle style slyly reference many of the others Thomas has written already. In fact, this the sort of the main point I wanted to bring up about these stories and this book; that it was so successful in my eyes precisely because it is so Doylesian in its spot-on mimicry, very much as if Thomas wanted these to be mistaken literally for old Doyle stories that just happened to have never gotten published, ones that had maybe gotten discovered recently in some trunk in some British attic and were just now getting released to the public for the first time. And this of course is why I've been talking about the concept of certain artistic projects being enjoyed for the same reason as comfort food, because that is exactly what this book is; it's a book for people who are already slobbering fans of Sherlock Holmes, people who can get a smile on their face just thinking of smoking jackets and bubbling glass vials, people who don't want their beloved detective screwed around with by snotty postmodern revisionists, but rather an exact and faithful reproduction delivered with each and every new product.
Is it wrong to occasionally delve into the world of comfort arts, to have a certain part of such a thing in our lives? Not really, in my opinion, but with the operative word being "occasional;" let's not forget that such projects are mostly filler when it comes to an intelligent person's life, the equivalent of a potato you eat during dinner for no other reason than to help fill your belly. Thomas' book is extremely well-done for what it is, with him even using the five stories as an excuse to take on five different archetypical "types" of Holmesian tales (a daring escape; a job for the royal family; a case in the rural boonies; a story about war; and a showdown with a master nemesis); but let's face facts, that it is no better and no worse than the couple thousand other well-done Holmesian tales that have now been published over the last century, something merely to have some short-time fun reading while at an airport or the beach and then to forget again. The book itself comes recommended to all my fellow "Baker Street Irregulars;" I just urge all of you as well to keep track of how much of this kind of stuff you take in altogether in your life, and to make sure it's balanced by unique and challenging projects too.
Out of 10: 8.5
As someone who for a long time now has been dedicated to the newest of the new in the contemporary arts, I of course have a low tolerance for so-called "comfort food" projects; that is, the act of revisiting a set of fictional characters or a certain fictional milieu over and over again, not because the milieu is necessarily good but merely for the warm, cozy sense of the familiar such an activity provides. After all, it's this exact compulsion that inspires the lowest and crappiest forms of the arts altogether: the endless soap operas, the endless cop and lawyer and doctor television shows, the endless mystery novels all featuring a quirky detective protagonist. But that said, I confess that I too fall prey to this pleasant sense of the familiar sometimes, that happy sense of the known and understood that comes to eventually supersede whether or not any particular project is any good, the artistic equivalent of sleeping every night in a favorite t-shirt despite it being old and ratty and a little smelly.
One such comfort-food subject for me, for example, is that of Sherlock Holmes, that delightfully sociopathic private detective of Victorian-Age London, the invention of doctor-turned-author Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1800s, a character who ended up being featured in a total of four of Doyle's novels and 56 of his stories. After all, even since a child I have always deeply connected with Holmes, and have always empathized with the tortured situation he found himself in; a brilliant rationalist with a barely disguised contempt for humanity, he was much too smart to be a cop and much too arrogant to be a politician, instead adopting the freelancer's life and collecting massive amounts of knowledge just to satisfy his own intellectual curiosity, forced into heavy opium use during down-times of his life just to get his brain to slow down a little. Add to this, then, that Doyle's Holmes stories were one of the first projects of my childhood to introduce me to Victorian-Era England, a time in both history and the arts I have come to have a deep love for as a middle-aged adult; perhaps, then, you can see why the mere idea of Sherlock Holmes produces a certain sense of happiness and contentment in me, the mere thought of sitting down and reading yet another one of his adventures.
And of course, I'm far from alone in this yearning over this exquisitely complex character; in fact, you could argue that the 125-year-old Holmes is more popular than ever with mainstream society these days, with for example not just one but two competing new movie deals recently being announced by competing Hollywood studios, one of them being directed by no less than gonzo-action veteran Guy Ritchie. And a big part of this, frankly, can be attributed to the fact that the copyright on Sherlock Holmes expired awhile ago; it means that for several decades now, pretty much anyone who wants to can legally sit down, write and publish their own story featuring the detective, which of course has led to hundreds and hundreds of new projects coming out over those decades. (This is in fact one of the biggest arguments over why copyrights need to be held down to a decent but not infinite duration, just long enough to benefit that artist and their immediate family; when you allow corporations to own the creative rights of certain characters and stories into perpetuity, society never gets a chance to expand and build on these characters and stories. And that's an integral part of the arts, is the chance to grow and add to the things that have come before, something that is getting profoundly tampered with these days through the exact Disney-led effort to get copyrights lengthened into perpetuity.)
And thus do we come to The Execution of Sherlock Holmes, by a veteran genre author named Donald Thomas who has actually cranked out a number of other books in the past of Holmesian adventures; this latest is a collection of five long stories, ones that in true Doyle style slyly reference many of the others Thomas has written already. In fact, this the sort of the main point I wanted to bring up about these stories and this book; that it was so successful in my eyes precisely because it is so Doylesian in its spot-on mimicry, very much as if Thomas wanted these to be mistaken literally for old Doyle stories that just happened to have never gotten published, ones that had maybe gotten discovered recently in some trunk in some British attic and were just now getting released to the public for the first time. And this of course is why I've been talking about the concept of certain artistic projects being enjoyed for the same reason as comfort food, because that is exactly what this book is; it's a book for people who are already slobbering fans of Sherlock Holmes, people who can get a smile on their face just thinking of smoking jackets and bubbling glass vials, people who don't want their beloved detective screwed around with by snotty postmodern revisionists, but rather an exact and faithful reproduction delivered with each and every new product.
Is it wrong to occasionally delve into the world of comfort arts, to have a certain part of such a thing in our lives? Not really, in my opinion, but with the operative word being "occasional;" let's not forget that such projects are mostly filler when it comes to an intelligent person's life, the equivalent of a potato you eat during dinner for no other reason than to help fill your belly. Thomas' book is extremely well-done for what it is, with him even using the five stories as an excuse to take on five different archetypical "types" of Holmesian tales (a daring escape; a job for the royal family; a case in the rural boonies; a story about war; and a showdown with a master nemesis); but let's face facts, that it is no better and no worse than the couple thousand other well-done Holmesian tales that have now been published over the last century, something merely to have some short-time fun reading while at an airport or the beach and then to forget again. The book itself comes recommended to all my fellow "Baker Street Irregulars;" I just urge all of you as well to keep track of how much of this kind of stuff you take in altogether in your life, and to make sure it's balanced by unique and challenging projects too.
Out of 10: 8.5
February 12, 2024
This was well done and was overall an excellent imitation of the original style. I will have to re-read to get all the details - I was a bit tired but interested in getting to the end, and there were some points my brain didn’t really get and will have to revisit - by all this, I mean that I will very likely re-read these as I re-read the original stories by Conan Doyle. There are a few things that connect together here and there in the book, especially between the first and last stories. That was a nice touch.
May 7, 2018
Thomas is really the best of the "imitation" Doyles and, being a fan of the original, I've tried and not finished most of the rest in disgust. With one exception, the few I actually finished at best rated a "gentleman's C." (The exception is a series that does not attempt an imitation rather an altering the circumstances of Holmes' life, I've really enjoyed that one.)
March 15, 2024
Brilliant ! A must read. Only five tales in this book of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. The first one is a bit harrowing being the abduction, incarceration and attempted execution of Holmes. This is one of the best SH pastiche authors to date, worthy of Doyle's mantel, and is a great loss to the noble art of the wordsmith.
December 28, 2024
I've always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes' stories and was very excited to find this book. The author continues to tell the story in true Sherlock Holmes fashion, through the eyes of Dr. John Watson. The title also piqued my interest. Holmes executed? Unthinkable. I couldn't put it down! Wonderful stories, great storytelling. I see that it is #3 of a series which definitely makes me happy.
January 27, 2023
Five finely wrought tales of Sherlock Holmes. Enjoyed the read and description is true. I’m glad that there are more SH tales in the making. Clean.
Rereading as I forgot to rate (and enjoyed both times) but paid twice — guess that makes up for it.
Rereading as I forgot to rate (and enjoyed both times) but paid twice — guess that makes up for it.
March 24, 2024
The first story, "The Execution..." was the best. "The ...Peasenhall Murder" was so frustrating, in that Doyle would never have written such an elaborate plot and not have Holmes go after the murderer and address why those two "louts" would have perjured themselves to incriminate Gardiner.
June 16, 2017
One of the best Sherlock pastiches I've read in quite a while. No, it doesn't compare to the originals, but then what would? Nice read when you're feeling all Sherlocky.
November 12, 2017
Good read.
February 1, 2018
The tone of both Watson and Holmes is off to me. And there’s a tedious amount of exposition at times, but overall, I enjoyed this enough to try another of his books
December 28, 2018
Nice twist on Holmes stories
January 28, 2019
It is a nice, if not highly inspired, read for those of us who enjoy Sherlock Holmes' stories.
January 28, 2019
The best I've read! Good researching, excellent historical placement, good characterization. Lovely, overall. A good example of something done well, for love.
May 3, 2019
3.75 stars.
Yet again, great stuff!
Yet again, great stuff!
March 18, 2021
Disappointed. The language was good, but the storylines generally uninteresting. The camaraderie between Holmes and Watson was missing and Mycroft fared badly. Missed opportunity.
March 28, 2022
Cerebral, historically knowledgeable and completely lacking in the warmth and humor of Conan Doyle. I forced myself to finish.
March 14, 2023
It's ok when you're just jonesing for some Sherlock, but it's a bit on the boring side.
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