The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part XVI

Apart from the interesting 'Forewords', including one from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the book contains sixteen pastiches. All of them were readable. In my opinion, topmost among them were~1. Derrick Belanger's "The Wylington Lake Monster";2. Andrew Bryant's "The Blue Lady of Dunraven";3. I.A. Watson's "The Adventure of the Giant's Wife";4. Tim Gambrell's "The Haunting of Bottomly's Grandmother";5. Shane Simmons's "The Adventure of the Intrusive Spirit";6. Jayantika Ganguly's "The Adventure of the Obsessive Guest".Not all the author's stuck to the same formula where Holmes destroys some supposedly supernatural curse or haunting by providing a rational solution and also catching hold of the perpetrator. Also, the stories went beyond Victorian Scooby-doo premises by unearthing subtle layers.Overall, this collection is whole-heartedly recommended to lovers of traditional pastiches.

Good read. Very much in the style of the Canon. Good plots, interesting!

I’ve read all the max books so far up to this one. Most I’ve felt were pretty good. Not a huge fan of the poems-but that’s a personal preference. However, this book went farther afield from Doyle than any I’ve read so far. For instance, I don’t like reading Sherlock books where Sherlock trusts women. Follow the character established. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but don’t make him respectful or even consider women his intellectual equal (except Adler) Although most have been readable, a few I really enjoyed like Barcomb Keep. But 2 so far we’re too far off Doyle-in storyline and/or writing that it made me sorely disappointed in this book. One was The blue Lady. Which felt the need to take a repeated stance of servants vs. titled. I think most agree servanthood during those times were anything but fair-for it to be reiterated in multiple ways was not Doyle’s way of writing. Another was Marcum -Regressive Man. Marcum reference to the Confederate United States was not in character with Doyle. Not only the writing style, but the opinion of the confederacy (which I think most agree had some very negative viewpoints). Reading Sherlock books-I don’t like every character he presents, nor opinion he has. But if I’m reading Sherlock Holmes, I want it as close to Doyle’s Sherlock as possible, hence the whole reading Sherlock . I don’t read other ones-like supposed daughter or supernatural ones, nor other partners than Watson. I wish authors who wrote ‘new’ characters for Sherlock would just write new characters instead of using Sherlock to start their own fan base. Most who read Sherlockian books expect, you know, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes-not an authors personal interpretation of Sherlock. That being said, although I don’t enjoy books like ‘the daughter of Sherlock Holmes’ by goldberg, it doesn’t pretend to be a book about Sherlock or Dr.Watson.On to book XVII.

The tales continue…My thanks go out to Steve and Timi at MX Publishing for my copy of this book. Long may Sherlock Holmes and Undershaw House live and prosper!Volume XV of this amazing series contains sixteen short works of Sherlock Holmes fiction by some of the best writers it has ever been my pleasure to come to know. Hopefully, the few words I say about each story will whet the reader's appetite without spoiling the story. So onward to this selection of tantalizing tales!After the usual introductory essays, the book proper begins with a poem by Josh Pachter, using data from The Hound of the Baskervilles.• Derrick Balanger opens the book with “The Wylington Lake Monster.” Watson is asked by a friend to visit at Wylington Lake where he runs steamer tours. Then one of his neighbors is killed by a water creature called an “eachy.” You have a real winner here, Derrick! Excellent!• Mark Sonn is next, with “The Juju Men of Richmond.” Watson is consulted on a man who is apparently dead—yet he has a pulse and is breathing! The story is a complex mystery and I am not sure the ending is as good as the beginning. It starts off with a very clever trick, but the ending is rather dull.• Tracy Revels is up next with “The Adventure of the Headless Lady.” A woman seeks help to prevent a woman from murdering her husband, but the woman in question has been dead 600 years! A stirring accomplishment. Well done!• Kevin Thornton is next with “Angelus Domini Nuntiavit (The Angel of the Lord Declared.) A nun comes to Holmes concerned about her brother who seems under the spell of a lady companion. It grows on you.• Andrew Bryant is next with “The Blue Lady of Dunraven.” The Blue Lady seems to be the legendary ghost of Dunraven Castle. Not bad at all.• Josh Anderson and David Friend are next with “The Adventure of the Ghoulish Grenadier.” A man is haunted by his dead brother! It unfortunately is a bit predictable, but still good.• Brenda Seabrooke is up next with “The Curse of Barcombe Beach.” Two men in a row fall down a flight of stairs to their death and a third barely avoids it. An interesting investigation!• David Marcum is next with “The Affair of the Regressive Man.” A man living backwards in time? This is not your usual good work, David. Something about it does not work as a Holmes story sticking to canon.• IA Watson is next with “The Adventure of the Giant’s Wife.” Holmes is consulted on a suspected murder connected to the excavation of an ancient English barrow. I always love IA Watson’s research and footnotes.• Arthur Hall is up next with “The Adventure of Miss Anna Truegrace.” Watson brings Holmes a client who is a self-proclaimed “visionary” what would today be called a psychic. She says she has had visions of being murdered by her brother. So with Holmes’ views on the supernatural, what keeps him on this case? Not bad at all.• Tim Gambrell is next with “The Haunting of Bottomly’s Grandmother.” Constable Bottomly’s grandmother, something of a disreputable woman, has died and is now haunting her creditors! I do not think you will see this one coming! Terrific! Best in book as far as I am concerned!• Shane Simmons is up next with “The Adventure of the Intrusive Spirit.” A case about the ghost of a five-year-old girl, written by Wiggins, not Watson. The story is pretty good for one where Watson is not the author.• Bob Bishop is next with “The Paddington Poltergeist.” A friend of Mary Watson is haunted by a poltergeist. It is so-so.• Mark Mower is next with “The Spectral Pterosaur.” An Inspector Maddocks brings the case to 221B, where he dies. The story is iffy, but the mystery of the Inspector’s death is solid.• Kevin Jones is up next with “The Weird of Caxton.” The story deals with a family curse concerning a wolf. A little predictable, I thought.• Jayantika Ganguly ends the volume with “The Adventure of the Obsessive Ghost.” An old army friend of Watson’s, Captain Morgan, asks for help with a haunted estate in Scotland. It is OK.I find it absolutely awesome that this series has reached sixteen volumes with more in sight and no plans to stop! The stories in this volume ran the gambit from excellent to so-so to the ones I didn’t really like. But I cannot see giving these volumes anything less than four stars out of five.Quoth the Raven…

I've written this before, but if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan, you're going to love this MX series of books. Well written stories that keep with the tradition of the Canon, usually based on passing references by Watson in the original stories. Number XVI, about the middle of the series, is well worth the read, you won't be disappointed.

The stories generally are simply not up to the standard of previous SH stories I have read - and nowhere near as good as Conan Doyle's originals!

yet another good read-long may it continue