A Believeable View of The Woman

Except for the novels of Carole Nelson Douglas, I have always cringed at books and movies involving Irene Adler.

Now comes another exception.

The Detective and The Woman by Amy Thomas is a well-written, sometimes moving novel that takes place during The Great Hiatus, when most of the world believed Holmes to be dead. Thomas posits that at the beginning of that three-year period he was actually in Ft. Myers, Florida, at brother Mycroft's behest.

His mission is to protect Irene Adler, recently widowed by the untimely death of Godfrey Norton -- untimely because he was a brute whose earlier death would have been a boon to Irene.

Holmes and Irene are drawn into a social circle that includes Thomas Edison and his family, as well as a number of other historical figures who were in Ft. Meyers at that time.

That's interesting, and so is the plot, but the most engaging aspect of the work is the relationship between the detective and the woman. Their mutual admiration and respect deepens into a friendship and trust that even withstands a kind of betrayal by Holmes. Related from Irene's first-person point of view alternating with Holmes's perspective in the third person, this development is both convincing and touching.

And the last couple of chapters of the novel, after the main action of the story has concluded, will stay with me a long time.

Not Just for Dummies by a Long Shot

Don't let the title fool you. Sherlock Holmes for Dummies has something to offer everyone, whether you are a Sherlockian newbie or Baker Street Irregular.

Of course, it's a great introduction for your friend who has never cracked open a canonical caper. Authors Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder provide all the appropriate introductory stuff, from a survey of "villains, victims and damsels in distress" to a discussion of pastiches to a primer on the communities of Sherlockians.

In typical Dummies fashion, the book also has a fine set of "tens" -- ten unsolved mysteries, ten Sherlockian places to visit, ten books every Sherlockian should have, and ten notable quotes and passages.

Even as a 50-year Sherlock Holmes reader I picked up lots of nuggets of information. The biggest new insight for me, however, was how much different the later stories were in tone. I'd never noticed that before.

"In addition to great stories about Sherlock Holmes," Doyle and Crowder write, "the later stories have increased violence and more mature themes, and some are even hard-boiled detective tales, all showing that Sherlock Holmes changed with the times."

So did Watson! Here's the opening of "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs:"

It may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It cost one man his reason, it cost me a blood-letting, and it cost yet another man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly an element of comedy. Well, you shall judge for yourselves.

That almost sounds like the Continental Op, Race Williams, or any of the early tough-guy sleuths. And I don't feel like a dummy for not noticing it before.

Tales of Mystery and Horror

Like Arthur Conan Doyle, David Ruffle writes both mysteries and tales of the supernatural -- and sometimes both in one yarn. And with him, good things come in small packages.

Ruffle has written two books of short stories and edited a third. Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror and Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Legacy both take their name from a novelette or short novel that begins the collection.

Thse title pieces are, of course, pastiches. They are well done and demonstrate and Ruffle's solid mastery of the source material. He captures and feel and the language of the original very well, while carrying forward a Watsonian love story of his own invention. My only problem was with the punctuation, which is rather comma-deprived.

One of the shorter pieces, "The Mystery of Loch Ness" in Horror, contains a priceless piece of dialogue that gets the Holmesian sarcasm just right:

"Holmes," I said. "I know what you are thinking."
"How novel. Pray, continue."

The shorter stories, some only three or four pages long and most of them invoking the supernatural, are my favorites. "Forever 1895" in Horror is delightful and "The End of Things" in Legacy is moving. Both involve Holmes and Watson, as do other supernatural tales and several humorous sketches.

The stories, particularly in the new book (Legacy), that do not involve our favorite detective duo tend more toward being horror stories. They are appropriately horrifying. I think A.C.D. would have enjoyed them all.

Holmes and Watson at the Easter Rising

Kieren McMullen has described his new novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Irish Rebels, as a boys' adventure story. That it is, and a good one. But I can't help but think that female Sherlockians -- especially Irish lasses -- might enjoy it as well.

Part of the appeal of the book to me is the time frame. The post-1914 adventures of Holmes and the faithful Watson have always been a source of enjoyable speculation to me, and this tale concerns the events leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916.

Mycroft Holmes has enlisted his younger and more energetic brother, still in the guise of the Irish-American Altamont, to infiltrate the Irish Volunteers, find out their plans, and -- if possible -- stop the looming rebellion.

The great detective calls in Watson, who is back in military harness at Lt. Col. John Watson, RAMC, but going by the name of Dr. Thomas Ryan. They reconstruct the Baker Street menage as they board in Dublin with a certain Mrs. McGuffey, who turns to be Mrs. Hudson using her maiden name.

Although this is primarily an adventure and war story, there is also an appropriately criminous subplot that Holmes manages to uncover even amid the fog of approaching war.

The fact that we know what is going to happen on Easter 1916 while the characters do not know the future makes the story more suspenseful rather than less so. And it gets increasingly exciting as our heroes approach their rendezvous with history.

The author of Watson's Afghan Adventure and a serious student of Irish history, McMullen has filled his book with real people and historically accurate incidents. It's as if Holmes and his troupe had stepped into history, much like Zelig in the Woody Allen film of that title. And we all know that anything can be made just a little better with Holmes & Co. as part of it!