Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes by George Mann (Editor)
| Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes by George Mann (Editor) | |
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| Category: Short Stories | |
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Reviewer: Louise Jones
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| Summary: Twelve brand-new Holmes adventures for fans to greedily devour. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 352 | Date: February 2014 |
| Publisher: Titan Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781781160046 | |
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Hot on the heels of Encounters of Sherlock Holmes comes another collection of brand-new tales written by some of the brightest creative minds from the genres of science fiction and crime. In this anthology, Holmes and Watson are pitched headlong into twelve different mysterious scenarios and invited to unravel secrets and unmask villains as only they know how. During their adventures they come face to face with a mountain monster, take a murderous boat trip, meet Moriarty’s siblings and even indulge in a little space travel. The game is afoot!
As with any collection of this type, the reader will find certain stories and authors more appealing than others. This was certainly true in my case. I preferred the stories that stuck to the original formula, with a good meaty mystery, neatly debunked by Holmes at the conclusion of the narrative. My favourite story, the dramatically titled The Snowtorn Terror ticked all of the boxes for me in this regard and could have been penned by Conan-Doyle himself. The Adventure of the Professor’s Bequest and The Case of the Devil’s Door were also notable for the same reason, although unfortunately, fans of the TV series Sherlock will likely solve the mystery presented in the latter, especially if I mention the fact that it is set in Leinster Gardens...
Not all of the stories were as enjoyable to read though. The Adventure of the Decadent Headmaster and The Sleep of Reason suffered from overly-complex plotlines which left me scratching my head in confusion after reading. I doubt if even Holmes himself would have made much sense of the narrative, with some of the weirder plot elements involving fortune-telling robots, astral projection and body-swapping. Some of the stories contained a supernatural explanation in the denouement, which I found particularly disappointing. It was a bit like watching an episode of Scooby Doo and finding out that the ghost was indeed a real ghost (and not the vengeful janitor in fancy dress).
Despite this, I enjoyed my recent dalliance with Holmes and Watson and hope to have plenty more Encounters with them in the near future.
For another sideways look at the Holmes character, try Shadowfall: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes by Tracy Revels a faced-paced thriller featuring a half-human Holmes.
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