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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
It is a long time since I have not read such an excellent collection of pastiches. I enjoyed every one of the seven stories (The plot of the first one being perhaps not level with the others).
The plots however are original and without much improbality. Dr Watson is at his best as a narrator and there are here and there, subtil allusions to the canon, other than some of Mr Nash notes.
It was a real pleasure reading this book. The last story was rather moving and sad. But who knows?
I'm waiting for some more of Mr Nash finds...
The plots however are original and without much improbality. Dr Watson is at his best as a narrator and there are here and there, subtil allusions to the canon, other than some of Mr Nash notes.
It was a real pleasure reading this book. The last story was rather moving and sad. But who knows?
I'm waiting for some more of Mr Nash finds...
Format:Hardcover
In this book there are seven new stories, stories apparently "discovered" recently which Watson considered too shocking for publication at the time. The events recorded in these stories range in date from 1882 to 1929. In them we meet: giants and dwarves, a silent valet, servants, masters, addicts and murderers. We discover the truth behind the death of Dorian Gray, (in my personal favourite) and through the eyes of his great friend Dr John Watson how Sherlock Holmes met his own end in 1929. I thought these stories, and the characters stayed pretty well true to the original, and I hope Conan Doyle would approve. Paul Nash has re-created the world of Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street perfectly, making this a must for Holmes lovers.
There are some unnecessary footnotes included - which I assume are supposed to make SH and Watson seem like true historical figures - which I didn't mind - but I am not convinced they added to the already excellent stories.
There are some unnecessary footnotes included - which I assume are supposed to make SH and Watson seem like true historical figures - which I didn't mind - but I am not convinced they added to the already excellent stories.
Format:Hardcover
"Dr. Paul W. Nash hereby asserts his rights as the moral author of this book."
Well, I should say he does. Not in this legally fluffy-sounding piece of additional copyright info, but by virtue of having successfully become the narrative voice of Dr. John Watson, acquired through talent or practice a recreation of the writing style of Sir Arthur-Conan Doyle, both in nuance and `in the spirit of', and by bringing back to the modern reader the career of Sherlock Holmes, not as a re-branding or retelling but stamping the authority and fun of the original tales back into the business.
There are seven stories in this small, neatly published collection, scattered in chronological order through the journalling of Dr. Watson, tucked away for `later publication', for reasons made clear at the start of each tale. The first, as others have noted, is the weakest, getting by, really, on the interest provoked in having a new Sherlock Holmes story to read at all, and by managing to be an ordinary, adequate Sherlock Holmes story. It has its moments of promise that stand out, less as highlights of the story and more as an assurance that the reader can trust that the author has the ability to `do' Holmes. The pair's temporary removal from London doesn't help launch us back into that world, for a start, which might have been a deliberate challenge on the part of Nash, but which fell a bit flat, if so.
The important thing is, though, that each story, even the weaker first, has its perfectly tuned atmosphere of the Victorian crime genre with a dash of novelty, of mystery, of brilliant deductive method, the type of case which would be brought to, and accepted by, Sherlock Holmes. `The Mystery of Dorian Grey' is the most obvious example, a sublime collision of literary titans rendered modestly and insightfully by Dr. Watson so as to blend nicely with the less eye-catching titles. The title story, `The Remains of Sherlock Holmes', is my favourite story, including a little - a very little - sentimentality at the end of Holmes' career with John Watson. `The Mystery of the Camden Rose' is the best in terms of plotting, to my mind, and I can forgive Dr. Watson, trained military gentleman, losing his revolver to an ape in `The Adventure of the Professor's Assistant' because, well, I admire bravery and Nash carried this bizarre story off with a certain panache.
[Extremely minor negative point: I wish Dr. Nash hadn't succumbed to the temptation to use the word `afoot'. In any capacity, but particularly because the phrasing `I knew then that something was afoot with Holmes' doesn't sound right anyway.]
The littering of footnotes and other recovered titles hint at further `lost' gems secreted away by Watson for the day they could be brought to light. I will read them, should they ever be made available to the public, because the Dr. Watson of Doyle and Nash are essentially the same character, and I am glad that, with all the updating and revisiting going on, someone has taken up the mantle of seeing Conan Doyle's creation outwit the criminals of that very particular London.
Well, I should say he does. Not in this legally fluffy-sounding piece of additional copyright info, but by virtue of having successfully become the narrative voice of Dr. John Watson, acquired through talent or practice a recreation of the writing style of Sir Arthur-Conan Doyle, both in nuance and `in the spirit of', and by bringing back to the modern reader the career of Sherlock Holmes, not as a re-branding or retelling but stamping the authority and fun of the original tales back into the business.
There are seven stories in this small, neatly published collection, scattered in chronological order through the journalling of Dr. Watson, tucked away for `later publication', for reasons made clear at the start of each tale. The first, as others have noted, is the weakest, getting by, really, on the interest provoked in having a new Sherlock Holmes story to read at all, and by managing to be an ordinary, adequate Sherlock Holmes story. It has its moments of promise that stand out, less as highlights of the story and more as an assurance that the reader can trust that the author has the ability to `do' Holmes. The pair's temporary removal from London doesn't help launch us back into that world, for a start, which might have been a deliberate challenge on the part of Nash, but which fell a bit flat, if so.
The important thing is, though, that each story, even the weaker first, has its perfectly tuned atmosphere of the Victorian crime genre with a dash of novelty, of mystery, of brilliant deductive method, the type of case which would be brought to, and accepted by, Sherlock Holmes. `The Mystery of Dorian Grey' is the most obvious example, a sublime collision of literary titans rendered modestly and insightfully by Dr. Watson so as to blend nicely with the less eye-catching titles. The title story, `The Remains of Sherlock Holmes', is my favourite story, including a little - a very little - sentimentality at the end of Holmes' career with John Watson. `The Mystery of the Camden Rose' is the best in terms of plotting, to my mind, and I can forgive Dr. Watson, trained military gentleman, losing his revolver to an ape in `The Adventure of the Professor's Assistant' because, well, I admire bravery and Nash carried this bizarre story off with a certain panache.
[Extremely minor negative point: I wish Dr. Nash hadn't succumbed to the temptation to use the word `afoot'. In any capacity, but particularly because the phrasing `I knew then that something was afoot with Holmes' doesn't sound right anyway.]
The littering of footnotes and other recovered titles hint at further `lost' gems secreted away by Watson for the day they could be brought to light. I will read them, should they ever be made available to the public, because the Dr. Watson of Doyle and Nash are essentially the same character, and I am glad that, with all the updating and revisiting going on, someone has taken up the mantle of seeing Conan Doyle's creation outwit the criminals of that very particular London.
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