Sherlock Holmes: the American Years [Hardcover]

This is the third anthology of Sherlock Holmes tales edited by Mr. Kurland and it looks like his best collection yet. It consists of a Foreward by Leslie Klinger, an Introduction by the Editor and ten short novella-length tales by excellent authors, all written about reasonably plausible American adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Let me emphasize the `plausible' comment. In most of these tales, the explanation for Holmes's presence is made to be compelling and reasonable. The authors have tried to take care it should be so and the results are generally well done. In addition, not restricting the tales to short story length has given the authors `room' to develop their themes and situations more fully. I found these ten well-crafted tales more satisfying than would have been fifteen shorter and less well-structured tales.

"Inga Sigerson Weds," by Richard A. Lupoff tells us considerably more about the Holmes family than I really wanted to know. Nevertheless, the events force Sherlock to accompany his older sister, Elizabeth, to New York for the wedding of their only cousin. Mycroft comes up with a method of covering their transportation that allows them to avert an assassination attempt and to employ their unique talents. "My Silk Umbrella," by Darryl Block, is told as if written by Mark Twain about his first encounter with Sherlock.. It really does sound like Samuel Clemens and Sherlock performs his usual sleight-of-mind deductions and sees that justice is done, unfortunately, mostly at Clemens's expense. "The Old Senator," by Steve Hockensmith, is something of a surprise. We meet Holmes as William Escott, a member of Sasanoff's travelling Company, in a most unusual setting. The solution of the crime is `Elementary' but the long-term results are most notable.

"The American Adventure," by Gary Lovisi, teams Sherlock with Dr. Joseph Bell and introduces Sherlock both to Bell's methods and to real evil. Another old acquaintance of readers makes an initial appearance as well. "The Sacred White Elephant of Mandalay," by Michael Mallory, introduces Holmes and his travelling companion, `young Stamford,' to P. T. Barnum in a complicated tale of twisted revenge and High Politics. "The Curse of Edwin Booth," by Carol Buggé, finds Holmes again in an Acting Company, this time as bodyguard to Edwin Booth, the prominent actor and brother of John Wilkes Booth. At the end, Holmes leaves his acting aspirations to pursue a more fulfilling career. In "The Case of the Reluctant Assassin," by Peter Tremayne, Holmes visits an American cousin and becomes embroiled in Anglo-Irish politics with a vengance.

"Cutting for Sign," by Rhys Bowen, has Holmes caught up in a stage coach robbery and left for dead in the desert. Circumstances allow him to survive, to learn some lessons about observation and to retrieve his watch, quite a list of achievements in 1870s Arizona Territory. In "The English Senor," by Marta Randall, a young Sherlock and Mycroft flee an anti-British political upheaval in Mexico. Sherlock is sick and must be left to the mercy of locals, who teach him a few lessons and learn a few from him. "The Stagecoach Detective: A Tale of the Golden West," by Linda Robertson, has Holmes going through another stage coach robbery. This time he teams up with Robert Louis Stevenson to find the robber, recover the loot and expose the sad truth of the matter.

This is an enjoyable collection of strong stories. The presence of Historical characters adds versimilitude, rather than `flash.' In most cases they add to the interest in the story by bringing their own personalities and histories into the tales without overwhelming the narratives with their presences.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones; February, 2010

As often as I read anthologies, I very seldom find one in which I like all the stories. Especially if it involves Sherlock Holmes. I have to say that this book does just that. I enjoyed them all for plot, style and staying as true to Holmes as possible. There were a couple that strayed on the latter, especially "Inga Sigerson Weds" by Richard Lupoff, however it was still a good read. "My Silk Umbrella" by Darryl Brock was fun as we have Mark Twain and baseball involved. Also especially good is "The Stagecoach Detective" by Linda Robertson. "The English Senor" by Marta Randall was the least interesting as it strayed as far from the canon as did the first story by Lupoff. The best in my opinion was "The Old Senator" by Steve Hockensmith. Hockensmith showed not just a good understanding of the Sherlock Holmes canon, he also revealed an outstanding background on how the arts used Sherlock Holmes on stage. I don't want to be a spoiler, but if you can't make the connection while reading the story, then do some research on the net. I was only partially familiar with where the author was coming from and found an amazing amount of material by googling.

A vastly superior collection of Sherlock Holmes' pre-Watson days, during which he might have ventured beyond the Atlantic. Michael Kurland had provided us with superb stories in his two previous Sherlockian anthologies, and this one falls in the same rank. Most importantly, it is much better compared to Sherlock Holmes in America. Now, If only some one could have pursuaded Kurland to bring his highly enjoyable Moriarty series (The Infernal Device and Others: A Professor Moriarty Omnibus, The Great Game: A Professor Moriarty Novel, etc.) back in print...