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Product Description
Product Description
This novel is an exciting fusion of a Sherlock Holmes mystery with the Ruritanian world of intrigue and skulduggery of Anthony Hope's novel The Prisoner of Zenda. Colonel Sapt of the Ruritanian Court journeys to England on a secret mission to save the country from anarchy. His mission is to engage the services of Rudolf Rassendyll once more to impersonate the King while the monarch recovers from a serious illness. But Rassendyll has mysteriously disappeared. In desperation, Sapt consults Sherlock Holmes who, with his faithful companion Watson, travels to the Kingdom of Ruritania in an effort to thwart the plans of the scheming Rupert of Hentzau in his bid for the throne. Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair is a wonderful blend of detective story and rousing adventure yarn.
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First Sentence
I have often reflected that of the many investigations carried out by my friend, the celebrated detective, Mr Sherlock Holmes, those which had the most dramatic openings often led on to even more dramatic conclusions. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I have often reflected that of the many investigations carried out by my friend, the celebrated detective, Mr Sherlock Holmes, those which had the most dramatic openings often led on to even more dramatic conclusions. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a fan of both the Sherlock Holmes stories and the Zenda stories of Anthony Hope. Therefore I was intrigued by the idea of an original story that brings the two together.
David Stuart Davies does a magnificent job with this short story. It inevitably reads more like a Holmes story but Hope's characters behave and act as they do in his own works.
My only criticism of this book lies in the fact that it takes no account of Hope's own sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda - Rupert of Hentzau. Anthony Hope wrote his own sequel to the events of his famous story and Davies' story takes no account of it and presents itself as the sequel to the original. The decidedly dark and sad ending of Hope's sequel is replaced with the upbeat and happy ending that modern readers tend to insist on. Such an ending was impossible at the time Hope wrote his originals but Davies, freed of such limitations, has been able to end the Zenda adventure on a high note.
I heartily recommend this book but readers should also make sure they read Hope's own sequel and appreciate how he envisaged the ending of the Zenda adventures.
David Stuart Davies does a magnificent job with this short story. It inevitably reads more like a Holmes story but Hope's characters behave and act as they do in his own works.
My only criticism of this book lies in the fact that it takes no account of Hope's own sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda - Rupert of Hentzau. Anthony Hope wrote his own sequel to the events of his famous story and Davies' story takes no account of it and presents itself as the sequel to the original. The decidedly dark and sad ending of Hope's sequel is replaced with the upbeat and happy ending that modern readers tend to insist on. Such an ending was impossible at the time Hope wrote his originals but Davies, freed of such limitations, has been able to end the Zenda adventure on a high note.
I heartily recommend this book but readers should also make sure they read Hope's own sequel and appreciate how he envisaged the ending of the Zenda adventures.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read "Dancing In The Moonlight" by David Stuart Davies, and enjoyed it thoroughly, I felt quite comfortable purchasing several of his Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
This book starts out with all the promise of a really good Holmes & Watson tale; Foreign diplomats, spies, murder, kidnapping and International terrorism!
Sadly as the tale progresses the main plot is pretty transparent from chapter six onwards and this is where I started to note some serious inconsistencies with Holmes character. Blindly blundering into obvious traps (and it not being intentional in order to uncover who is behind them) being my main bone of contention, coupled with a very loose structure that left me feeling that it was more luck than logic that got this case resolved.
The character of Watson is consistent and in character and there is plenty of action, the pace being quite fast. It was also nice to see the internal power struggle that blighted Ruritanian and its escalation.
Having guessed the conclusion pretty early on, I struggled to finish this book.
This book starts out with all the promise of a really good Holmes & Watson tale; Foreign diplomats, spies, murder, kidnapping and International terrorism!
Sadly as the tale progresses the main plot is pretty transparent from chapter six onwards and this is where I started to note some serious inconsistencies with Holmes character. Blindly blundering into obvious traps (and it not being intentional in order to uncover who is behind them) being my main bone of contention, coupled with a very loose structure that left me feeling that it was more luck than logic that got this case resolved.
The character of Watson is consistent and in character and there is plenty of action, the pace being quite fast. It was also nice to see the internal power struggle that blighted Ruritanian and its escalation.
Having guessed the conclusion pretty early on, I struggled to finish this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read multiple Sherlock Holmes stories of Davies before and being a fan of the Holmes stories in general, this book greatly disappointed me. As stated before, the plot was rather flimsy, and there was no real baffling detection Holmes-style at all. Watson seems to be the most in-character but is mainly concerned with food, which made me think a lot about Nigel Bruce's version of Watson. Mycroft seems to be added just because the author likes him and has no real purpose. The story is rather poor as a Holmes detective novel and I recommend trying other Holmes-fiction books before your addiction drives you to this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Return To Zenda!
A REVIEW OF `SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE HENZAU AFFAIR' by DAVID STUART DAVIES
`Sherlock Holmes & The Henzau Affair' is an intriguing novel to both read and review. Read more
`Sherlock Holmes & The Henzau Affair' is an intriguing novel to both read and review. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Barty Literati
Thoroughly Enjoyable
If the speed in which you can read a book is any kind of reccomendation, then the fact that I read this in one evening whilst waiting for the Superbowl to kick off is indeed... Read more
Published 15 months ago by IWFIcon
Sherlock Holmes
I became a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories after finding the complete works audiobook on the cover disk of a computer magazine. Read more
Published 16 months ago by J. Livsey
Sherlock Meets Hentzau
Take Sherlock Holmes and the Prisoner of Zender, mix liberally and hey presto - a grand adventure in old Europe. Read more
Published 23 months ago by M. G. Chisholm
Clumsiness in Ruritania
Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) I have been a keen fan of both Ruritania and Sherlock Holmes since I was a teenager, and here were all... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2009 by Mr M G Dunstall
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