Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery (Sherlock Holmes Mysteries (Penguin)) [Mass Market Paperback]

First of all, this is NOT a Sherlock Holmes mystery. You can approach it in any way you like, but it will never be a Sherlock Holmes mystery. It is simply a mystery with Sherlock Holmes in it. And this Sherlock Holmes is certainly not the one I know. He is constantly and repeatedly surprised by evidence and information supplied to him by one Shadwell Rafferty, and Irish-American with an annoying habit of saying "'tis" and "'twould" in every sentence possible. Let me repeat that: Sherlock Holmes is SURPRISED. He is effectly put off his guard. As many Sherlock fans will note, this is a virtual impossibility. Sherlock Holmes is always ready for everything, and, more importantly, always suspects everything. He is never surprised. I immediately began to re-evaluate this story when I had found this out and here's what I decided:

This book is a mystery, and a rather good one at that. But you should not buy it if you are looking for Sherlock Holmes. Not only is the great detective fairly scarce throughout the book but he is greviously mis-represented. It is even suggested that he is in love! The absurdity is truly odd. However, if you give Sherlock Holmes any other name -- say, Terrance Jones, or John Smith, or Timothy Hillington, or just about any other name on the face of the Earth -- the mystery becomes quite interesting, sinister and highly entertaining.

Whether Larry Millett is using Sherlock Holmes's name to sell books, or whether he truly believes this book is a good representation of the detective, only Millett himself can say. But, from what I have read, Millett is devestatingly unfamiliar with Holmes's character, methods, and incredible genious, making this book less than so-so for Sherlock fans.

Also, although after a few chapters I was used to Minnesota being mentioned so often, at the beginning of reading this book, I chuckled to myself every time Millett wrote "Minnesota," "St. Paul," "Minneapolis," or "Fargo-Moorhead" which rather deteriorated the sinister feel of the mystery.

For those of you who are just looking for a good mystery, are unfamiliar with Sherlock Holmes, or are willing to disregard the fact that the English detective protrayed in this book is supposed to be Sherlock Holmes, than this book may be the one for it. It is very well written and quite interesting and deserves at least some merit for that...

First of all, let's be clear. Millett can call his main character Sherlock Holmes just as I can call myself the King of France, but saying, or writing, it doesn't make it so. Instead, we have some English imposter who doesn't even have the courage to use the Holmes name most of the time, let alone the Holmes intellect or his flair for observation and deduction. Millett would have been better off to have centered the novel around his own detective creation, Shadwell Rafferty, at least he seems to be who he says he is. Better yet, he should have built the book around his only interesting character, (alleged) villainous, Mary Comstock.

This is a story built, according to its narrator, the Pseudo-Dr. Watson, on coincidences. We all know what coincidences are. They are the last refuge of hack writers. If you don't know how to resolve a problem, have the solution fall conveniently into someone's lap. It's a lot easier than being creative.

Then there is the location of the book. We are asked to believe that Holmes would travel all the way to Minnesota by boat and train on some trivial mission for the King of Sweden. Since the King already has an agent there, this seems far-fetched. Now, I have nothing against stories set in Minnesota being a fan of John Sandford's Prey novels, but this is the third time that Millett has had Holmes make that trek. It just isn't reasonable to believe that Sherlock couldn't find something better to do in London, or Paris, or even beautiful downtown Burbank.

If you are a Holmes fan, I suggest curling up with Conan Doyle or Nicholas Meyer, or, better yet, one of Laurie King's Mary Russell novels. Just don't waste your time with this bit of fluff.