Sherlock Holmes: Tales From the Stranger's Room [Kindle Edition]

This collection has something for everyone, and shows a clear admiration for these characters and their creator. A mix of poetry and prose, these pieces portray Holmes & his Boswell in an array of adventures and circumstances. Yet, glimpses of the Canon and its essence surface throughout. So if you're looking for something fun and different, this is it!

Have you ever dared to speculate on the other lives of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, their childhood, their later years, wives, loves or further adventures? These musings inspired a group of writers to create this collection of short stories and poems. Some follow the Canon style, others range into total fantasy. These short stories can be amusing, funny or melancholy, sad, or horrifying. They are all well written and quite individual in style.

Don't expect to read this collection straight through, non stop. Savor each, imagine Holmes and Watson in each work. Sit back and let each author introduce you to his particular image and fantasy.
It's elementary, it's a thoroughly enjoyable collection.

This is a collection of Sherlockian items that were originally published on the Internet. Some of them have been revised for this publication and some remain in their original forms. In contrast to the usual Sherlockian anthology, this book is an assembly of fragments. Each item is complete and entire, but they mostly catch moments, not stories. Some are complete mysteries, with villains to catch and investigations to be performed, but, mostly, they are visions of Holmes and Watson, along with Mrs. Hudson, Inspector Lestrade and the irregulars at particular moments. Some of these moments are quite important, but that is all they are, moments.

A number of these items center on Christmases, mostly those following Holmes' return from the Great Hiatus. In general, the entire collection celebrates the change of Holmes into a human being. His boyhood is suggested as lonely and neglected with Mycroft as his only real human contact. His association with Watson is depicted as the source of his growing humanity and these tales seem to capture the moments he sees other people as more than simply data to be integrated into his catalogue of human activities.

Many of the items are authored by the editor, David Ruffle. He confines himself, mostly, to short pieces and to the area of Puns. Two of his creations are presented, both of which easily merit inclusion in any collection of Sherlockian narrative puns, if such can ever be published. Poems are also included. These are strictly outside my areas of expertise, but I do concede that they definitely convey impressions of the individuals they portray.

This collection is definitely not a group of Sherlockian mysteries. Instead, it is a series of more than forty small peeks at Holmes, Watson and the standard Doyle dramatis personae that are not afforded by the Canon. It is possible that readers may dislike or consider some of the views to be silly. It is completely impossible that all readers will fail to find at least one view that strikes a chord within their mind that says, "of course! That was the real Holmes (or Watson)." Further, readers may encounter a few old friends along the way.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, February 2012