Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Humanizing Holmes

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

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Bingo 9 (Classics), and also in preparation for book club. I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever actually read a Sherlock Holmes story exactly as it was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I remember reading some Holmes mysteries when I was younger, but the more I think about it, I’m wondering if they weren’t abbreviated version, something like Great Illustrated Classics. I’ve certainly read variations of several sorts, as well as followed Sherlock, and seen a few of the movie versions. Hound of the […]

“You see, Watson, but you do not observe.”

House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

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CBR11bingo: Remix I recently had the good fortune to discover Anthony Horowitz, so my expectations were high when I picked up House of Silk, the author’s Sherlock Holmes mystery. I’ll get right to the point: He exceeded my expectations by a wide margin. The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle commissioned Horowitz to write a Sherlock Holmes novel, and their faith proves to be well placed. Horowitz so beautifully captures the voice of John Watson, who characteristically tells the tale, that the novel slides effortlessly into […]

“It would please him well enough to amount to no more in the end than a single great organ of detection, reaching into blankness for a clue.”

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

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Not what I was expecting! Actually, I’m not sure I was expecting anything? This little novella is Chabon’s homage to Sherlock Holmes, though his “old man” is never actually named in the story. It’s 1944, and our old man who may or may not definitely be a retired Sherlock Holmes, is living in Sussex, keeping his bees, and coming to terms with old age and a world that has moved on. This part of the story worked extremely well for me. It was so poignant […]

A disappointing end to a promising series

The Cthulhu Casebooks - Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove

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Endings are always difficult. Wrapping up a series based on someone else’s original work, doubly so (a fact all Game of Thrones fans learned the hard way this year). This book concludes Lovegrove’s trilogy of placing Holmes into a Lovecraftian universe and the results are not that great. The fist difficulty is with the source material. Doyle only returned to Holmes reluctantly, and the stories of Holmes towards the end did not have the same energy or enthusiasm as the earlier works. Yes, Lovegrove incorporates […]

Sherlock vs. Elder gods, round 2

The Cthulhu Casebooks - Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove

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Middle portions of the trilogy are always difficult. There is not the excitement of starting a story nor the anticipation of a conclusion. So how do you make the middle volume interesting?   In the case of this book the author changed things up a bit and focused much more on the Lovecraftian Elements then in the first book in the series. The strategy is largely successful. Lovegrove incorporates elements from a wide variety of Lovecraft’s tales From his stories involving the dream cycle to […]

Sherlock Holmes Takes on Cthulhu

Sherlock Holmes & the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove

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I love Sherlock Holmes and I love the world of horror that HP Lovecraft created. Seeing the two of them brought together was almost irresistible to me but I have seen Holmes placed in a world where logic doesn’t apply before, most notably the collection called shadows over Baker Street. There are aspects of this book that are very reminiscent of some of the best stories in that particular collection.  Where the author is most effective is in trying to really ground homes in this World where […]



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