"Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-worn and battered tin dispatch-box with my name, John H. Watson, M.D., painted upon the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to illustrate the curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes has at various times to examine."

Monday, June 25, 2018

The Casebook of Solar Pons (1975)

The sixth collection of August Derleth's Solar Pons stories was released as the 4th paperback by Pinnacle Books in 1975. Contains a Foreword by Vincent Starrett.

Whatever your fancy in the polished old world of deductive detective cunning-- a mummified human hand conspiciously resting in an intarsia box, a haunted moonlit library, a tattered corpse caught up in a rapacious invincible curse-- Solar Pons will quickly capture your curiosity and leave you hungering for more. 
Soon you will find yourself a regular visitor at No. 7B Praed Street, eagerly peering into the mind of the contemplative Pons, slouched in the cozy cavern of his armchair. And as you faithfully follow the master about charming, chilling fin-de-ciecle London, discretely clutching and unclutching your hands between counter plots and climaxes, you know that you have found a lifelong companion-- the incomparable and brilliant Solar Pons, heir to the genius that was once uniquely Sherlock Holmes'. 
Adventure of the Ascot Scandal 
Adventure of the China Cottage
Adventure of the Crouching Dog
Adventure of the Fatal Glance
Adventure of the Haunted Library
Adventure of the Innkeeper's Clerk
Adventure of the Intarsia Box
Adventure of the Missing Huntsman 
Adventure of the Spurious Tamerlane 
Adventure of the Sussex Archers 
Adventure of the Whispering Knights

Title: The Casebook of Solar Pons
Author: August Derleth
Year: 1975 (first released in 1965)
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Purchase: Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

The Giant Rat of Sumatra (1976)

Sherlock's greatest untold tale, as referenced in the canon, finds life in this 1976 Warner paperback.


"A story for which the world is not yet prepared..."
That is how Sherlock Holmes described the fantastic tale of THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA in his "The Adventures of the Sussex Vampire." Dr. John Watson, in deference to Holmes' wishes, kept the chronicle a secret, stipulating in his will that only in the year 1976 could the particulars of the case be revealed.

Here it is! A tale that bears the mark of Holmes' deductive genius, Watson's faithful reporting and a plotting virtuosity that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself would have approved in the author, Richard L. Boyer.

Title: The Giant Rat of Sumatra
Author: Richard L. Boyer
Year: 1976
Publisher: Warner Books
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Monday, June 4, 2018

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1971)

Novelization for my all time favorite Sherlock Holmes film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), starring Robert Stephens as Holmes and Colin Blakely as Watson.

"...matters of a delicate and sometimes scandalous nature..."
At last revealed––some adventures of Sherlock Holmes that even Dr. Watson did not dare to publish during his lifetime! Fifty years after his death, a bank vault in London is opened to reveal new material about the most fascinating fictional detective of all time. In their hilarious and brilliant new film, Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond have recreated the world of Sherlock Holmes in an adventure never before imagined. What you don't know about Sherlock Holmes has made a great motion picture...and a delightful new novel.

Title: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Michael & Mollie Hardwick
Year: 1971 (first published 1970)
Publisher: Bantam Books
Purchase: Amazon.

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