"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, April 22, 2024

A Taste For Honey (1964)

First published in 1941, A Taste For Honey was one of the very first Holmes pastiches. The plot features a mysterious retired beekeeper who goes by the name of "Mr. Mycroft." While the original intent seems to be that this is Sherlock himself, later publishers packaged the book as a "Mycroft Holmes Mystery." Two more Mr. Mycroft adventures followed: Reply Paid (1945) and The Notched Hairpin (1949).

MURDERED...BY BEES? 
Who is Mr. Mycroft? The true identity of this magnificent, inscrutable old gentleman is a deep secret–but there are echoes of Baker Street in his voice, and a familiar gleam in his eyes that miss no clue.
In A Taste for Honey, he meets one of the most sinister murderers of all time, and encounters one of the most fiendishly ingenious murder methods ever devised. 

Title: A Taste For Honey
Author: H.F. Heard
Year: 1964
Publisher: Lancer
Purchase: Amazon.

Friday, March 29, 2024

Eliminate The Impossible (2024)

For release in April, a collection of six Sherlock Holmes tales from Paula Hammond that challenge the possible.

Eliminate the Impossible collects six canonical tales in which Holmes and Watson encounter mummies, angels, phantoms, invisible assassins, and arcane machines ... or so it might appear to those without a carefully stocked brain attic. 
From Medieval London, to the snow-capped mountains Turkey, from dusty Admiralty vaults, to the glitz and glamour of the Orient Express, from the days of fledgling friendship, to the backdrop of World War I, this new collection invites you to celebrate deduction, forensic science, and logic ... and Eliminate the Impossible.

Title: Sherlock Holmes Eliminate The Impossible
Author: Paula Hammond
Year: 2024
Publisher: MX Publishers
Purchase: Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

Monday, March 4, 2024

Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles (2024)

A wholly unique take on a "Holmes" mystery from Elizabeth Crowens. This is Book One of the "Babs Norman Hollywood Mystery" series. You can read an interview with the author at Dan Andriacco's Baker Street Beat.

Asta, the dog from the popular Thin Man series, has vanished, and production for his next film is pending. MGM Studios offers a huge reward, and that's exactly what young private detectives Babs Norman and Guy Brandt need for their struggling business to survive. Celebrity dognapping is now a growing trend. When the police and city pound ridicule Basil Rathbone and ask, "Sherlock Holmes has lost his dog?" Basil also hires the B. Norman Agency to find his missing Cocker Spaniel.

The three concoct a plan for Basil to assume his on-screen persona and round up possible suspects, including Myrna Loy and William Powell; Dashiell Hammett, creator of The Thin Man; Nigel Bruce, Basil's on-screen Doctor Watson; Hollywood-newcomer, German philanthropist and film financier Countess Velma von Rache, and the top animal trainers in Tinseltown. Yet everyone will be in for a shock when the real reason behind the canine disappearances is even more sinister than imagined.


Title: Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles
Author: Elizabeth Crowens
Year: 2024
Publisher: Level Best - Historia
Purchase: Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

Thursday, February 1, 2024

The Loch Ness Horror (2022)

The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his American daughter, Lucy James, continue in this 32nd book.

A shadowy ruin. A monstrous plot. And unless Sherlock and Lucy can stop an evil mastermind, thousands of innocent lives will end in horror.

July, 1900. The Baker Street team travels to Inverness, Scotland, home to the Scottish whiskey trade, the Highland Games, and the fabled castle of the infamous King Macbeth. But they have no plans for sightseeing. They are searching for the murderers who kidnapped one of their allies, and who are using millions of dollars worth of stolen bonds to fund a deadly attack on thousands of innocent citizens. Unless the murderers are stopped, the entire British government may fall.

Their search leads to a haunted ruin on the shores of a vast and mysterious lake, the largest in all of Great Britain. There, the danger intensifies, and soon the Baker Street Team must face the full force of the horror they have uncovered.

Will they act in time to save thousands of unsuspecting citizens? Or will they meet a monstrous end beneath the cold and merciless depths of Loch Ness?


Title: The Loch Ness Horror
Author: Anna Elliott & Charles Veley
Year: 2022
Publisher: Independently Published
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Thursday, January 11, 2024

The Vanishing White Elephant (1945)

Another Holmes radio pastiche starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

The Vanishing White Elephant is the 6th episode of season 6 of the American radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It first aired on WOR-MBS (the Mutual Network) on October 8, 1945. 

Monday, January 1, 2024

New Year's Eve off the Scilly Isles (1947)

Let's start the New Year with something a little different but still in our wheelhouse of Holmes pastiche. This original radio drama, New Year's Eve off the Scilly Isles, finds Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson racing to save a luxury liner from destruction. It first aired on December 28, 1947. Enjoy.

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is an old-time radio show which aired in the USA from 1939 to 1950. The series was based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. For most of the show's run, the program starred Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. Other actors played Holmes and Watson in later seasons.

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