Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly
A Sherlock Holmes Collection of Short Stories by Donald Thomas
Review: Donald Thomas produces his fifth volume of Sherlock Holmes adventures, based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring three new stories narrated by Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly.
Writing pastiches of Sherlock Holmes stories carries both benefits and risks. The characters are well-known and there is a ready audience of interested readers eager to follow the further adventures of the first consulting detective. However, it's easy to disappoint that very same audience, especially if an author tries to stray too far afield, impressing their own vision of the well established characters on the reader. In this latest volume by Thomas, the author generally stays true to the original canon — itself both a compliment and a criticism.
Four stories are presented here, though to be fair, one of these, "Sherlock Holmes the Actor" is basically a brief backstory to "The Case of the Matinee Idol". All three stories — the other two are "The Case of a Boy's Honour" and "The Case of the Ghosts of Bly" — are far too long, with details relating to the matter at hand presented repeatedly. Doyle is guilty of this as well in the original stories, and it is one aspect of his work that need not be faithfully replicated. As narrator, Watson does a fine job summarizing each case and their respective roles, but he depicts Holmes in a much softer light than Doyle ever did. In some respects it's probably more realistic to do so, and is certainly more personable, but it also dulls to some degree the sharp edge Holmes likes to project to both client, suspect, and reader.
With respect to the plots of each of the stories, "The Case of a Boy's Honour" is especially thin, the outcome never in doubt, the case hardly worthy of Holmes's talents — nor the attention of Holmes's brother, Mycroft. "The Case of the Ghosts of Bly" seems overly familiar, drawing elements from a number of sources; the potential supernatural aspects of the story never ring true. "The Case of the Matinee Idol" is the most original of the three, and only one to present Holmes with a true puzzle to solve.
Fans of Sherlock Holmes will certainly want to add Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly and other Adventures of the Great Detective to their collection; it is, for the most part, worthy of that. But it seems unlikely that new readers of these stories will be enticed to seek out the originals or previous volumes in the series by this author.
Acknowledgment: Pegasus Books provided an ARC of Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly for this review.
Review Copyright © 2011 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Location(s) referenced in Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly: England
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Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly by Donald Thomas
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-60598-134-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-60598-134-5
Publication Date: December 2010
List Price: $25.00
Synopsis (from the publisher): "Have you ever seen a ghost, Mr. Holmes?" asks Victoria Temple, and Sherlock Holmes, at the height of his powers in 1898, must face a new challenge, one that plunges the great detective into the realm of the supernatural. Miss Temple has been found guilty—but also insane—at her trial for murdering a child under her care. She is locked away in the Broadmoor lunatic asylum, and worse still, she believes fully in her own guilt.
But were the hauntings at the Elizabethan manor house of Bly a vision of the walking dead, perhaps, rather than delusions of her tormented mind? Or could it be that a criminal conspiracy is to blame for the psychic phenomena, as well as a second murder cunningly concealed in the past? In the company of Dr. Watson, the indefatigable Holmes will track down the perpetrators through the occult underworld of Victorian London.
Next, on the eve of World War I, Holmes is confronted with fraud and forgery at the Royal Navy Academy in “The Case of a Boy‘s Honor,” while back in London, behind the scenes of the Herculaneum Theatre in the Strand, “The Case of the Matinee Idol” embroils Holmes and Watson directly in an apparent on-stage murder. How did poison get into two Shakesperean goblets when only the victim, now dead, had access to them and the most likely suspect was a mile away with an unbreakable alibi?