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A review by bookphile
Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Seven by Derrick Belanger, Martin Rosenstock
3.0
While I enjoyed most of the stories, this is sadly a rather mediocre collection.
The stories:
Death of a Mudlark by Stuart Douglas: good, but not great. The author over-explained a bit in an effort to show off knowledge of cannon and Sherlock's methods. The story itself wasn't that interesting though.
The Adventure of Deadly Seance by James Lovegrove: dnf. The author put Sherlock Holmes in brown face. I don't think I need to explain why this is a problem in 2020. I don't care if Sherlock himself had no idea what that was and that back then it probably wouldn't have been a problem. It is today. There was absolutely no need for it to be part of the plot. Also uses the g*psy slur and uses Native American lore in stereotypical fashion. I was kind of shocked when I looked the author up and saw that he was moderately well know and that he wrote for the Firefly tv show.
The Adventure of a Heroic Tobacconist by Derric Belanger: good story with an interesting mystery and a satisfying ending.
The Dark Carnival by Andrew Lane: interesting story, but there wasn't really an ending to it, and no resolution. Except maybe rich people are fucked up.
The Monkton House Mystery by David Stuart Davies: the best story in the collection. Interesting premise, great mystery, good writing. He even threw in a few red herrings and an unexpected villain. Great resolution.
The Adventure of the Koreshun Unity by Amy Thomas: weak premise and uninteresting plot. I didn't believe for a second that Holmes would come out of retirement for this weak sauce mystery. Or travel the Atlantic for it.
Out Common Correspondent by Lyndsey Feye: interesting premise, but not as good as I expected it to be considering I bought this book for this story. Feye wrote some of my favorite pastiches so my expectations were high. I loved that she took on Lestrade as the narrator instead of Watson because it's refreshing to see Holmes from the point of view of someone who doesn't idolize him and Lestrade's endless digs as Holmes were funny. But I can't say I liked the mystery that much and there wasn't really resolution. Also docking points for using the term "street Arabs" again, I don't care that Doyle himself used the term, it was a different time and using "urchins" or "homeless" would have been just as authentic.
So overall, a mixed collection of good and bad stories. Would recommend borrowing from the library.
The stories:
Death of a Mudlark by Stuart Douglas: good, but not great. The author over-explained a bit in an effort to show off knowledge of cannon and Sherlock's methods. The story itself wasn't that interesting though.
The Adventure of Deadly Seance by James Lovegrove: dnf. The author put Sherlock Holmes in brown face. I don't think I need to explain why this is a problem in 2020. I don't care if Sherlock himself had no idea what that was and that back then it probably wouldn't have been a problem. It is today. There was absolutely no need for it to be part of the plot. Also uses the g*psy slur and uses Native American lore in stereotypical fashion. I was kind of shocked when I looked the author up and saw that he was moderately well know and that he wrote for the Firefly tv show.
The Adventure of a Heroic Tobacconist by Derric Belanger: good story with an interesting mystery and a satisfying ending.
The Dark Carnival by Andrew Lane: interesting story, but there wasn't really an ending to it, and no resolution. Except maybe rich people are fucked up.
The Monkton House Mystery by David Stuart Davies: the best story in the collection. Interesting premise, great mystery, good writing. He even threw in a few red herrings and an unexpected villain. Great resolution.
The Adventure of the Koreshun Unity by Amy Thomas: weak premise and uninteresting plot. I didn't believe for a second that Holmes would come out of retirement for this weak sauce mystery. Or travel the Atlantic for it.
Out Common Correspondent by Lyndsey Feye: interesting premise, but not as good as I expected it to be considering I bought this book for this story. Feye wrote some of my favorite pastiches so my expectations were high. I loved that she took on Lestrade as the narrator instead of Watson because it's refreshing to see Holmes from the point of view of someone who doesn't idolize him and Lestrade's endless digs as Holmes were funny. But I can't say I liked the mystery that much and there wasn't really resolution. Also docking points for using the term "street Arabs" again, I don't care that Doyle himself used the term, it was a different time and using "urchins" or "homeless" would have been just as authentic.
So overall, a mixed collection of good and bad stories. Would recommend borrowing from the library.