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A review by eigendecomp
Echoes of Sherlock Holmes by Leslie S. Klinger, Laurie R. King
5.0
As anthologies go, this is quite a good one. Some of the stories work better, some less. I'll try to classify them below:
A. A "lost" Holmes story.
B. Prequel/Sequel to a Holmes story.
C. Period piece, with other characters whose names/traits are a play on/homage to Holmes.
D. Set in modern times, with Holmes.
E. Set in modern times, with other characters whose names/traits are a play on/homage to Holmes.
F. Fourth wall breakers.
Now let's give brief ratings for each story:
"Holmes on the range" (John Connolly) - F, 4/5
"Irregular" (Meg Gardiner) - E, 3/5
"Where there is honey" (Dana Cameron) - A, 1/5 (Why so much gore? Nothing wrong with gore per se but it serves no purpose here).
"Before a Bohemian scanda" (Tasha Alexander) - B, 5/5
"The Spiritualist" (David Morrell) - F, 5/5
"Mrs. Hudson Investigates" (Tony Lee & Bevis Musson) - B, 2/5 (1 star added for the attempt to do it as a comics story)
"The adventure of the dancing women" (Hank Phillippi Ryan) - E, 5/5
"Raffa" (Anne Perry) - E, 5/5
"The crown jewel affair" (Michael Scott) - C, 1/5 (Maybe I missed something crucial? I didn't get
what this was all about at all.)
"Understudy in scarlet" (Hallie Ephron) - E, 4/5 (I loved the mystery and the main character. But justice was not really served there, in my opinion, and we have enough injustice IRL).
"Martin X" (Gary Phillips) - E, 2/5
"The painted smile" (William Kent Krueger) - E, 5/5
"The first Mrs. Coulter" (Catriona McPherson) - C, 5/5
"The case of the speckled trout" (Deborah Crombie) - D, 4/5
"The adventure of the empty grave" (Jonathan Maberry) - B, 2/5 (Good idea. Something off about the execution)
"Limited resources" (Denise Mina) - E, 2/5 (Once again, maybe I missed something?)
"The adventure of the extraordinary rendition" (Cory Doctorow) - F, 4/5 (Very good but (i) too open-ended for my liking of this kind of thing (ii) too bleak, too realistic)
A. A "lost" Holmes story.
B. Prequel/Sequel to a Holmes story.
C. Period piece, with other characters whose names/traits are a play on/homage to Holmes.
D. Set in modern times, with Holmes.
E. Set in modern times, with other characters whose names/traits are a play on/homage to Holmes.
F. Fourth wall breakers.
Now let's give brief ratings for each story:
"Holmes on the range" (John Connolly) - F, 4/5
"Irregular" (Meg Gardiner) - E, 3/5
"Where there is honey" (Dana Cameron) - A, 1/5 (Why so much gore? Nothing wrong with gore per se but it serves no purpose here).
"Before a Bohemian scanda" (Tasha Alexander) - B, 5/5
"The Spiritualist" (David Morrell) - F, 5/5
"Mrs. Hudson Investigates" (Tony Lee & Bevis Musson) - B, 2/5 (1 star added for the attempt to do it as a comics story)
"The adventure of the dancing women" (Hank Phillippi Ryan) - E, 5/5
"Raffa" (Anne Perry) - E, 5/5
"The crown jewel affair" (Michael Scott) - C, 1/5 (Maybe I missed something crucial? I didn't get
what this was all about at all.)
"Understudy in scarlet" (Hallie Ephron) - E, 4/5 (I loved the mystery and the main character. But justice was not really served there, in my opinion, and we have enough injustice IRL).
"Martin X" (Gary Phillips) - E, 2/5
"The painted smile" (William Kent Krueger) - E, 5/5
"The first Mrs. Coulter" (Catriona McPherson) - C, 5/5
"The case of the speckled trout" (Deborah Crombie) - D, 4/5
"The adventure of the empty grave" (Jonathan Maberry) - B, 2/5 (Good idea. Something off about the execution)
"Limited resources" (Denise Mina) - E, 2/5 (Once again, maybe I missed something?)
"The adventure of the extraordinary rendition" (Cory Doctorow) - F, 4/5 (Very good but (i) too open-ended for my liking of this kind of thing (ii) too bleak, too realistic)