Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives

[helrunar]

Salutations, Vault denizens. Over the Yankdom holiday weekend I spotted volume one of this series, Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives, listed amongst a few other titles being offered as free electronic editions by the publisher, Belanger Books. I added the book to my reader and this is the contents list (copied from an ISFDB entry--ISFDB has not been updated with subsequent volumes in this series):

Ghosts Need Apply! • essay by Derrick Belanger
Editor's Note  • essay by John Linwood Grant
The Adventure of the Faerie Coffin  • by Rebecca Buchanan
The Adventure of the Russian Mystic •  by Stewart Sternberg
The Case of the Manchester Mummies •  by David Mana
Sherlock Holmes and the Ghostly Reunion •  by Christopher Degni
The Adventure of Marylebone Manor •  by Naching T. Kassa
The Village on the Cliff • by David Marcum
The Tale of the Tantric Detective • by Geoff Dibb
The Adventure of the Three Rippers • by Edward M. Erdelac
The Case of the High Pavement Ghosts • by Teika Marija Smits
The Adventure of the Abominable Adder • by Will Murray

A few jottings about the stories I've read thus far:

Rebecca Buchanan's "Faerie Coffin" tale begins with an unusual twist: Holmes is on a train with Mary Morstan, Watson's fiancee. Mary has been summoned to her old alma mater to deal with the disruption (and, in the most recent instance, serious life-threatening injury) caused by the persistent appearances of a bizarre, banshee-like spirit. Why has the Headmistress requested Mary to travel to Scotland to deal with this spectral threat? The answer is just the beginning of a story that intrigued me with elements of old folk magic, Faery lore and folk memory. As with seemingly all the stories in this book, one has to overlook the fact that the Holmes of Conan Doyle's stories and novels had absolutely no truck at all with anything in the slightest way "supernatural," unlike the author of his adventures. In what I have read thus far, this story has been the most successful in atmosphere and resolution.

Stewart Sternberg's "Russian Mystic" seems rather weak in the immediate wake of Buchanan's very strong opening entry. The new character of Peter Styles seems suggested by various "Decadent" dandies seen in London in the 1890s. Some promising moments but in this story, at least, the promise is not really fulfilled. The ending is very awkwardly staged.

The most entertaining facet of David Mana's Manchester Mummies outing is provided by a character with connections to Bram Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars. She is really more interesting than the tale in which she is introduced. I think the story is also intended in some ways as an homage to Conan Doyle's well-known "Lot No. 249," which has just been filmed for television.

Further notes to follow as time permits. 

Hel.

[andydecker]

Here is the cover.

Occult Holmes stories can be entertaining. I think the keyword here is "promises not really fulfilled". Many of those just don't deliver in the end.

[helrunar]

Thanks for the scan, Andreas! I guess they sold well since volumes 3 and 4 succeeded. But this publisher, Belanger Books, seems to be a specialist in Holmes pastiches--I got slightly dizzy just now scrolling through all the variations. And all their books seem to start life as a "kickstarter" public funding campaign:

belangerbooks.com/

I got the book for free so I have no real grounds for complaint. I was reading "Sherlock Holmes and the Ghostly Reunion" after dinner last night--trite, write-by-numbers prose and after a couple of pages, I skipped the file to the next story. Perhaps it will be more amusing.

cheers, Steve