The Further Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes - Volume 1
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- ¥1,100
Publisher Description
From the curious clauses in a miser's will, to a plea for help on a tiny scrap of paper, these six cases, from the early years of Holmes's career in the 1880s, present a singular collection of mysteries for the world's first consulting detective to resolve. What is the significance of the arrival in the post one morning of a cardboard packet of children's bricks? Who is the man found dying in a deserted warehouse in London's East End, and what is he doing there? Why have the names of a couple of young honeymooners been removed from a hotel register? Sherlock Holmes must find the answers to these and many other puzzling questions if he is to bring these cases to a successful conclusion. In this new collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories, well-known author, Denis O. Smith, accurately recreates once more both the atmosphere and the excitement of Conan Doyle's well-loved original Holmes tales.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Smith's facility at crafting original plots remains undiminished in this collection of six Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Some hook the reader with a tantalizing opening, such as "The Jet Broach," in which the Baker Street detective receives an anonymous package containing a brooch and a scrawled note for help. Even those with a less dramatic start take unexpected and intriguing turns, such as "The Five Keys," which begins with a request for help so banal that Watson is surprised his friend accepts the case a couple want the detective to attend the reading of a will, to keep his eyes and ears open for anything underhanded. Holmes gets drawn into a mystery worthy of his skills that ends with an eminently fair solution. "The Inn on the Marsh" features an odder entreaty from another man and wife, who are perplexed as to why the guest register at the inn they stayed at during their honeymoon no longer contains their names. Sherlockians will rejoice that Smith continues to create new mysteries faithful to Conan Doyle.
