The Secret Notebooks of Sherlock Holmes by
June Thomson
hbk out December 06
Published by Allison Busby
at £17.99
This is the final volume in Ms Thomson's series, and the most recently published. Titles will once
again be familiar to enthusiasts: The Upwood Scandal, The Aluminium Crutch, The Manor House
Mystery, The Cardinal's Corpse, The Arnsworth Affair, and The Vanishing Barque. The seventh, The
Gustaffson Stone, is told in four parts, and combines the two references to Scandinavian royalty in the
Sherlock Holmes cases The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor and The Final Problem.
Of the thirty-five cases Ms Thomson has extracted from Watson's dispatch-box, this is
probably the weakest collection. They are still all good quality pastiche – practically ghost-written Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle – but suffer with a slower pace and weaker plots than the previous volumes. The
Case of the Manor House Mystery is superior, with The Case of the Gustaffson Stone being the best.
So often authors who extend Holmes' adventures beyond Sir Arthur's usual length fail to hold the
interest, but this was not so with the portrayal of Holmes' assistance to King Erik of Scandinavia. As
in A Scandal in Bohemia King Erik and the Gustaffson Stone's specific origins remain shrouded in
mystery – one of the many authentic aspects of the writing – with Watson's discretion commented
upon in the annotations.
This is still a collection that will appeal to all enthusiasts, purists in particular, it just lacks the
energy of the previous four volumes. It is still worth the purchase, but unfortunately it is quite difficult
to find, with the hardcover edition sadly out-of-print.
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The Secret Notebooks of Sherlock Holmes by
June Thomson
