Continuing to catch up on my reading of the excellent Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective series from Airship 27, this time I go over volumes 15 to 18, which are the most recent volumes. I had hoped, like my last posting, to do just three collections and a novel, but it wasn’t to be.
Each of these volumes is well designed, with good to great cover artwork by different authors, interior art by Rob Davis. Each story has an essay by the author, running one to three pages, about their work and the background on it. And we get a brief bio of each author. This is what I expect from New Pulp publishers, which we don’t always get.
Some of the same authors appear in various volumes, with I.A. Watson in every volume, as usual.
Volume 15
This time gives us five stories by four authors. I.A. Watson kicks things off with a story set very early in the days of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, shortly after Watson was rooming with Holmes. In fact, it’s within three months or so, and after the events covered in “A Study in Scarlet.” Here they go for an evening walk to work on the mystery of a young man who disappeared on his wedding day, with no clue of what happened to him. And a coworker also disappears.
One thing that confused me is Watson having a dog, which I don’t recall from the stories.
A second story by I.A. Watson is a short tale where Holmes and Watson help a woman driven to near suicide due to a villain Holmes has dealt with before.
From Gary Lovisi is a story that stars Inspector Alec MacDonald, who appeared in “The Sign of the Four.” Here he is trying to solve a pair of murders: a constable and a young boy. He is sure he knows who did it, but can’t get any evidence. And worse, it seems he is going to join Moriarty’s gang and get protection from him. And if this is in a Sherlock Holmes collection, will Holmes appear?
An unwritten Holmes story is finally revealed in Dexter Fabi’s piece, about the mystery of a man who returns for his umbrella and is never seen again. Here we learn what really happened, and it’s tied to ancient Egypt and forgotten pharaohs.
Finally, Jonathan Casey has Holmes looking into a matter of several banks being broken into all on the same night, but nothing is taken. Or is that the case? And it is all tied to the return of a foe Holmes thought dead. What is behind it all?
Volume 16
We have four stories by three authors in this one.
I.A. Watson starts things off with a story that is based on a real event: an anarchist bombing attempt at Greenwich Observatory. This occurred toward the tail end of the time Holmes was thought dead after Reichenbach Falls. About a year after his return, he is called in for another anarchist bombing.
From Greg Hatcher are two stories, both involving Sherlock’s brother Mycroft. The first one, which is fairly short, has Mycroft and a foreign dignitary being kidnapped. Using only a note from Mycroft, can Sherlock figure out where he is and free him in time?
In the second, we find Holmes starting his “retirement” in Sussex. But a young widow comes with a strange tale. Her dead husband has mysteriously reappeared alive, only to be killed. But his body has disappeared. Holmes and Watson look into it and are pulled into a matter involving Mycroft.
Finally, we get a novella-length work by Lee Houston Jr. While Holmes is on vacation doing some scientific research, Watson is on his own. After some mysterious lights appear in the sky, he sets out to try to figure out their cause. He encounters H.G. Wells, and the two, along with a local constable, try to figure out what is going on. It soon turns out there is more to the matter as Mycroft and then Holmes show up, and it appears this threatens the secrecy of a new submarine. What is going on, and can Holmes and Watson figure it all out?
This was an interesting collection. I wish I.A. Watson had also included Mycroft in his story, as we would have had a collection of stories that all include him.
Volume 17
This volume gives us five stories by four authors.
I.A. Watson gives us a story that involves a character created by Arthur Conan Doyle, but who appeared in a story written before he did Sherlock Holmes, the Nottingham Crakster. Watson used him in a story in volume 12.
Having been imprisoned for one of his scams, he dies there and includes Holmes and Watson in his will. Traveling there, the pair run into his sister, whom Holmes quickly figures out is actually a fellow scamster. There seems to be a deeper mystery, as Holmes and Watson are given the Crakster’s Bible and a deck of cards. And then some toughs show up to take them. They work on figuring out what is going on and who is behind it all.
R.A. Jones, maybe better known for his comicbook work, is a first-time contributor here and gives us a different story. A poor boy approaches Holmes to have him solve the murder of his dog. This leads to another crime.
We get two stories from George Tackes.
In the first, Inspector Lestrade brings a prison guard to Holmes. His daughter committed suicide due to the actions of a sinister American. But as there was no actual “crime,” how can this man, who has led to the misfortune of many other girls, be brought to justice? Holmes has a challenge ahead of him.
In the second, Holmes is called in for a first: the first time a man died in an auto accident. But in looking into this, Holmes is able to stop an actual crime before it’s committed.
Finally, Jonathan Casey gives us a different kind of story. Holmes receives a message from a constable in Scotland looking for help with a strange case. But as the two head to the train station, they are waylaid by an agent of Holmes’ brother Mycroft, who seeks their help. They rebuff him and head out, only to find that Mycroft has arranged things so that Holmes and Watson are instead heading to where he wants them. One of his agents has died under strange circumstances. Can they solve this? And once they do, what about their original case? I was bothered by this one as the various characters didn’t seem to act in their normal manner.
Volume 18
Instead of the normal four or five stories in this volume, we get three stories by three authors.
As usual, I.A. Watson is up first. Dr. Watson drops in on Holmes, who is looking into the matter of coffins found disarrayed in vaults. He goes through a litany of such events, going back to one in Barbados. Similar events are claimed to have occurred in Europe and even England. This is all a lead-up to a new case he is called in for, and he takes Watson with him. Can Holmes figure out a cause for this? Or will he find that there is a sinister answer behind it all? This one was a very inventive tale, making use of actually strange claims.
The next story, from Michael A. Black, gets its start with Watson reading Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and not liking it. And, yes, its first edition was as a “penny dreadful.” Holmes and Watson are soon faced with their own strange case. The mother of a musical prodigy comes to them for help. Her son had apparently gotten into a fight with a man over a dancehall girl and killed him. There were witnesses to this, and he was soon arrested, but he claims to have no knowledge of the crime. His mother thinks he is innocent and asks Holmes to look into it. It seems an open-and-shut case. But is it? The young man isn’t a fighter, yet he supposedly fought and killed a former soldier. And it happens that the man was a rival to the boy’s stepfather for an important government position. Is he innocent, and can Holmes prove this even with witnesses?
Finally, Raymond Louis James Lovato’s story has Holmes and Watson being summoned by Mycroft Holmes. There, they learn of the “queen’s tiara,” which comes from the Hundred Years’ War, but has been lost for generations. The tiara is sought by both the Royal Family and France. Apparently, it has come up for sale, and they hope Holmes can obtain it. This may be difficult, as Mycroft’s agent, who has been watching the seller, is killed by a Cossack. Can Holmes figure out what is going on and get a hold of the tiara?
So I’m almost caught up with this series, as they are up to volume 20 right now, which is a pretty good milestone for any publisher, but more so within New Pulp. I’m not sure when we’ll see volume 21, but I look forward to it.
Your comments