These adventures of Sherlock Holmes were unboxed, and consisted of notebooks and bundles of papers in some sort of semblance of order. Two handwritings dominated, that of Sherlock Holmes himself, and the medical scrawl of Doctor Watson.
Victorian handwriting can be illegible at times, and take a long time to decipher. I seem to have spent far too much time wrestling with appalling conundrums (conundra?) only to find I was transcribing the medical equivalent of a laundry list, or some notes on the later motets of Lassus. Nonetheless, I believe there are some stories still to be discovered, even after the ones below.
1894
No, nothing to do with George Orwell. A memorandum book, containing five cases of Sherlock Holmes in 1894, once belonging to Dr John H. Watson, has been discovered. It also contains the long-lost tale of the two Coptic patriarchs.
- The Adventure of the Red Leech
- The Adventure of the Addleton Tragedy
- The Adventure of the Ancient British Barrow
- The Adventure of the Smith-Mortimer Succession
- The Adventure of the Two Coptic Patriarchs
This is another slam dunk from Hugh Ashton. For those meeting him for the first time his writings make you feel as if a treasure trove of Canon Doyle stories were recently discovered. In a review of his first Holmes/Watson pastiche I observed that you find yourself getting disgruntled realizing you are running out of pages. Definitely get the book. Actually, get all of Ashton’s Holmes/Watson stories. You’ll have the beginnings of a dynamic library which will result in hours of pleasurable reading.
The Lichfield Murder
Every good city deserves a good murder … and Lichfield is no exception. When Henry Taylor of Lichfield comes to 221B Baker Street with the news that his young wife has been murdered, apparently by his son from his first marriage, Sherlock Holmes takes the train from Euston to investigate. What he discovers comes as a surprise to everyone, except to (of course) Sherlock Holmes himself.
Though the events described are fictional, the inns, hotels, and even the site of the murder and the place where the murder weapon was concealed by the murderer are to be seen today in Lichfield.
(short story – print only – no ebook available)
Hugh Ashton is today’s Arthur Conan Doyle.
Mr. Sherlock Holmes – Notes on Some Singular Cases
- Detect with Holmes in The Adventure of the Broken Door (mentioned briefly in The Norwood Builder).
- Thrill to the lure of the mysterious Orient in The Adventure of the Green Dragon (obscurely referenced in The Cardboard Box).
- Find out why John Vincent Harden, a tobacco millionaire, is being persecuted (mentioned in the Solitary Cyclist).
- Discover a hitherto unseen aspect of London life with the Adventure of the Copper Pins (mentioned in The Five Orange Pips).
- And get a little sentimental with The Adventure of the Deceased Doctor, which is unusual, as it occurs some two and half years after His Last Bow, when Holmes and Watson are both serving their country in the Great War.
Mr. Ashton is simply the best current writer of the Holmes pastiche. In reviews of his previous works, I have noted the purity of his classic language as if from the pen of Conan Doyle 100 years ago. While there are many many Holmes stories on the market, Hugh has the unique ability to channel ACD and Dr. Watson to come up with new stories that satisfy the longing of any Sherlockian purist for more original stories. Simply put, Ashton is the antidote to your Holmesian fever.
The Adventure of Vanaprastha
When Sherlock Holmes is called in to investigate the mysterious death of Colonel Cardew, who appears to have been savagely tortured to death inside a locked room, the answer to the riddle seems insoluble.
The solution lies thousands of miles, and many years away, and Sherlock Holmes provides the answer to a mystified Doctor Watson.
Short stories are the backbone of Holmes magic .. Hugh Ashton is one of the best we have keeping Holmes on top if his game and solving the cases that baffle the police and us the reader … This is a good one and one not to miss … Holmes at his best …