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Sherlock Holmes and Lyme Regis #2
Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Legacy
The year is 1898. Doctor Watson is once more in Lyme Regis to visit the lady in his life, Mrs Beatrice Heidler. A gruesome death with echoes of one of Sherlock Holmes previous cases brings Holmes himself down to Dorset. In the company of an old friend, they encounter an old enemy with vengeance on his mind. A tale of revenge, violent deaths and plum puddings.
- GenresMystery
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2012
1 person is currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
David Ruffle
27 books285 followersDavid Ruffle was born in Northamptonshire in the UK at an early age in 1956,yes..a long time ago. The school years passed by in a blur, or was he the blur ? He managed to extricate himself from the education system at 15 years of age and embarked on the adventure of life.
Eventually, said adventure took him to Dorset and the beautiful town of Lyme Regis in July of 2004.He felt immediately at home here and surprised himself by starting to write...first, poetry and later ghost stories. All the time he felt that Lyme Regis would be a perfect place for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to have an adventure, any kind of adventure ! And so...Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror was born. The story continues.
David is now with the MX publishing team and further titles have appeared; Sherlock Holmes and The Lyme Regis Legacy, Tales From The Stranger's Room (as contributor and editor),and Holmes and Watson: End Peace. A children's illustrated book, Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman (with illustrations by Rikey Austin, another Lyme Regis resident and hugely talented to boot)saw the light of day in November 2012. Two weeks later the third and final part of the Sherlock Holmes/Lyme Regis trilogy appeared: Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Trials. Also in the offing is an outing to Scarborough for Holmes and Watson, a proposed tale of thievery, murder and cricket!(A collaboration).Meanwhile, he is still to be found in Lyme Regis, working away and drinking the odd cider, diet permitting. The Abyss: A Journey With Jack The Ripper is set to be published in December 2013.
On a whim he decided to try his hand at comedy resulting in A Twist of Lyme and Another Twist of Lyme. These were published in 2014 along with the final book in the trilogy, A Further Twist of Lyme. New for 2015 will be, Holmes and Watson: An American Adventure. 2016 will see the publication of Holmes and Watson: An Evening in Baker Street followed by The Gondolier and the Russian Countess, a Holmes and Watson adventure set in 1902 Venice. And with any luck, Sherlock Holmes and the Scarborough Affair should surface by the end of the year!
Eventually, said adventure took him to Dorset and the beautiful town of Lyme Regis in July of 2004.He felt immediately at home here and surprised himself by starting to write...first, poetry and later ghost stories. All the time he felt that Lyme Regis would be a perfect place for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to have an adventure, any kind of adventure ! And so...Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror was born. The story continues.
David is now with the MX publishing team and further titles have appeared; Sherlock Holmes and The Lyme Regis Legacy, Tales From The Stranger's Room (as contributor and editor),and Holmes and Watson: End Peace. A children's illustrated book, Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman (with illustrations by Rikey Austin, another Lyme Regis resident and hugely talented to boot)saw the light of day in November 2012. Two weeks later the third and final part of the Sherlock Holmes/Lyme Regis trilogy appeared: Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Trials. Also in the offing is an outing to Scarborough for Holmes and Watson, a proposed tale of thievery, murder and cricket!(A collaboration).Meanwhile, he is still to be found in Lyme Regis, working away and drinking the odd cider, diet permitting. The Abyss: A Journey With Jack The Ripper is set to be published in December 2013.
On a whim he decided to try his hand at comedy resulting in A Twist of Lyme and Another Twist of Lyme. These were published in 2014 along with the final book in the trilogy, A Further Twist of Lyme. New for 2015 will be, Holmes and Watson: An American Adventure. 2016 will see the publication of Holmes and Watson: An Evening in Baker Street followed by The Gondolier and the Russian Countess, a Holmes and Watson adventure set in 1902 Venice. And with any luck, Sherlock Holmes and the Scarborough Affair should surface by the end of the year!
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 9, 2022
Enjoyed the main story, pictured Lyme so clearly, been trying to work out which house in coombe street it is xxx dropping a star only due to some of the seemingly random short stories in the back, a few were good, few not so. Don’t let that put you off. Plus come to lovely Lyme it really does have an air of the magical and so easy to imagine Sherlock and Watson strolling those streets. Enjoy.
May 9, 2024
Great collection of Sherlock Homes stories: based around Lyme; a long story followed with several shorter stories , with a ghost story, loved it ,will read more.
August 12, 2014
Sherlock Holmes and The Lyme Regis Legacy
In the second in Mr Ruffle’s trilogy we find once again the authentic tones of Doctor Watson’s narrative voice in a tale of revenge set in the pleasant resort of Lyme Regis.
Watson describes a series of murders that resonate with several canonical stories, particularly The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles. A reluctant Holmes who prefers bee-keeping to sleuth-hounding, Watson and a nicely-drawn Inspector Lestrade attempt to track a fiend who emerges from the shadows of Holmes’ murky past – a worthy adversary in fact into whose dark mind we occasionally peek and recoil in horror.
The story is a taut mix of thrills, suspense and not a little romance as Watson enjoys the company of his beloved Beatrice – in a gentlemanly way of course. As we expect from Mr Ruffle, the dialogue is witty and very much of the period with no jarring modern notes.
After the excellent novella that takes up most of the book, I found the shorter pieces less interesting and this review focuses only on the main story.
As in the first book of this trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror, the town of Lyme Regis is described in loving detail, becoming almost a character in the drama. It sounds like a lovely place, and I may visit one day – after Holmes has exterminated or expelled whatever infernal monster inhabits the final book in the series, which I am about to start reading.
In the second in Mr Ruffle’s trilogy we find once again the authentic tones of Doctor Watson’s narrative voice in a tale of revenge set in the pleasant resort of Lyme Regis.
Watson describes a series of murders that resonate with several canonical stories, particularly The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles. A reluctant Holmes who prefers bee-keeping to sleuth-hounding, Watson and a nicely-drawn Inspector Lestrade attempt to track a fiend who emerges from the shadows of Holmes’ murky past – a worthy adversary in fact into whose dark mind we occasionally peek and recoil in horror.
The story is a taut mix of thrills, suspense and not a little romance as Watson enjoys the company of his beloved Beatrice – in a gentlemanly way of course. As we expect from Mr Ruffle, the dialogue is witty and very much of the period with no jarring modern notes.
After the excellent novella that takes up most of the book, I found the shorter pieces less interesting and this review focuses only on the main story.
As in the first book of this trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror, the town of Lyme Regis is described in loving detail, becoming almost a character in the drama. It sounds like a lovely place, and I may visit one day – after Holmes has exterminated or expelled whatever infernal monster inhabits the final book in the series, which I am about to start reading.
September 28, 2012
This is another collection of tales by David Ruffle. By my count it is his fourth collection, but I am not sure of the various publishing dates and editions involved. This collection begins with a lengthy novella and includes a dozen or more, shorter items. Those that are not fragments could be described as short stories. Most have some Sherlockian content, but some have no relation to Holmes and Watson.
The title story is quite interesting and draws its villain from deep in Holmes’ past. Mycroft and Inspector Lestrade put in appearances and Dr. Watson pursues his second (or is she his third?) wife. Other old acquaintances make appearances, if only fleeting ones and Lyme Regis provides a colorful and interesting background
There is little to say about the shorter works. All are interesting, some are touching and many are set in Lyme Regis. The place and its history provide a fascinating background, especially to a writer as sensitive to its echoes as is Mr. Ruffle.
This is an interesting collection of stories, constructed around a colorful and interesting place. It is well worth the time it takes to read and it evokes pictures of times long past and people worth knowing. The collection ends with “A Brief History of Lyme Regis” and a pair of laudatory poems.
Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, August 2012
Published in “Doctor Watson’s Formulary,” [#21, 09/2012]
The title story is quite interesting and draws its villain from deep in Holmes’ past. Mycroft and Inspector Lestrade put in appearances and Dr. Watson pursues his second (or is she his third?) wife. Other old acquaintances make appearances, if only fleeting ones and Lyme Regis provides a colorful and interesting background
There is little to say about the shorter works. All are interesting, some are touching and many are set in Lyme Regis. The place and its history provide a fascinating background, especially to a writer as sensitive to its echoes as is Mr. Ruffle.
This is an interesting collection of stories, constructed around a colorful and interesting place. It is well worth the time it takes to read and it evokes pictures of times long past and people worth knowing. The collection ends with “A Brief History of Lyme Regis” and a pair of laudatory poems.
Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, August 2012
Published in “Doctor Watson’s Formulary,” [#21, 09/2012]
December 21, 2016
A return to the coast, and a returning villain…
My thanks go to Steve and Timi at MX Books for my reading copy!
Dr. Watson has returned to Lyme Regis in pursuit of Beatrice, the lovely widow he met in the first volume of this trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror. A blustering peer, Sir Reginald Bartleby demands that Holmes be dispatched to Lyme Regis because his nephew Robert Fane has been murdered. The man has been poisoned in his own home. Eerily enough, dripping blood reveals the word “rache” has been scrawled beneath a picture on the wall…
Someone is pulling strings behind the scenes, and from the amount of trivia that piles up it is clear that this person knows a lot about Holmes and his investigations. Things turn very serious when Beatrice is kidnapped. Someone wants revenge on Holmes, Watson, and Inspector Lestrade—but out of all the cases the three have shared, who would be this implacable?
The story is quite good, and until the reveal I wasn’t certain of who was behind it all! Bravo, David Ruffle! Bravo!
There are also a series of what I hesitate to call “short stories” as they are very short. It is sort of like daubing a few brushstrokes on a canvas, signing it, and referring to it as a painting…
The main story is good enough to merit four stars!
Quoth the Raven…
My thanks go to Steve and Timi at MX Books for my reading copy!
Dr. Watson has returned to Lyme Regis in pursuit of Beatrice, the lovely widow he met in the first volume of this trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror. A blustering peer, Sir Reginald Bartleby demands that Holmes be dispatched to Lyme Regis because his nephew Robert Fane has been murdered. The man has been poisoned in his own home. Eerily enough, dripping blood reveals the word “rache” has been scrawled beneath a picture on the wall…
Someone is pulling strings behind the scenes, and from the amount of trivia that piles up it is clear that this person knows a lot about Holmes and his investigations. Things turn very serious when Beatrice is kidnapped. Someone wants revenge on Holmes, Watson, and Inspector Lestrade—but out of all the cases the three have shared, who would be this implacable?
The story is quite good, and until the reveal I wasn’t certain of who was behind it all! Bravo, David Ruffle! Bravo!
There are also a series of what I hesitate to call “short stories” as they are very short. It is sort of like daubing a few brushstrokes on a canvas, signing it, and referring to it as a painting…
The main story is good enough to merit four stars!
Quoth the Raven…
May 15, 2024
What I really enjoyed about this book is the setting, Lyme Regis, a coastal town in England I first encountered in Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, a fantastic book about a remarkable woman, Mary Anning of Lyme Regis. Ruffle clearly loves Lyme Regis, using real streets and home and bringing it to life. His Holmes is rather kinder than the original, even playing with children. The title story is a novella with several enjoyable short stories and vignettes, not all featuring Holmes and Watson, following.
I assume the author wrote part of the wikipedia entry on Lyme Regis' Cob as the description in the book is nearly identical.
I assume the author wrote part of the wikipedia entry on Lyme Regis' Cob as the description in the book is nearly identical.
September 20, 2024
This offering 2nd offering in the Lyme Regis titles from David Ruffle was not as effective as either "Holmes and Watson End Peace" nor "Sherlock Holmes Tales from the Stranger's Room". I felt this was just a rehash of the best of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson but with Stapleton being the villain of the pieces. Please remember - no ghosts need apply ! The only redeeming feature of the title were the short ghost/ spooky stories at the end of the volume, but not all were Sherlock Holmes. I fail to see why the author persists on these parodies of TV sit coms - dull stuff.
March 10, 2014
This was a well written story about Dr. Watson, and Sherlock Holmes. My only complaint about this series, is that the main story is not that long, and the rest of the book is filled with short unrelated stories, concerning Mr. Holmes. There are also just pages of information, like his death, and birth. These are interesting tidbits, but I bought the book because of the story listed on the back. That should have been book length.....
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews