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Sherlock Holmes: Work Capitol
London, England, 1884 ... What happened when Sherlock Holmes stepped into the exhibition ring against retiring prize fighter McMurdo four years before The Sign of Four? What incident was Holmes recalling between Mr. Mathews and himself in the waiting room at Charing-Cross in The Adventure of the Empty House? Sherlockians have wanted to know for decades. The answers can be found in Fight Card Sherlock Holmes: Work Capitol ... Victorian Slang for a crime punishable by death, Work Capitol finds the world's most famous consulting detective - accompanied by the ever stalwart Dr. Watson - chasing a diabolical murderer through the dark, illicit, world of Victorian bare-knuckle boxing. To solve the case, Holmes must take a desperate chance, toeing the scratch line opposite London's most dangerous pugilist - Ezekiel Tanner ... Sometimes the simplest crimes hide the darkest secrets ... And this time, Holmes and Watson know brawn will count as much as brains ...
164 pages, Paperback
First published November 26, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 4, 2017
It's not the best Holmes story I've read, but definitely not the worst. You can tell the author put a lot of thought and effort into the writing, which makes Watson's voice almost the same as ACD.
Recommended 13/14+ for violence, murder, a few moments of language, and Holmes' drug habbit.
Recommended 13/14+ for violence, murder, a few moments of language, and Holmes' drug habbit.
November 17, 2014
This novel was published as part of a series of novels about boxing. There are already two dozen or more books in this “Fight Card” series. In addition, the author has had at least three novellas about Sherlock Holmes published in the “Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective series,” Volumes 1 through 4.
The author acknowledges, in his prefatory note, that this book may offend Sherlockians, but that it is, in solid fact, the way that Doyle presented Holmes in the Canon, as an action figure. I must agree. In several ways, this book seems more like the Canonical tales than many other pieces of Sherlockian fiction published in the last one hundred and ten plus years. The author does not use Dr. Watson so heavily to present Holmes as did Doyle, but the intent is there. Further, Watson is not quite so confused in this tale as he was in many of the Canonical tales, but that is only because the author did not use him to present plausible “red herrings” to distract the reader as did Doyle.
The book begins with a fairly common scene among Victorian boxing annals. Angus McMurdo is retiring from professional fighting and his friends and colleagues are throwing a celebration for him. Part of the celebration is an exhibition bout with a rising young fighter, in this case, Sherlock Holmes. It was a custom of the times that all proceeds from the bout were to go to the retiring fighter as a sort of retirement endowment. Further, as the bout was public and bare-knuckle fighting was illegal, the boxers wore gloves covered in lampblack so that the audience could see where the blows fell. Strange, but this is true to the times. This event is mentioned later by Watson in The Sign of Four when McMurdo is encountered as a security guard for Thaddeus Sholto.
Soon after the bout, a dead man is found a short distance away. Holmes and Watson investigate and come upon a vandalized bar and a dwarf who has been badly beaten. The next day, Inspector Lestrade arrives at Baker Street and questions them about the events. Holmes stresses the use of gloves and the ‘friendly’ nature of the bout, explaining that it was all quite legal. Sometime afterward, the father of the murdered man engages Holmes to find his son’s killer. At this point, things become confused, everyone seems to think Holmes and Watson are on the other side without any reason other than a guilty conscience. There appear to be at least four or five ‘sides’ and the reasons that events occur seem to pop out of the ground, not from human motivation. Everyone hates everyone else but no real motives appear. Meanwhile Christmas approaches and good cheer abounds, somewhere under the snow.
Solving the mystery takes work, brawn and a great deal of thought, but, in the end, Sherlock makes sense of it all and the villains get their come-uppance. As I said before, this tale seems to ring of the Canon. It is much more like a Canonical tale than most of the more recent pastiches published. Holmes is calculating and careful, Watson is distressed and confused and the villains are truly villainous while events occur at blinding speed and in random-seeming fashion.
Reviewed March, 2014 by Philip K. Jones
Merged review:
This novel was published as part of a series of novels about boxing. There are already two dozen or more books in this “Fight Card” series. In addition, the author has had at least three novellas about Sherlock Holmes published in the “Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective series,” Volumes 1 through 4.
The author acknowledges, in his prefatory note, that this book may offend Sherlockians, but that it is, in solid fact, the way that Doyle presented Holmes in the Canon, as an action figure. I must agree. In several ways, this book seems more like the Canonical tales than many other pieces of Sherlockian fiction published in the last one hundred and ten plus years. The author does not use Dr. Watson so heavily to present Holmes as did Doyle, but the intent is there. Further, Watson is not quite so confused in this tale as he was in many of the Canonical tales, but that is only because the author did not use him to present plausible “red herrings” to distract the reader as did Doyle.
The book begins with a fairly common scene among Victorian boxing annals. Angus McMurdo is retiring from professional fighting and his friends and colleagues are throwing a celebration for him. Part of the celebration is an exhibition bout with a rising young fighter, in this case, Sherlock Holmes. It was a custom of the times that all proceeds from the bout were to go to the retiring fighter as a sort of retirement endowment. Further, as the bout was public and bare-knuckle fighting was illegal, the boxers wore gloves covered in lampblack so that the audience could see where the blows fell. Strange, but this is true to the times. This event is mentioned later by Watson in The Sign of Four when McMurdo is encountered as a security guard for Thaddeus Sholto.
Soon after the bout, a dead man is found a short distance away. Holmes and Watson investigate and come upon a vandalized bar and a dwarf who has been badly beaten. The next day, Inspector Lestrade arrives at Baker Street and questions them about the events. Holmes stresses the use of gloves and the ‘friendly’ nature of the bout, explaining that it was all quite legal. Sometime afterward, the father of the murdered man engages Holmes to find his son’s killer. At this point, things become confused, everyone seems to think Holmes and Watson are on the other side without any reason other than a guilty conscience. There appear to be at least four or five ‘sides’ and the reasons that events occur seem to pop out of the ground, not from human motivation. Everyone hates everyone else but no real motives appear. Meanwhile Christmas approaches and good cheer abounds, somewhere under the snow.
Solving the mystery takes work, brawn and a great deal of thought, but, in the end, Sherlock makes sense of it all and the villains get their come-uppance. As I said before, this tale seems to ring of the Canon. It is much more like a Canonical tale than most of the more recent pastiches published. Holmes is calculating and careful, Watson is distressed and confused and the villains are truly villainous while events occur at blinding speed and in random-seeming fashion.
Reviewed March, 2014 by Philip K. Jones
The author acknowledges, in his prefatory note, that this book may offend Sherlockians, but that it is, in solid fact, the way that Doyle presented Holmes in the Canon, as an action figure. I must agree. In several ways, this book seems more like the Canonical tales than many other pieces of Sherlockian fiction published in the last one hundred and ten plus years. The author does not use Dr. Watson so heavily to present Holmes as did Doyle, but the intent is there. Further, Watson is not quite so confused in this tale as he was in many of the Canonical tales, but that is only because the author did not use him to present plausible “red herrings” to distract the reader as did Doyle.
The book begins with a fairly common scene among Victorian boxing annals. Angus McMurdo is retiring from professional fighting and his friends and colleagues are throwing a celebration for him. Part of the celebration is an exhibition bout with a rising young fighter, in this case, Sherlock Holmes. It was a custom of the times that all proceeds from the bout were to go to the retiring fighter as a sort of retirement endowment. Further, as the bout was public and bare-knuckle fighting was illegal, the boxers wore gloves covered in lampblack so that the audience could see where the blows fell. Strange, but this is true to the times. This event is mentioned later by Watson in The Sign of Four when McMurdo is encountered as a security guard for Thaddeus Sholto.
Soon after the bout, a dead man is found a short distance away. Holmes and Watson investigate and come upon a vandalized bar and a dwarf who has been badly beaten. The next day, Inspector Lestrade arrives at Baker Street and questions them about the events. Holmes stresses the use of gloves and the ‘friendly’ nature of the bout, explaining that it was all quite legal. Sometime afterward, the father of the murdered man engages Holmes to find his son’s killer. At this point, things become confused, everyone seems to think Holmes and Watson are on the other side without any reason other than a guilty conscience. There appear to be at least four or five ‘sides’ and the reasons that events occur seem to pop out of the ground, not from human motivation. Everyone hates everyone else but no real motives appear. Meanwhile Christmas approaches and good cheer abounds, somewhere under the snow.
Solving the mystery takes work, brawn and a great deal of thought, but, in the end, Sherlock makes sense of it all and the villains get their come-uppance. As I said before, this tale seems to ring of the Canon. It is much more like a Canonical tale than most of the more recent pastiches published. Holmes is calculating and careful, Watson is distressed and confused and the villains are truly villainous while events occur at blinding speed and in random-seeming fashion.
Reviewed March, 2014 by Philip K. Jones
Merged review:
This novel was published as part of a series of novels about boxing. There are already two dozen or more books in this “Fight Card” series. In addition, the author has had at least three novellas about Sherlock Holmes published in the “Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective series,” Volumes 1 through 4.
The author acknowledges, in his prefatory note, that this book may offend Sherlockians, but that it is, in solid fact, the way that Doyle presented Holmes in the Canon, as an action figure. I must agree. In several ways, this book seems more like the Canonical tales than many other pieces of Sherlockian fiction published in the last one hundred and ten plus years. The author does not use Dr. Watson so heavily to present Holmes as did Doyle, but the intent is there. Further, Watson is not quite so confused in this tale as he was in many of the Canonical tales, but that is only because the author did not use him to present plausible “red herrings” to distract the reader as did Doyle.
The book begins with a fairly common scene among Victorian boxing annals. Angus McMurdo is retiring from professional fighting and his friends and colleagues are throwing a celebration for him. Part of the celebration is an exhibition bout with a rising young fighter, in this case, Sherlock Holmes. It was a custom of the times that all proceeds from the bout were to go to the retiring fighter as a sort of retirement endowment. Further, as the bout was public and bare-knuckle fighting was illegal, the boxers wore gloves covered in lampblack so that the audience could see where the blows fell. Strange, but this is true to the times. This event is mentioned later by Watson in The Sign of Four when McMurdo is encountered as a security guard for Thaddeus Sholto.
Soon after the bout, a dead man is found a short distance away. Holmes and Watson investigate and come upon a vandalized bar and a dwarf who has been badly beaten. The next day, Inspector Lestrade arrives at Baker Street and questions them about the events. Holmes stresses the use of gloves and the ‘friendly’ nature of the bout, explaining that it was all quite legal. Sometime afterward, the father of the murdered man engages Holmes to find his son’s killer. At this point, things become confused, everyone seems to think Holmes and Watson are on the other side without any reason other than a guilty conscience. There appear to be at least four or five ‘sides’ and the reasons that events occur seem to pop out of the ground, not from human motivation. Everyone hates everyone else but no real motives appear. Meanwhile Christmas approaches and good cheer abounds, somewhere under the snow.
Solving the mystery takes work, brawn and a great deal of thought, but, in the end, Sherlock makes sense of it all and the villains get their come-uppance. As I said before, this tale seems to ring of the Canon. It is much more like a Canonical tale than most of the more recent pastiches published. Holmes is calculating and careful, Watson is distressed and confused and the villains are truly villainous while events occur at blinding speed and in random-seeming fashion.
Reviewed March, 2014 by Philip K. Jones
June 28, 2017
SH with Action. Loved it!
March 19, 2014
I very much enjoyed this pastiche, which features the boxing prowess of Sherlock Holmes that Conan Doyle referred to in several stories. The boxing scenes were certainly the highlight with well-drawn tension about the outcomes. The Watsonian voice of the narrator is convincing and better than the average SH pastiche (that first-person narration in an authentic Victorian style that also captures Watson's personality eludes many writers). Being an amateur historian familiar with 19th century vernacular, I did not find the slang distracting (I should note that my paperback edition did not include the glossary). I liked that both Holmes and Watson were sometimes impatient with each other, and at one point Watson even attempts to physically restrain Holmes, to no avail, of course. I imagine the stress of working on life-or-death cases would have sometimes resulted in arguments or even physical altercations between the two friends (and roommates, of course), although of course no such thing was ever described by ACD.
The author incorporates citations of off-page events involving Holmes from the Sign of Four and The Empty House, as well as the general boxing expertise depicted in the bar fight described in The Solitary Cyclist. I got the sense that he has a good knowledge of the Canon and of 19th century history as well as, of course, 19th century pugilism of both the thuggish prize-fighter and the gentlemanly "scientific" varieties. I did think the mystery plot suffered from a bit too much complexity, which is typical of pastiche. In the original ACD stories, the crimes and suspects are much simpler - frequently, the issue is that someone is missing, has been murdered, or something has been stolen. There might be a red herring, and one or two obvious suspects, but nothing that requires a mental flow chart to keep track of what's what. Salmon's tale involves not only the expected murder or two but also counterfeiting, poisoning, domestic violence, inheritance, and far too many subplots and characters for me to keep track. Kind of like when you walk into a party and the host introduces you to 10 people, and try as you might, you cannot remember more than 4 or 5 names, tops? Well, reading complex mystery plots involving scores of characters is kind of the same way. The reader can only keep track of a handful of additional characters outside the principals.
However, I didn't read this book for the mystery. I read it for the boxing scenes, which didn't fail to disappoint. I also enjoyed the jujutsu tactics featured in the final fight, and the name-check for Edward William Barton-Wright who taught Holmes "baritsu" or as we now know it was actually called, "Bartitsu."
Whether or not this would be equally engaging for a Holmes fan uninterested in boxing, I am not sure. It is published by Fight Card books, after all, and they specialize in nouveau pulps in the boxing/MMA genre. But if you do like boxing or martial arts as well as Sherlock Holmes, this is a solidly entertaining read.
The author incorporates citations of off-page events involving Holmes from the Sign of Four and The Empty House, as well as the general boxing expertise depicted in the bar fight described in The Solitary Cyclist. I got the sense that he has a good knowledge of the Canon and of 19th century history as well as, of course, 19th century pugilism of both the thuggish prize-fighter and the gentlemanly "scientific" varieties. I did think the mystery plot suffered from a bit too much complexity, which is typical of pastiche. In the original ACD stories, the crimes and suspects are much simpler - frequently, the issue is that someone is missing, has been murdered, or something has been stolen. There might be a red herring, and one or two obvious suspects, but nothing that requires a mental flow chart to keep track of what's what. Salmon's tale involves not only the expected murder or two but also counterfeiting, poisoning, domestic violence, inheritance, and far too many subplots and characters for me to keep track. Kind of like when you walk into a party and the host introduces you to 10 people, and try as you might, you cannot remember more than 4 or 5 names, tops? Well, reading complex mystery plots involving scores of characters is kind of the same way. The reader can only keep track of a handful of additional characters outside the principals.
However, I didn't read this book for the mystery. I read it for the boxing scenes, which didn't fail to disappoint. I also enjoyed the jujutsu tactics featured in the final fight, and the name-check for Edward William Barton-Wright who taught Holmes "baritsu" or as we now know it was actually called, "Bartitsu."
Whether or not this would be equally engaging for a Holmes fan uninterested in boxing, I am not sure. It is published by Fight Card books, after all, and they specialize in nouveau pulps in the boxing/MMA genre. But if you do like boxing or martial arts as well as Sherlock Holmes, this is a solidly entertaining read.
February 16, 2014
I've enjoyed other books in the Fight Card series and I'm a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories. But I wasn't sure what to expect from a mashup of the two. As it turns out, Andrew Salmon's contribution to the series is a true Sherlockian mystery combined with some great bare-knuckles boxing fight scenes that fit the plot perfectly. I loved the historically-accurate period details and atmosphere and the action scenes, including the fights and things like the chase scene with the early "electric motor carriage" vs. a horse-drawn carriage. It's a fun romp, well told.
March 29, 2014
Although it has a somewhat muddled plot and makes use of a very unlikely plot device -- an electric car running in the midst of a blizzard -- this is an energetic story that places Holmes and Watson squarely in the middle of Victorian street life, the boxing world in particular. Well-researched.
May 30, 2016
Was okay. A bit heavy handed with the Victorian boxing slang. Super gross scene where Watson stitches Holmes's tooth back into place. (I have a thing about teeth.) Zero female characters.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews