The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Gentleman Burglar

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #32

by Sam Siciliano

A daring and delightful crossover of Sherlock Holmes and his criminal Arsène Lupin, the Gentleman Burglar. These superb sleuths will solve intricate riddles and journey across France and beyond to uncover the long-lost treasure of the House of Bourbon.

Sherlock Holmes and his cousin, Vernier, have been hired by the Baron of Creuse to find the legendary lost treasure of the kings of France. 

Trekking from La Belle Époque Paris to a chateau in the rural center of France, Holmes, Vernier and a new companion must employ all their wit to solve the fiendishly difficult puzzle of the Hollow Needle. After deciphering the meaning of the phrase “st. s. 138” and decoding a mysterious document, they realize the answer lies to the north in Normandy near the town of Étretat. Together, they follow a long-buried path to an ancient secret, but fresh mysteries and new complications immediately arise.

But other forces are at work, and jealous hands seek to interfere with Holmes’s work. He must team up with the notorious gentleman-burglar, Arsène Lupin, if he is to find the treasure and avert an international disaster at sea.

Genres: Mystery

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 28, 2024

About the author

Early on, Sam Siciliano developed a taste for fantastical worlds better than the one he was stuck with. He grew up reading the golden-age juvenile science fiction of Heinlein and Andre Norton, the Mars and Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Baum's Oz books, Brooks' tales set on a New England farm where Freddy the Pig had his adventures, and of course, there was the London of Sherlock Holmes. Siciliano has a doctorate in English Literature and taught briefly at the college level, but because of the terrible academic job market, he ended up with a career in information technology, mostly as a database administrator. His reading and authorial tastes remain diverse, with a special fondness for genre fiction. Besides ten Sherlock Holmes' pastiches, he has had three vampire novels published. At the University of Iowa, Siciliano met and married fellow graduate student Mary Slowik, and the two have raised three children and several cats together in the Northwest.

Here is the order and inspiration for the Holmes series:

THE ANGEL OF THE OPERA
(Inspired by Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera)
THE WEB WEAVER
THE GRIMSWELL CURSE
(Inspired by Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles)
THE WHITE WORM
(Inspired by Bram Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm)
THE MOONSTONE'S CURSE
(Inspired by Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone)
THE DEVIL AND THE FOUR
(Inspired by Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four)
THE VENERABLE TIGER
(Inspired by Conan Doyle's "The Speckled Band")
DEATHLY RELICS
THE GENTLEMAN BURGLAR
(Inspired by Maurice Leblanc's The Hollow Needle)
SHE REINCARNATE
(Inspired by Rider Haggard's She)

Reviews

[Connie]

I enjoy reading the Sherlock Holmes adventures written by Sam Siciliano, especially the French element. I'd worked out one of the characters before the reveal and also another reveal towards the end, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.
I needed this palette cleanser before going back to my fantasy reads.

[Jens]

I’ve loved Siciliano’s adaptations up to this one. I could’ve done with a different evil villain plot. The addition of Beautrelet’s character was fun though. And I appreciated his usual Francophile style of writing.

[David Knapp]

I'm a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes pastiches written by Sam Siciliano. I've read all of his Titan Publishing works featuring Sherlock's cousin Dr. Henry Vernier as his Boswell - rather than John Watson.

Therefore, I was excited to read this latest entry. And while I enjoyed it, I also would have to say it was my least favorite of Siciliano's pastiches.

Why?

A lot of it had to do with the plot. As you know, I never go deeply into plots in my reviews to avoid spoilers. But here's the jacket summary:

"A daring and delightful crossover of Sherlock Holmes and his criminal Arsène Lupin, the Gentleman Burglar. These superb sleuths will solve intricate riddles and journey across France and beyond to uncover the long-lost treasure of the House of Bourbon.

Sherlock Holmes and his cousin, Vernier, have been hired by the Baron of Creuse to find the legendary treasure of the kings of France.

Trekking from La Belle Époque Paris to a chateau in the rural center of France, Holmes, Vernier and a new companion must employ all their wit to solve the fiendishly difficult puzzle of the Hollow Needle. After deciphering the meaning of the phrase “ st. s. 138” and decoding a mysterious document, they realize the answer lies to the north in Normandy near the town of Étretat. Together, they follow a long-buried path to an ancient secret, but fresh mysteries and new complications immediately arise.

But other forces are at work, and jealous hands seek to interfere with Holmes’s work. He must team up with the notorious gentleman-burglar, Arsène Lupin, if he is to find the treasure and avert an international disaster at sea."

The problem was not the plot per se, it was that it lacked the action and intrigue of Siciliano's other pastiche plots. I typically devour his works in a day; however, this one took me three days to get through. And I found myself more drawn to the nonfiction work I was reading simultaneously with this one because I found this novel to be plodding at times.

On the plus side, I liked the character of Arsène Lupin and thought he partnered well with Holmes. And Siciliano was once again a master of mimicking Arthur Conan Doyle's voice. When I read his pastiches, I absolutely hear Sherlock's voice in the dialogue. And that's a rare occurrence in the pastiches written by other modern writers.

Ultimately, however, I didn't love this novel - I just liked it. Hence, the three stars.

[Calvin Daniels]

More correctly a 2.5

Part of a long-running collection of books related by SH but little else. Some are excellent, a few bad, and some like this one OK.

The story generally tried too hard to thread a bunch of old stories together (Jules Verne sub etc). And far too many puzzles boringly solved (made worse they were in French).

Most memorable thing is as a former farmer I learned of a different French breed of swine and while interesting it is telling of the over detail in this one. Chop 50 pages likely would have helped.

[Danny]

I may be reading too many Sherlock Holmes pastiches, but both Angelique and Isidore were a bit too obvious. Anyway, fun story chasing after the treasure of the french kings (and no it wasn't the bloodline this time)

[Jim Benton]

The best Siciliano Holmes story I've read

[Zeke Zimonick]

I enjoyed the two protagonists working together instead of against each other. A nice take on a classic story.