SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE QUALITY OF MERCY AND OTHER STORIES

Holmes and Challenger

by William Meikle

"When I first set out to document the casebook of my good friend Sherlock Holmes, there were some cases I approached with a certain degree of trepidation. Holmes has a public face as a man of strict rationality, a stickler for method and observation. But Holmes himself has always been open to more extreme possibilities."

It is the character first and foremost that draws me to Holmes. Doyle brought him to life. He is instantly recognizable all over the world and has been for over 100 years. Few other writers have managed that trick.

For anyone who loves great storytelling and well crafted stories this book is for you. For Sherlock Holmes fans this book is an absolute must and I highly recommend it.- FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud. The feel of each story brings me back to those old tales of Sherlock Holmes, and one can easily believe that Meikle has unearthed some forgotten tome that contains all of the supernatural, extraterrestrial and just plain old unnatural adventures of Holmes and his trusty companion, Dr. Watson - THE DEEPENING

Meikle writes Holmes and Watson with a warm friendship. Their interaction is reminiscent of the radio series featuring Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as the story-telling Watson. The collection is a quick read, with plenty of twists and turns in each of the cases. Fans of Holmes in any medium will enjoy this anthology. - HORRORVIEW

Genres: Mystery, Horror, Short Stories, Crime, Supernatural, Ghosts, Detective

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2013

About the author

I'm a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than thirty novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries.

My work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and I have recent short story sales to NATURE Futures and Galaxy's Edge. When I'm not writing I play guitar, drink beer and dream of fortune and glory.

For an intro to me, my writing and my accent see my Youtube channel

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining Holmes listening 🎶🔰

This kindle e-book novella is from my Kindle Unlimited account book four of five

I started this series in 2022 and in 2024 two more books 📚 were released.

Eleven individual tales of Sherlock Holmes cases. Each is different with interesting characters lots of action and misdirection leading to each conclusion.

I would recommend this series and author to 👍 fans of Sherlock Holmes and British 🏰 mystery novels 👍🔰 2024 👒😤😇

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buena colección de relatos, incluyendo una novela corta, de pastiches Holmesianos. Se trata de una agradable mezcla de los personajes clásicos de Sir Arthur Conan Doyle con elementos fantásticos y sobrenaturales. Todos están muy bien, pero me quedaría con ‘The Yellow Peril’, donde una plaga en forma de hongo quiere ser utilizada como arma, y ‘The Case of the Jade Pendant’, con una temática que nunca falla, la licantropía.

Habrá que seguir leyendo historias de William Meikle, que también tiene pastiches del Profesor Challenger y Carnacki, el cazador de fantasmas.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable book, I limited myself to one story per day to make the book last as long as possible.

[Michael Fierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Publisher's Copy (PC) of the Slipcased Deluxe Edition containing 2 additional stories and 2 additional illustrations not found in the original publications.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Meikle, one of the most prolific storytellers of our times, has been writing stories of detection & mysteries for quite some time. After rejuvenating one of the greatest Occult Detectives, i.e. William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, he has now given the Great Detective his series of adventures where things are rather outré, and don’t conform to the “no ghosts need apply” maxim. Several such stories had found their way into various anthologies, and then a separate novella published by Dark Regions Press. Now Dark Renaissance Books has enabled us to savour most of such adventures of Sherlock Holmes within this beautifully produced & atmospherically illustrated (by M. Wayne Miller) hardcover.

Followed by the ‘Acknowledgements’ and ‘List of Illustrations’, the contents of this book are: -

• A Prologue
1. “The Quality of Mercy”: One of the best stories that had earlier been included in the collection ‘Gaslight Grotesque’, this tale deals with Holmes’ first encounter with the things beyond his brightly illuminated circle of reason. It is simultaneously horrific and poignant, and prepares the ground for the next round.
2. “The Case of the Walrus Tusk”: Another taut adventure, this one literally catches the reader by his neck, and despite being predictable, succeeds in chilling us considerably.
3. “The Color That Came to Chiswick”: A superlative Lovecraftian adventure which is more science-fiction than occult. Tight, and rather open-ended, keeping the scope of other ‘visitations’ alive.
4. “The Call of the Dance”: Another science-fiction adventure that somehow seems to be more at home in a Carnacki book than one of the Great Detective.
5. “The Case of the Highland Fiddle”: This story revisits the theme that has been much better utilized by the author in his superior novel ‘The Concordances of the Red Serpent’, with less action and more of music.
6. “The Case of the Lost Overcoat”: A simple ghost-story, told well, involving Holmes & Watson, and an overcoat.
7. “The Case of the Tibetan Rug”: A suspenseful story, full of vivid characters, rich imagery, lean narrative, and Holmes in dire straits!
8. “The Yellow Peril”: Another breathtaking tale involving bioterrorism, espionage, and our heroes risking their lives for the safety of the realm.
9. “The Case of the Jade Pendant”: Predictable, but well-told story.
10. “Revenant”: This novella is the crème-de-la-crème of this collection. Although it again treads the ground that has been already walked over by the author on several occasions, this story is almost a retelling of ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’ with Holmes & Watson as our imperiled heroes, and a very-very nasty antagonist on their tracks, with his own grand crime already plotted.

Overall, this is one of the most superior collection of pastiches of the Great Detective, and certainly one of the best where we have Holmes dealing with the paranormal.

Highly Recommended.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Meikle's take on Sherlock Holmes is sublime. The classic Holmes characters is deftly mixed with the dark supernatural in such a way that I cannot believe Doyle himself did not pen the tales. I had the honor of illustrating these supernatural tales, and consider the collection a must read for any serious fan of Holmes and the pulp magic of the Weird Tales era. This book gives it all, and then some.

[David Elkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Meikle is one of the best "pulp" pastiche authors in the free world. I really enjoyed the 3 tales of Holmes and the supernatural horrors he faces in the 3 tales. Holmes and Watson are spot on. If you are a fan of the genre, you can't do much better than this author. He is prolific and a blast to read. He has great pricing on amazon and I can't recommend him highly enough.

[Lonny Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good reading

[John R. Dailey Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE STRANGE IS AFEET IN THIS ONE...

Hello, as usual, this is very good set of tales. Interesting to read and very entertaining. Wish there was more. Thanks.

[Belter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elemental

Superb rendition of a Holmes story loved the paranormal element it surely would have pleasdef Conan doyle I recommend this book thoroughly

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyable set of stories, loved them

[BERNARD ANDREWS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly enjoyable, but not all new

A good set of Holmes and Watson pastiche stories with SF or horror elements. For me I was a little disappointed that I had read some of the stories before.

[Clayton Bye · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.thedeepening.com/2013/05/1...

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun collection; it is not too serious with Holmes and Watson. I preferred the short stories to the novella. "The Yellow Peril" was the stand out story to me; it brought the creepiness.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very pulpy. Mostly short. Like this review.