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Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese Junk Affair
Here are three short stories, each involving Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. In THE CHINESE JUNK AFFAIR they are in a desperate search to find the truth about an invention which could endanger Britain and the Empire. THE TICK TOCK MAN sees them on a walking holiday in Derbyshire, where their tranquillity is shattered by a curious death and a talking raven. Finally, in THE TROPHY ROOM, they are presented with a classic locked room mystery.
- GenresMystery
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 11, 2016
My thanks to Georgina Cutler: Editorial Assistant at Endeavour Press for my review copy of this book!
Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese junk Affair and Other Stories by Roy Templeman
“Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese Junk Affair”
Sir Simon Clayton, is a minister in the British Government. He has borne witness to something that could be of great importance to the nation if it turns out to be true. Sir Simon is convinced, but the fact is that the amount of money that has been demanded is high, and the government must be sure. For if the British Government does not purchase the idea for the given price, some foreign nation may use it against them!
The idea is the “Transposer” a form of teleportation. Sir Simon has an old friend named Richard Hardy who is an eccentric inventor. At Hardy’s home, Halam Hall; Sir Simon watches a full size Chinese Junk being built inside the underground ballroom over several months.
Then he witnesses as it disappears within two hours! Taken down to the docks, he finds the ship and the ten Chinamen who built it are already there.
This has very nice twists in the story and is an impossible event that requires explaining! I thought it was very well written. I give the story five stars!
“Sherlock Holmes and the Tick Tock Man”
Holmes and Watson are on holiday in Bakewell in Derbyshire. There they come upon a mystery.
The old Clockmaker, a German lovingly called “The Tick-Tock Man,” was found dead recently in his home. There are signs of violence, and the man’s home appears to have been frantically searched.
The clockmaker told the Vicar that he had money hidden that he wishes the Vicar to use in building and maintaining almshouses for the people of the village.
The clockmaker had a pet raven, who has taken to repeating over and over: “Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. Kiefernzapfen, kiefern-zapfen, kiefernzapfen!”
This is another neat mystery and very well written. There is a definite touch of Conan Doyle here. I give the story five stars!
The final story is “Sherlock Holmes and the Trophy Room.”
Viscount Siddems is a collector of various trophies from around the world. The hobby has become an obsession for him and he has had a trophy room built, a stand-alone building that is protected by man-traps, tripwires that are fastened to shotguns, and a flock of geese that will honk at the slightest disturbance.
And yet three trophies have been stolen, one at a time. None of the traps were thrown, no blasts from the shotguns, and no disturbance from the geese. The door to the building is left unlocked each time.
This is another impossible crime puzzle. Mr. Roy Templeman seems to have a very nice touch with these tales. I give this one five stars as well.
The book as a whole makes an excellent read! Each story is interesting and the puzzles are well thought out. Encore!
Quoth the Raven…
Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese junk Affair and Other Stories by Roy Templeman
“Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese Junk Affair”
Sir Simon Clayton, is a minister in the British Government. He has borne witness to something that could be of great importance to the nation if it turns out to be true. Sir Simon is convinced, but the fact is that the amount of money that has been demanded is high, and the government must be sure. For if the British Government does not purchase the idea for the given price, some foreign nation may use it against them!
The idea is the “Transposer” a form of teleportation. Sir Simon has an old friend named Richard Hardy who is an eccentric inventor. At Hardy’s home, Halam Hall; Sir Simon watches a full size Chinese Junk being built inside the underground ballroom over several months.
Then he witnesses as it disappears within two hours! Taken down to the docks, he finds the ship and the ten Chinamen who built it are already there.
This has very nice twists in the story and is an impossible event that requires explaining! I thought it was very well written. I give the story five stars!
“Sherlock Holmes and the Tick Tock Man”
Holmes and Watson are on holiday in Bakewell in Derbyshire. There they come upon a mystery.
The old Clockmaker, a German lovingly called “The Tick-Tock Man,” was found dead recently in his home. There are signs of violence, and the man’s home appears to have been frantically searched.
The clockmaker told the Vicar that he had money hidden that he wishes the Vicar to use in building and maintaining almshouses for the people of the village.
The clockmaker had a pet raven, who has taken to repeating over and over: “Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. Kiefernzapfen, kiefern-zapfen, kiefernzapfen!”
This is another neat mystery and very well written. There is a definite touch of Conan Doyle here. I give the story five stars!
The final story is “Sherlock Holmes and the Trophy Room.”
Viscount Siddems is a collector of various trophies from around the world. The hobby has become an obsession for him and he has had a trophy room built, a stand-alone building that is protected by man-traps, tripwires that are fastened to shotguns, and a flock of geese that will honk at the slightest disturbance.
And yet three trophies have been stolen, one at a time. None of the traps were thrown, no blasts from the shotguns, and no disturbance from the geese. The door to the building is left unlocked each time.
This is another impossible crime puzzle. Mr. Roy Templeman seems to have a very nice touch with these tales. I give this one five stars as well.
The book as a whole makes an excellent read! Each story is interesting and the puzzles are well thought out. Encore!
Quoth the Raven…
July 28, 2015
Review 7/28/15 : Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese Junk Affair
Roy Templeman
1998 Breese Books Limited 0-7089-5603-3
This is a collection of three short stories, written by Templeman. He was able to recreate a very close semblance to the style of Arthur Conan Doyle's writing of Sherlock Holmes.
This Sherlock, in these three stories is in a good mood and almost jovial. None of the stories are infested with murder or the nefarious actions of Moriarty or other master criminals. All of the stories occur in outlying areas away from the concentration of compressed urban humanity and the associated pollution and despair that was turn of the century London.
Holmes was also the central figure in these stories, and the perceptual solver of mysteries. I have noticed that many, if not all of the contemporary writers who invoke the Holmes character as a central structural component of their story, often use him as backdrop, where another character performs actions, and often has final insights, leaving Holmes to appear average in his mystery solution capabilities.
The three stories here are brief, and not exactly straightforward in the solution of their mystery. However in at least two, I could “see” the solution almost as quickly as Holmes began eliminating investigative possibilities.
I found the short reads to be refreshing, particularly since many of the books I read become engrossed in one character's personality and run on in an action-reaction suspense plot race. Other war suspense novels become sagas of militaristic detail, built on international suspense, and offering very little to the imagination in the manner of how to solve fundamental problems. This includes computer and IT works, which when fictionalized, never are accurate, and reveal the technological weakness of the authors or their sources.
This Holmes character reveals his suspected solution at the end of the story, and it is based on observation, investigation, and elimination of proposals or assumptions that were misleading from the beginning. Note that all of the possibilities and assumptions were realistic and did not require “over-the-top” actions or suspension of belief (ie. No alien technology was required.)
There is bulk added to the narration by Watson, who uses descriptive adjectives to create realistic stages for the action, characters, and auditory sequences.
Roy Templeman
1998 Breese Books Limited 0-7089-5603-3
This is a collection of three short stories, written by Templeman. He was able to recreate a very close semblance to the style of Arthur Conan Doyle's writing of Sherlock Holmes.
This Sherlock, in these three stories is in a good mood and almost jovial. None of the stories are infested with murder or the nefarious actions of Moriarty or other master criminals. All of the stories occur in outlying areas away from the concentration of compressed urban humanity and the associated pollution and despair that was turn of the century London.
Holmes was also the central figure in these stories, and the perceptual solver of mysteries. I have noticed that many, if not all of the contemporary writers who invoke the Holmes character as a central structural component of their story, often use him as backdrop, where another character performs actions, and often has final insights, leaving Holmes to appear average in his mystery solution capabilities.
The three stories here are brief, and not exactly straightforward in the solution of their mystery. However in at least two, I could “see” the solution almost as quickly as Holmes began eliminating investigative possibilities.
I found the short reads to be refreshing, particularly since many of the books I read become engrossed in one character's personality and run on in an action-reaction suspense plot race. Other war suspense novels become sagas of militaristic detail, built on international suspense, and offering very little to the imagination in the manner of how to solve fundamental problems. This includes computer and IT works, which when fictionalized, never are accurate, and reveal the technological weakness of the authors or their sources.
This Holmes character reveals his suspected solution at the end of the story, and it is based on observation, investigation, and elimination of proposals or assumptions that were misleading from the beginning. Note that all of the possibilities and assumptions were realistic and did not require “over-the-top” actions or suspension of belief (ie. No alien technology was required.)
There is bulk added to the narration by Watson, who uses descriptive adjectives to create realistic stages for the action, characters, and auditory sequences.
January 29, 2023
I love a good yarn, and Roy Templeman spins a good one in "Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese Junk Affair." It's more of a HOWdunnit than a WHOdunnit. It's the kind of story that will bring to mind some popular modern TV science fiction while remaining true to the language and setting with which Holmes fans are familiar. It also attempts to refute the Holmes quote "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
The "And Other Stories," "Sherlock Holmes and the Tick Tock Man" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Trophy Room," are equally of the HOWdunnit variety.
Interestingly, in Tick Tock Man, Holmes and Watson go on holiday to enjoy a ramble in Derbyshire. This is a true twist on the canon where Holmes idea of a vacation is filling the boredom of not having a case with cocaine.
The third tale is a morality play with a mystery that seems almost secondary, yet Holmes is intrigued.
Although the stories in this collection follow the Conan Doyle formula, they are quite different from those mysteries to which so much has been added in the intervening years. We have come to rely on Dr. Watson to convey Holmes' powers of observation and logic. Here are three narratives where Watson is absent when the necessary observations are made. The reasons for this absence vary from one piece to the next.
If you are not an inveterate nitpicker, you will certainly enjoy this foray off the beaten path as much as I did.
The "And Other Stories," "Sherlock Holmes and the Tick Tock Man" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Trophy Room," are equally of the HOWdunnit variety.
Interestingly, in Tick Tock Man, Holmes and Watson go on holiday to enjoy a ramble in Derbyshire. This is a true twist on the canon where Holmes idea of a vacation is filling the boredom of not having a case with cocaine.
The third tale is a morality play with a mystery that seems almost secondary, yet Holmes is intrigued.
Although the stories in this collection follow the Conan Doyle formula, they are quite different from those mysteries to which so much has been added in the intervening years. We have come to rely on Dr. Watson to convey Holmes' powers of observation and logic. Here are three narratives where Watson is absent when the necessary observations are made. The reasons for this absence vary from one piece to the next.
If you are not an inveterate nitpicker, you will certainly enjoy this foray off the beaten path as much as I did.
July 10, 2018
Staid enough to warrant boring. Three unlikely stories. An unrecognizable Holmes and Watson.
October 16, 2018
Great read, the way the junk "transported" was a question I could hardly wait to get the answer to.
October 22, 2022
This definitely had the tone and voice right for Doyle's stories, and the mysteries were pretty clever.
September 28, 2023
A literary triumph! The author's words have left an indelible mark on my soul.
January 29, 2023
1. And the Chinese Junk Affair - Has Rodger Hardy discovered teleportation.
2. And Tick Tock Man - after the German clockmaker died the local vicar was unable to discover the money he left in his will
3. And the Trophy Room - Viscount Siddens built a thief proof trophy house to keep his polo trophies safe. But one by one they are being stolen
Enjoyable short stories
2. And Tick Tock Man - after the German clockmaker died the local vicar was unable to discover the money he left in his will
3. And the Trophy Room - Viscount Siddens built a thief proof trophy house to keep his polo trophies safe. But one by one they are being stolen
Enjoyable short stories
June 1, 2016
This is the first ever Holmes pastiche which I have read, and for what it was I quite enjoyed it. One of the reasons being that these stories were perhaps the closest I've seen so far in terms of replicating the tone, pacing, and descriptive style of Conan Doyle's originals and that it's not only an echo but I found it could easily pass off as a new/unreleased Holmes mystery as written by the original author himself.
As for the mysteries themselves they were well written and again this is another strength of the book however it's the characterization that is the main achievement since this was the same Holmes & Watson I knew and loved but with slight nuances here and there which didn't come across as incredibly forced, so when combined with the mysteries it feels like you're along for the ride.
My only complaint is that the last tale while entertaining I thought was the weaker of the three in this collection. That and I wish this person had written more of them and with most Holmes fans.
This is probably debatable but I overall liked each story and thought it was a neat extension to the canon.
As for the mysteries themselves they were well written and again this is another strength of the book however it's the characterization that is the main achievement since this was the same Holmes & Watson I knew and loved but with slight nuances here and there which didn't come across as incredibly forced, so when combined with the mysteries it feels like you're along for the ride.
My only complaint is that the last tale while entertaining I thought was the weaker of the three in this collection. That and I wish this person had written more of them and with most Holmes fans.
This is probably debatable but I overall liked each story and thought it was a neat extension to the canon.
January 12, 2016
New stories for a couple of old codgers
I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and prefer those stories that keep to the original genre that Doyle was so famous for. Roy Templeton does a pretty good job of this. The main differences that I have found is that Mrs. Hudson is not yet a widow, and Sherlock does not struggle with bouts of depression or the use of narcotics. I greatly enjoy the length and diversity of the 3 tales in this edition. I had no clue of the end results. To me, this is a key factor for a classic Holmes and Watson story. I plan to continue to read more of Mr. Templeton's work and will also recommend him to other Sherlock fans.
I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and prefer those stories that keep to the original genre that Doyle was so famous for. Roy Templeton does a pretty good job of this. The main differences that I have found is that Mrs. Hudson is not yet a widow, and Sherlock does not struggle with bouts of depression or the use of narcotics. I greatly enjoy the length and diversity of the 3 tales in this edition. I had no clue of the end results. To me, this is a key factor for a classic Holmes and Watson story. I plan to continue to read more of Mr. Templeton's work and will also recommend him to other Sherlock fans.
April 18, 2016
Quite the mystery to be solved here.
I really enjoyed reading this book because so many times I've guessed the puzzle before it's been revealed,but not this time . All the clues are there but I wouldn't have ever put them together in the same way. So you really don't know where you're going to end up
I really enjoyed reading this book because so many times I've guessed the puzzle before it's been revealed,but not this time . All the clues are there but I wouldn't have ever put them together in the same way. So you really don't know where you're going to end up
November 6, 2015
A SherlockiIan Treat
A great read, well written and enjoyable. The great sleuth and the good doctor are up to it again. The game is truly afoot in these stories. A pleasantly enjoyable book for Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts and all fans of good mysteries.
A great read, well written and enjoyable. The great sleuth and the good doctor are up to it again. The game is truly afoot in these stories. A pleasantly enjoyable book for Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts and all fans of good mysteries.
October 12, 2015
This book is published by Endeavour Press.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews