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The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, Edgar Award–finalist Lyndsay Faye has masterfully woven these quintessential characters into her own works of fiction—from her acclaimed debut novel, Dust and Shadow, to a series of short stories for the Strand Magazine, whose predecessor published the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1892.
The best of Faye's Sherlockian tales, including two new works, are brought together in a collection that spans the character's career, from self-taught upstart to lauded detective, both before and after he faked his own death over a Swiss waterfall in 1894. In "The Lowther Park Mystery," the unsociable Holmes is forced to attend a garden party at the request of his politician brother and improvises a bit of theater to foil a conspiracy against the government. "The Adventure of the Thames Tunnel" brings Holmes's attention to the murder of a jewel thief in the middle of an underground railway passage.
With Holmes and Watson encountering all manner of ungrateful relatives, phony psychologists, wronged wives, outright villains, and even a peculiar species of deadly red leech, The Whole Art of Detection is a must-read for any fan of historical crime fiction.
The best of Faye's Sherlockian tales, including two new works, are brought together in a collection that spans the character's career, from self-taught upstart to lauded detective, both before and after he faked his own death over a Swiss waterfall in 1894. In "The Lowther Park Mystery," the unsociable Holmes is forced to attend a garden party at the request of his politician brother and improvises a bit of theater to foil a conspiracy against the government. "The Adventure of the Thames Tunnel" brings Holmes's attention to the murder of a jewel thief in the middle of an underground railway passage.
With Holmes and Watson encountering all manner of ungrateful relatives, phony psychologists, wronged wives, outright villains, and even a peculiar species of deadly red leech, The Whole Art of Detection is a must-read for any fan of historical crime fiction.
406 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 408 reviews
March 23, 2023
If you're a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories penned by Arthur Conan Doyle you'll enjoy this book. This collection of Sherlock Holmes tales written by Lyndsay Faye captures Conan Doyle's style, characterizations, old-timey language, flowery descriptions, quirky mysteries, sly humor.....everything that defines the original chronicles.
In these narratives Holmes artfully deals with a variety of intriguing cases such as: the haunting of Colonel Warburton, a former soldier in the Texas Army who has terrifying nightly visions of murderous Tejanos; an injured beggar dressed to the nines and a toff dressed in rags; the inexplicable poisoning of an entire family; a heinous country clinic for disturbed patients; a mysteriously missing twin brother; a corpse in the bath - with no wounds - drained of blood; a spiritualist with newfangled photochemical methods; an opera singer who's repeatedly kidnapped and released; and more.
In one very amusing story Lord Templeton, an effete dandy, invites Holmes and his 'doctor friend' (Weston? Wilson?) to a secret meeting of the Diadem Club. It seems the wealthy club members - ministers, baronets, and so on - are tasked with finding 'clever and famous people to bring into the fold'. (This strongly reminds of the Steve Carell movie "Dinner for Schmucks." LOL). Holmes, of course, is appalled by the idea, but goes at the urging of his brother Mycroft.
As in the original stories Holmes often disdains food and sleep, razzes on Scotland Yard detectives, makes lightning quick assessments of strangers, exchanges humorous banter with Watson, meets colorful ruthless miscreants, and collaborates with Inspector Lestrade. For his part, Watson sadly grieves after the death of his wife and happily rejoices when Holmes (whose 'death' devastated him) returns. On this note, a scene where Lestrade upbraids Holmes about the heartache caused by his phony demise at the Reichenbach Falls is very fitting.
Lyndsay Faye does a wonderful job continuing the Sherlock Holmes saga with these excellent stories. I'd highly recommend this book to mystery readers, particularly Sherlock Holmes fans. Keep on writing Ms. Faye!
Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this book.
You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/
March 8, 2017
I have read quite a lot of Sherlock Holmes stories written by authors than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Some good, some less than good. However, this collection is one of the finest I have ever read and the stories really feel like they were written by Conan Doyle himself.
The book's stories are both before he met Watson and both before and after his "death". All stories are high in quality and some are easier to solve than others. I especially like the dynamic relationship between Watson and Holmes. Sometimes, Watson is made out to be a stumbling buffoon, but in this collection is Watson more a fitting partner to Holmes. They work well together, and they are very good friends.
In this book, we meet damsels in distress, murders, thieves, etc. One story that comes to mind is one that takes place during The Hound of Baskerville because it's told through Holmes point of view, and also because it explains why Holmes stayed back in London while Watsons traveled to Dartmoor with Sir. Baskerville. And, that is just one story among many good.
It's a splendid collection, and now I want to read Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye!
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!
The book's stories are both before he met Watson and both before and after his "death". All stories are high in quality and some are easier to solve than others. I especially like the dynamic relationship between Watson and Holmes. Sometimes, Watson is made out to be a stumbling buffoon, but in this collection is Watson more a fitting partner to Holmes. They work well together, and they are very good friends.
In this book, we meet damsels in distress, murders, thieves, etc. One story that comes to mind is one that takes place during The Hound of Baskerville because it's told through Holmes point of view, and also because it explains why Holmes stayed back in London while Watsons traveled to Dartmoor with Sir. Baskerville. And, that is just one story among many good.
It's a splendid collection, and now I want to read Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye!
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!
March 20, 2024
I love Sherlock Holmes. I am also interested to read how others interpret him.
In this book...
Faye provides 4 Parts of short stories. Part I: Before Baker Street, Part II: The Early Years, Part III: The Return and Part IV: The Later Years.
With…
These 15 stories she gives an interesting view of Sherlock Holmes in those time periods, along with other characters Holmes fans have come to love, i.e., Doctor John Watson.
Which…
Makes it an interesting read for Sherlockians and historical crime fiction fans.
Some…
Of these tales had already been published for the Strand Magazine.
So…
Having this collection in one novel, makes it wonderful for fans.
This collection…
Spans Holme’s career, both before and after his faked death over a Swiss waterfall.
Which…
Makes this series…Fun. Satisfying. Imaginative. Well-written. With clever plots and colorful characters.
Faye has a gift for style and an eye for storytelling. A wonderful place to be for those who love everything Sherlock.
In this book...
Faye provides 4 Parts of short stories. Part I: Before Baker Street, Part II: The Early Years, Part III: The Return and Part IV: The Later Years.
With…
These 15 stories she gives an interesting view of Sherlock Holmes in those time periods, along with other characters Holmes fans have come to love, i.e., Doctor John Watson.
Which…
Makes it an interesting read for Sherlockians and historical crime fiction fans.
Some…
Of these tales had already been published for the Strand Magazine.
So…
Having this collection in one novel, makes it wonderful for fans.
This collection…
Spans Holme’s career, both before and after his faked death over a Swiss waterfall.
Which…
Makes this series…Fun. Satisfying. Imaginative. Well-written. With clever plots and colorful characters.
Faye has a gift for style and an eye for storytelling. A wonderful place to be for those who love everything Sherlock.
April 19, 2021
Buddy read with Saumen.
What I seek cannot be found by traveling backwards
This is an Arthur Conan Doyle’s pastiche which has 15 stories divided into 4 sections.While reading this book,I was a bit perplexed whether I were reading the very words of Doyle himself.The things that amused me were-
• Some stories penned by Holmes himself
• Intriguing case scenarios
• Insights into Watson’s private life and sorrows
I really loved the book and I look forward to reading more books from this author.Thank you Saumen for this book
What I seek cannot be found by traveling backwards
This is an Arthur Conan Doyle’s pastiche which has 15 stories divided into 4 sections.While reading this book,I was a bit perplexed whether I were reading the very words of Doyle himself.The things that amused me were-
• Some stories penned by Holmes himself
• Intriguing case scenarios
• Insights into Watson’s private life and sorrows
I really loved the book and I look forward to reading more books from this author.Thank you Saumen for this book
June 17, 2017
Lyndsay Faye is no stranger to the world of Sherlock Holmes. Having penned the popular Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson in which the great consulting detective takes on the greatest criminal of his day, the notorious Jack the Ripper, Faye is now reintroducing Holmes to the world in the format that it is most familiar with, as an anthology of short stories.
In The Whole Art of Detection Faye presents her readers with fifteen newly uncovered cases in four sections. The first section, Before Baker Street, begins with The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness, in which Watson describes events that occurred in San Francisco before he and Holmes met and Holmes offers his assessment of what actually happened. Other stories are told in a variety of formats including excerpts from Holmes’s notes on cases. This format is particularly interesting as it doesn’t have Watson’s innate kindness to soften the disdain that Holmes often feels for those who lack his mental prowess.
The section The Early Years is also interesting in that it gives readers an insight into Watson’s mental state after losing his best friend to Reichenbach Falls and his wife to disease only to learn that Holmes had been alive for three years and hadn’t bothered to let his trusted friend know. The remaining sections, The Return and The Later Years contain more traditional stories. In some, though, Faye takes pains to use the story’s plot to shed light on the quirkier aspects of Holmes’s personality. One of the most fascinating tales in Faye’s collection is The Adventure of the Memento Mori. In it, Holmes and Watson encounter a twisted doctor who shocks the detectives with the wanton brutality of his mental health treatments. The treatments that so offended them; ice baths, electricity, starvation, isolation, and mercury tablets, were commonly accepted treatments for mental illness until well into the twentieth century. Holmes’s reaction, though, was so extreme that readers might wonder if he had deep-seated issues of his on with regards to psychiatric treatment:
“The depths to which human depravity can sink will never cease to confound me. What are we to make of the species in light of this room? Where is progress? Where is logic? Where is reason itself when a savage smashing his comrade’s skull with a rock would be kinder treatment of the race? I ask you, what is the limit of our perversion? Hell is empty,” Holmes concluded under his breath. “And all the Devils are here.”
Only once in the entire collection was I disappointed by what I read and that is not in Faye’s portrayal of Holmes or Watson but in a matter of historical accuracy. in the first story "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness", Faye referred to “pitched fighting between the Texians - that is, the Anglo settlers - and the Tejanos”. As I understand it a Tejano, then as now, is a Hispanic resident of Texas. As Faye mentioned Sam Houston and the Battle of San Jacinto she had to be referring to was the Texas Revolution that was fought between the residents of Texas and a Mexican army led by Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna. At that time, there was no “pitched fighting between the Texians and the Tejanos”. The Texians and Tejanos were largely united in their efforts to resist the authority of a distant Mexican government. While some Tejanos sided with Mexico, most joined with the Texians and fought for their independence. Captain Juan Seguin and a company of Tejanos fought alongside Austin, Eight Tejanos fought and died defending the Alamo and three others were signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. In short, suggesting that the white and Hispanic settlers of Texas were at war with each other at this time does a disservice to both.
Simon Vance is an accomplished narrator and his stately British accent immediately reminds the reader of the older, stodgier portrayals of Dr. Watson. I may personally prefer the younger portrayals of Watson this is familiar, and therefore comforting territory.
Bottom Line: There have been many pastiches written about A. Conan Doyle’s marvelous detective duo but few really dig deep and make an effort to get to the heart of who Sherlock Holmes was and why he behaved the way he did. Lyndsay Faye a sincere effort to do so and has written many stories that would be a credit to John Watson’s portfolio. 4 ½ stars.
*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
In The Whole Art of Detection Faye presents her readers with fifteen newly uncovered cases in four sections. The first section, Before Baker Street, begins with The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness, in which Watson describes events that occurred in San Francisco before he and Holmes met and Holmes offers his assessment of what actually happened. Other stories are told in a variety of formats including excerpts from Holmes’s notes on cases. This format is particularly interesting as it doesn’t have Watson’s innate kindness to soften the disdain that Holmes often feels for those who lack his mental prowess.
The section The Early Years is also interesting in that it gives readers an insight into Watson’s mental state after losing his best friend to Reichenbach Falls and his wife to disease only to learn that Holmes had been alive for three years and hadn’t bothered to let his trusted friend know. The remaining sections, The Return and The Later Years contain more traditional stories. In some, though, Faye takes pains to use the story’s plot to shed light on the quirkier aspects of Holmes’s personality. One of the most fascinating tales in Faye’s collection is The Adventure of the Memento Mori. In it, Holmes and Watson encounter a twisted doctor who shocks the detectives with the wanton brutality of his mental health treatments. The treatments that so offended them; ice baths, electricity, starvation, isolation, and mercury tablets, were commonly accepted treatments for mental illness until well into the twentieth century. Holmes’s reaction, though, was so extreme that readers might wonder if he had deep-seated issues of his on with regards to psychiatric treatment:
“The depths to which human depravity can sink will never cease to confound me. What are we to make of the species in light of this room? Where is progress? Where is logic? Where is reason itself when a savage smashing his comrade’s skull with a rock would be kinder treatment of the race? I ask you, what is the limit of our perversion? Hell is empty,” Holmes concluded under his breath. “And all the Devils are here.”
Only once in the entire collection was I disappointed by what I read and that is not in Faye’s portrayal of Holmes or Watson but in a matter of historical accuracy. in the first story "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness", Faye referred to “pitched fighting between the Texians - that is, the Anglo settlers - and the Tejanos”. As I understand it a Tejano, then as now, is a Hispanic resident of Texas. As Faye mentioned Sam Houston and the Battle of San Jacinto she had to be referring to was the Texas Revolution that was fought between the residents of Texas and a Mexican army led by Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna. At that time, there was no “pitched fighting between the Texians and the Tejanos”. The Texians and Tejanos were largely united in their efforts to resist the authority of a distant Mexican government. While some Tejanos sided with Mexico, most joined with the Texians and fought for their independence. Captain Juan Seguin and a company of Tejanos fought alongside Austin, Eight Tejanos fought and died defending the Alamo and three others were signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. In short, suggesting that the white and Hispanic settlers of Texas were at war with each other at this time does a disservice to both.
Simon Vance is an accomplished narrator and his stately British accent immediately reminds the reader of the older, stodgier portrayals of Dr. Watson. I may personally prefer the younger portrayals of Watson this is familiar, and therefore comforting territory.
Bottom Line: There have been many pastiches written about A. Conan Doyle’s marvelous detective duo but few really dig deep and make an effort to get to the heart of who Sherlock Holmes was and why he behaved the way he did. Lyndsay Faye a sincere effort to do so and has written many stories that would be a credit to John Watson’s portfolio. 4 ½ stars.
*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
January 14, 2018
Excellent narration. Stories are uneven, ranging from meh to very good.
May 11, 2019
Well done, Lyndsay Faye! I've been on a Sherlock Holmes binge for about the last 6 weeks. I think it has come to a pause, but this collection of short stories added recently to the Holmes canon really hit the spot. While not every single one was a wow, most were really enjoyable, and I believe if put in a collection side-by-side with Conan Doyle penned Sherlock short stories, it would be hard to tell the difference. Great fun!
Why I'm reading this: Continuing my Sherlock Holmes binge! I discovered this collection of short stories while perusing the writings of Lyndsay Faye. I have her latest The Paragon Hotel on my tbr, but thought I'd continue the Sherlock theme with this one.
Why I'm reading this: Continuing my Sherlock Holmes binge! I discovered this collection of short stories while perusing the writings of Lyndsay Faye. I have her latest The Paragon Hotel on my tbr, but thought I'd continue the Sherlock theme with this one.
January 4, 2019
I’ve read quite a bit of Sherlock Holmes pastiche, though by no means even close to all of it, and so far, I think Lyndsay Faye’s version of Holmes and Watson is my favorite.
This collection is made up of fifteen stories published over a period of ten years, many of them in The Strand, the very same magazine that published Conan Doyle’s original stories. All of the stories mimic Conan Doyle’s style, as Faye (a member of the Baker Street Irregulars) is a player of the Great Game (all players behave as if everything ACD wrote actually happened, and Holmes and Watson were real).
She makes it very easy to believe. In my opinion, she hits just the perfect balance of mimicry and improvement. Conan Doyle’s writing could at times be a bit dry, and his stories were always plot-based, which didn’t leave much room for emotional development, which was nearly all of it between the lines. I get most of that from fanfic, which this essentially is. It’s basically professionally written fanfic with official backing (how much more official can you get besides being published in The Strand?)
The stories here are clever, the mysteries in the vein of something Conan Doyle would have written, and yet she also adds in little touches: Watson coping with the death of his wife and of Holmes, Holmes finally admitting he was a patronizing asshole to his client Mary Sutherland back in “A Case of Identity,” Watson trying to feed Holmes up (which is a staple of Sherlock Holmes fanfic).
I just really enjoyed this, and will definitely be coming back to it in the future. I was already a fan of Faye for having written Jane Steele (<3), but now I’m even more excited to read the rest of her stuff, including the novel-length Holmes pastiche she wrote about Holmes going up against Jack the Ripper, which I already own.
[4.5 stars]
This collection is made up of fifteen stories published over a period of ten years, many of them in The Strand, the very same magazine that published Conan Doyle’s original stories. All of the stories mimic Conan Doyle’s style, as Faye (a member of the Baker Street Irregulars) is a player of the Great Game (all players behave as if everything ACD wrote actually happened, and Holmes and Watson were real).
She makes it very easy to believe. In my opinion, she hits just the perfect balance of mimicry and improvement. Conan Doyle’s writing could at times be a bit dry, and his stories were always plot-based, which didn’t leave much room for emotional development, which was nearly all of it between the lines. I get most of that from fanfic, which this essentially is. It’s basically professionally written fanfic with official backing (how much more official can you get besides being published in The Strand?)
The stories here are clever, the mysteries in the vein of something Conan Doyle would have written, and yet she also adds in little touches: Watson coping with the death of his wife and of Holmes, Holmes finally admitting he was a patronizing asshole to his client Mary Sutherland back in “A Case of Identity,” Watson trying to feed Holmes up (which is a staple of Sherlock Holmes fanfic).
I just really enjoyed this, and will definitely be coming back to it in the future. I was already a fan of Faye for having written Jane Steele (<3), but now I’m even more excited to read the rest of her stuff, including the novel-length Holmes pastiche she wrote about Holmes going up against Jack the Ripper, which I already own.
[4.5 stars]
December 13, 2016
Overly Modernized and Overly Talkative Fan-Fiction. While this series of short stories gains a star at the debut of the first two shorts which dive into Sherlock Holmes' life before Baker Street, the rest of the shorts quickly become tedious and reveal an alternate universe where our beloved Sherlock Holmes is a gossipy goose.
March 12, 2017
I would give this book ten stars if I could. Lyndsay is a queen among pasticheurs, and delivers wholeheartedly with this collection. Her Holmes and Watson are living, breathing, snarking partners who adore one another and work together with beautiful efficiency. They care for one another so palpably, and this is what drives the Holmes stories from Doyle's conception of them to their eternal popularity. The mysteries here are drawn from unpublished cases and each of them is brilliantly built and so true to the original spirit of the canon.
Also they are married. Ten thumbs up.
Also they are married. Ten thumbs up.
April 19, 2017
Reads like Laurie King's books about Holmes. That's not meant as a compliment. I wish female Sherlockian's would stop trying to make Holmes a feminist.
August 28, 2017
3 ½ stars. I enjoyed this, but not nearly as much as I did her earlier full length Holmes tale, Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson. I think the problem for me is that in this collection of short stories, published in Strand Magazine and elsewhere between 2009 and 2016, Faye needs to spend time firmly establishing in each story how lean and chiseled her hero is, how self-consciously uninterested in food, and how devoted he and Watson are to one another, and the mysteries themselves sometimes feel, not merely “secondary,” but, as in the case of the last story, barely an afterthought. Each new tale opens with the suggestion of delightfully “Holmesian” intricacies, but then the relationship between Holmes and Watson devours the author's attention and the mysteries are rushed. Pleasant, but forgettable.
January 3, 2025
Always wanting more Sherlock Holmes
October 28, 2017
While I did like this book and enjoyed reading it, I didn't love it.
My mistake, perhaps, as the same has happened to me with the "remakes" of Agatha Christie's books. You have great characters, good plots and amazing writers but the whole doesn't seem to gel together.
I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan since I was quite young, and I've re read most of the books several times. The plots are very smart and Sherlock Holmes and Watson flow through the books, where their personalities complement each other and grow with each book.
In this book, some of the stories were much better than others, that is that I found them quite uneven. Also, I can't picture Holmes and his relations with women as they are described in this book. And Watson is not as interesting as in the original stories.
Overall, a pleasant read but not comparable to the original.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My mistake, perhaps, as the same has happened to me with the "remakes" of Agatha Christie's books. You have great characters, good plots and amazing writers but the whole doesn't seem to gel together.
I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan since I was quite young, and I've re read most of the books several times. The plots are very smart and Sherlock Holmes and Watson flow through the books, where their personalities complement each other and grow with each book.
In this book, some of the stories were much better than others, that is that I found them quite uneven. Also, I can't picture Holmes and his relations with women as they are described in this book. And Watson is not as interesting as in the original stories.
Overall, a pleasant read but not comparable to the original.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 15, 2016
I have read one other book by Lyndsey Faye (Jane Steele), and I loved it. This book is no different. If you are a fan of the television show "Sherlock", I think you will enjoy this book. Written in the manner of several stories across the Sherlock's timeline from when he was just starting out to his later years, the book kept me enthralled. Maybe it shows the fan-girl in me, but I kept hearing the voices of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Evan so, I believe that Ms. Faye stays true to the feel of Sherlock Holmes. While she references what I would call Sherlockian canon, she never delves into the past stories. These are the mysteries that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could've written but didn't. All in all, a most enjoyable book. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me ARC in exchange for an hones review.
March 10, 2017
Fantastic collection of short stories that fit seamlessly into the Sherlock Holmes Canon. Faye's writing feels like she channeled Doyle because these stories are so authentic to the characters.
Of course Simon Vance's narration was once again spot on he is the perfect voice for these books and once again does an awesome job!
Of course Simon Vance's narration was once again spot on he is the perfect voice for these books and once again does an awesome job!
December 15, 2018
Finally, a book about Holmes and Watson post-Conan Doyle that actually adds to the literature. I would say that all but one of Faye's stories were so in tune with the characters and writing style of the originals that they might have been written by Conan Doyle himself. The one that seemed a stretch was one in which Faye waxes poetic through the character of Holmes in a manner that didn't seem true to the character, though others may disagree. An argument could be made that post fake fall into falls, Holmes' humanity slipped out more often from behind his usual demure yet arrogant public face, an approach Faye seems to take in presenting a more likable Holmes. Either way, the large majority of the stories fit in form, skill and interest, even those written by the famous sleuth himself - brilliantly written and certainly recommended!
March 12, 2017
Originally published at Reading Reality
I have an often-confessed penchant for Sherlock Holmes pastiches. As a consequence, I’ve read a lot of them. Some take the Holmes canon into entirely different directions, like Laurie R. King’s Holmes/Russell series, A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas, or Stephanie Osborn’s Displaced Detective series. Others serve to either extend the existing canon or act as homages to it, attempting to recreate the style and the period of Conan Doyle’s original work, using his immortal characters and merely telling us new stories in the same spirit.
One of the best of the latter type that I have read was Lyndsay Faye’s Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson. In that story, she relates the investigation of the Jack the Ripper case as conducted by Sherlock Holmes and documented by his faithful friend, Dr. John Watson. If you have any interest either in Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, or late Victorian-set historical fiction, this book is a winner on all fronts.
I’ve been hoping for years that the author would return to Holmes, and she finally has in The Whole Art of Detection. Unlike the recent collaborative collections of Holmes pastiches edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, which do contain some marvelous stories each time, The Whole Art of Detection is the output of a single mind, just as the original Holmes canon was. And also like the canon, all of the stories in The Whole Art of Detection are set in Holmes’ native Victorian age, and for the most part purport to be written by Dr. John Watson in his inimitable style.
And it feels as if we are back there again. These stories feel like the familiar Holmes. They read as though they are part of the whole, merely a part that has been hidden until now. It is marvelous to immerse oneself back in that time and place, and with these two singular characters.
As much as I enjoyed the whole book, the stories that I loved the most were the two that were not told as stories, but as diary entries. It is clear within the stories that Watson is writing for his audience in The Strand Magazine, but in An Empty House we get to read a bit of Watson’s personal diary during March and April of 1894. At that time, Watson was recovering from the recent death of his wife Mary, and still dealing with the death of his friend Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls three years earlier. Watson’s method of dealing with Holmes’ death was to continue writing up their previous cases, as he is still doing within the pages of his diary. As a method for handling the stages of grief, neither the reader nor Watson himself is certain of its efficacy. And it is completely insufficient for helping him to handle his feelings about Mary’s recent passing. So we read Watson in his internal travails, his and his friends’ attempts to help him, and his resolution to finally quit England and his memories altogether. And then a miracle occurs.
In Memoranda Upon the Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma, on the other hand, we have a rare case narrated by Holmes himself. Like all the cases in The Whole Art of Detection, this case is firmly set not just within the original canon, but at a specific point within that canon. In this case, we see what Holmes was doing in September of 1888 when he sent Watson to Baskerville Hall ahead of him. In addition to viewing Holmes’ rather non-traditional resolution of this case, we also have the opportunity to read Holmes’ own thoughts and feelings about this case, the Baskerville mess, and his thoughts about his friendship with Watson and the fame that has resulted from Watson’s publications. It is a fascinating peek into a mind that we normally only see from the outside.
Escape Rating A: As is clear, I loved this book and had an utterly marvelous time dipping back into the adventures of Holmes and Watson. While many of these stories have been published before, this is the first time that they have all been gathered together. And there are a lot of them, so hunting them all down would be a task almost worthy of Holmes himself.
Just like Dust and Shadow, this collection gives the reader the feeling that we are back there again at 221B, sitting invisibly by their fireplace and listening to them discuss their cases. Like the original canon, these are all cracking good stories, and they run the gamut of the strange, the unusual, the criminal and the bizarre that the originals did.
As a 21st century reader, I have a sense that there is a bit more acknowledgement of the true depths of their friendship than was true in the originals. But I might be mistaken about that. I guess I’ll have to go back and read them again. Something to anticipate with great pleasure.
I have an often-confessed penchant for Sherlock Holmes pastiches. As a consequence, I’ve read a lot of them. Some take the Holmes canon into entirely different directions, like Laurie R. King’s Holmes/Russell series, A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas, or Stephanie Osborn’s Displaced Detective series. Others serve to either extend the existing canon or act as homages to it, attempting to recreate the style and the period of Conan Doyle’s original work, using his immortal characters and merely telling us new stories in the same spirit.
One of the best of the latter type that I have read was Lyndsay Faye’s Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson. In that story, she relates the investigation of the Jack the Ripper case as conducted by Sherlock Holmes and documented by his faithful friend, Dr. John Watson. If you have any interest either in Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, or late Victorian-set historical fiction, this book is a winner on all fronts.
I’ve been hoping for years that the author would return to Holmes, and she finally has in The Whole Art of Detection. Unlike the recent collaborative collections of Holmes pastiches edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, which do contain some marvelous stories each time, The Whole Art of Detection is the output of a single mind, just as the original Holmes canon was. And also like the canon, all of the stories in The Whole Art of Detection are set in Holmes’ native Victorian age, and for the most part purport to be written by Dr. John Watson in his inimitable style.
And it feels as if we are back there again. These stories feel like the familiar Holmes. They read as though they are part of the whole, merely a part that has been hidden until now. It is marvelous to immerse oneself back in that time and place, and with these two singular characters.
As much as I enjoyed the whole book, the stories that I loved the most were the two that were not told as stories, but as diary entries. It is clear within the stories that Watson is writing for his audience in The Strand Magazine, but in An Empty House we get to read a bit of Watson’s personal diary during March and April of 1894. At that time, Watson was recovering from the recent death of his wife Mary, and still dealing with the death of his friend Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls three years earlier. Watson’s method of dealing with Holmes’ death was to continue writing up their previous cases, as he is still doing within the pages of his diary. As a method for handling the stages of grief, neither the reader nor Watson himself is certain of its efficacy. And it is completely insufficient for helping him to handle his feelings about Mary’s recent passing. So we read Watson in his internal travails, his and his friends’ attempts to help him, and his resolution to finally quit England and his memories altogether. And then a miracle occurs.
In Memoranda Upon the Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma, on the other hand, we have a rare case narrated by Holmes himself. Like all the cases in The Whole Art of Detection, this case is firmly set not just within the original canon, but at a specific point within that canon. In this case, we see what Holmes was doing in September of 1888 when he sent Watson to Baskerville Hall ahead of him. In addition to viewing Holmes’ rather non-traditional resolution of this case, we also have the opportunity to read Holmes’ own thoughts and feelings about this case, the Baskerville mess, and his thoughts about his friendship with Watson and the fame that has resulted from Watson’s publications. It is a fascinating peek into a mind that we normally only see from the outside.
Escape Rating A: As is clear, I loved this book and had an utterly marvelous time dipping back into the adventures of Holmes and Watson. While many of these stories have been published before, this is the first time that they have all been gathered together. And there are a lot of them, so hunting them all down would be a task almost worthy of Holmes himself.
Just like Dust and Shadow, this collection gives the reader the feeling that we are back there again at 221B, sitting invisibly by their fireplace and listening to them discuss their cases. Like the original canon, these are all cracking good stories, and they run the gamut of the strange, the unusual, the criminal and the bizarre that the originals did.
As a 21st century reader, I have a sense that there is a bit more acknowledgement of the true depths of their friendship than was true in the originals. But I might be mistaken about that. I guess I’ll have to go back and read them again. Something to anticipate with great pleasure.
October 13, 2016
Galley provided by publisher
I have never been Sherlock Holmes' biggest fan. Sure, I read them (or rather, my mum read them too me, and freaked me out a little), but I've not read any Holmes stories in at least 10 years. Lyndsay Faye's take on Holmes and Watson is wholly refreshing and, although some stories worked better than others, totally in the vein of the originals (or, what I can recall of the originals).
My first thought on starting the book, within the first paragraph, was how uncannily similar to Arthur Conan Doyle's writing the style is. Lyndsay Faye has managed to mimic his style so closely that it reads as if it would slot into his stories with ease. If I had any problem with the style it would be that, occasionally, the descriptiveness of the writing didn't suit the context it was in, like in the first few stories, where it's just Watson and Holmes recounting stories, the speech seemed somewhat stilted because it was very descriptive. But that problem disappears for the most part after the part one.
The best stories were, in fact, the ones that were written as entries into Holmes' diary. These were amusing, and managed not to seem condescending, as can happen when your detective is a Brilliant Detective who is a genius and therefore sees links mere mortals would not.
Part three was the saddest of the parts, as it follows Holmes' "death" (which, I'll admit, I never read), and this is where Lyndsay Faye's ability to make me emotional comes into play. It's very subtle; most of the time it's just a sentence thrown in almost carelessly, which is able to just force you to stop and think. It's a skill that most of my favourite authors appear to have, and she repeatedly does the same in her Timothy Wilde Mysteries.
Overall I think this is a great set of Sherlock Holmes stories which stay true to the characters and style (it's clear that she has done copious amounts of research, and is a huge fan of the original stories herself), and should satisfy both avid fans and those who are perhaps less so.
I have never been Sherlock Holmes' biggest fan. Sure, I read them (or rather, my mum read them too me, and freaked me out a little), but I've not read any Holmes stories in at least 10 years. Lyndsay Faye's take on Holmes and Watson is wholly refreshing and, although some stories worked better than others, totally in the vein of the originals (or, what I can recall of the originals).
My first thought on starting the book, within the first paragraph, was how uncannily similar to Arthur Conan Doyle's writing the style is. Lyndsay Faye has managed to mimic his style so closely that it reads as if it would slot into his stories with ease. If I had any problem with the style it would be that, occasionally, the descriptiveness of the writing didn't suit the context it was in, like in the first few stories, where it's just Watson and Holmes recounting stories, the speech seemed somewhat stilted because it was very descriptive. But that problem disappears for the most part after the part one.
The best stories were, in fact, the ones that were written as entries into Holmes' diary. These were amusing, and managed not to seem condescending, as can happen when your detective is a Brilliant Detective who is a genius and therefore sees links mere mortals would not.
Part three was the saddest of the parts, as it follows Holmes' "death" (which, I'll admit, I never read), and this is where Lyndsay Faye's ability to make me emotional comes into play. It's very subtle; most of the time it's just a sentence thrown in almost carelessly, which is able to just force you to stop and think. It's a skill that most of my favourite authors appear to have, and she repeatedly does the same in her Timothy Wilde Mysteries.
Overall I think this is a great set of Sherlock Holmes stories which stay true to the characters and style (it's clear that she has done copious amounts of research, and is a huge fan of the original stories herself), and should satisfy both avid fans and those who are perhaps less so.
March 6, 2017
Holmes fanatics rejoice! Finally there is a collection of stories that adequately celebrate, and imitate, the original.
I am always suspicious when approaching a book that carries on where the original left off. Death Comes to Pemberley, Rebecca’s Tale, The House of Silk, and The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes all failed with varying degrees of embarrassment. As a reader, I was left angry, disappointed and frustrated by those titles.
A fatal flaw in those and so many similar books is the temptation to somehow recreate a more formal past. Silk dresses and fancy mansions overshadow a good story with interesting characters.
I’ve often argued that what makes Holmes so good, and so evergreen, is the simplicity. The style of writing is not fanciful and the adventures are varied. The loss of a gem or a horse is found next to dictionary transcription and a quiet child in equal measure.
Please read my full review: http://mwgerard.com/review-the-whole-...
I am always suspicious when approaching a book that carries on where the original left off. Death Comes to Pemberley, Rebecca’s Tale, The House of Silk, and The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes all failed with varying degrees of embarrassment. As a reader, I was left angry, disappointed and frustrated by those titles.
A fatal flaw in those and so many similar books is the temptation to somehow recreate a more formal past. Silk dresses and fancy mansions overshadow a good story with interesting characters.
I’ve often argued that what makes Holmes so good, and so evergreen, is the simplicity. The style of writing is not fanciful and the adventures are varied. The loss of a gem or a horse is found next to dictionary transcription and a quiet child in equal measure.
Please read my full review: http://mwgerard.com/review-the-whole-...
October 21, 2017
This series of short stories captures many of the hallmarks of the Sherlock Holmes canon as established by Arthur Conan Doyle, but the actual mystery and solution elements of the individual cases receive a short shrift. None of the villains or the plots were all that memorable, but the overall Holmesian aura was still very well done. It seemed like more care was taken in recreating the ACD style, but not enough on actual clever plots.
I listened to the Audible Audio edition thanks to an Audible Daily Deal. The narration by audiobook veteran Simon Vance was excellent.
I listened to the Audible Audio edition thanks to an Audible Daily Deal. The narration by audiobook veteran Simon Vance was excellent.
March 3, 2024
exceeded expectations, and my expectations were high. i loved Faye's writing, her portrayal of Holmes and Watson, and the mysteries she creates. would very much recommend.
January 20, 2022
Amusing, respectful, superb.
September 30, 2017
Unlike many of the reviewers here, I was not given a free copy of The Whole Art of Detection by NetGalley or the author or anyone else in exchange for an honest review. No, I bought Lyndsay Faye’s collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiches for myself. If my honest review can prevent another poor but true Holmes fan from making the same mistake, I will consider myself repaid.
I am stunned at the number of reviewers — including a few respectable Sherlockians quoted on the dust jacket — who assert that Faye has captured Arthur Conan Doyle’s style to perfection. I defy anyone to read one of Faye’s overwritten stories, then immediately read an original Holmes story by Doyle and repeat this assertion. To read Faye and Doyle back-to-back is to reveal Faye’s imitation of Doyle as uniquely bad.
I say “uniquely”, but really that’s almost unfair. Unfortunately for Faye, she falls into the same dreary traps that have caught so many of Doyle’s would-be imitators. To begin with, she seems to think that “high Victorian style” begins and ends with polysyllabic excess. Why use a simple word when an abstruse one is available? Why be satisfied with a compact phrase when one can gleefully pile phrase on phrase in motley array? To read Faye is to be immersed in overstuffed sentences that twist and turn like the fabled back-alleys of London itself, but with much less interesting effect.
For that matter, why say something once when you can say it twice? (Examples abound: “…a young lady rushed after him in pursuit” instead of “…a young lady pursued him”.)
Faye leans heavily on modifiers instead of letting her nouns do the work, a sure sign of an unsure author. Some enterprising editor should instruct Faye, when she finishes a story, to go back and delete one-third of all the adjectives and adverbs. Then go back and delete another one-half.
Faye’s overuse of simile also grates. A well-placed simile can be invaluable (Doyle himself uses them to good effect), but Faye relies on them so often that one begins to suspect she prefers to avoid describing an actual thing by describing something else.
In short, Faye utterly fails to capture the essence of Doyle’s style: his spare, muscular prose and his unmatched ability to drive a story forward with little fuss and even less frippery.
Nowhere is this failing more evident than in the dialogue between Holmes and Watson. Faye turns these two laconic bachelors into a couple of endlessly clucking hens, constantly needling each other, scoring off each other, and generally playing slap-and-tickle. Even their unspoken dialogue is a riot of flicked eyebrows, quirked lips, and thrusting chins. The stoic Holmes and Watson of Doyle become, in Faye’s hands, a couple of annoying, incontinent ninnies.
Any suspense created within the stories themselves is beside the point, hopelessly obscured by the fog of bad style and sophomoric dialogue.
My hopes were very high for this work, especially based on the glowing reviews here (which I now suspect are not entirely “honest”). I made a sincere effort to read deeply enough into the book for an informed judgment. Sad to say, the stories did not get progressively better, as I kept telling myself they surely would. I’m forced to leave this one unfinished.
[Final note to other reviewers: a female writer of pastiche is a “pasticheuse”, not a “pasticheur”. Like it or not, French is one of those funny languages that require the proper gender.]
I am stunned at the number of reviewers — including a few respectable Sherlockians quoted on the dust jacket — who assert that Faye has captured Arthur Conan Doyle’s style to perfection. I defy anyone to read one of Faye’s overwritten stories, then immediately read an original Holmes story by Doyle and repeat this assertion. To read Faye and Doyle back-to-back is to reveal Faye’s imitation of Doyle as uniquely bad.
I say “uniquely”, but really that’s almost unfair. Unfortunately for Faye, she falls into the same dreary traps that have caught so many of Doyle’s would-be imitators. To begin with, she seems to think that “high Victorian style” begins and ends with polysyllabic excess. Why use a simple word when an abstruse one is available? Why be satisfied with a compact phrase when one can gleefully pile phrase on phrase in motley array? To read Faye is to be immersed in overstuffed sentences that twist and turn like the fabled back-alleys of London itself, but with much less interesting effect.
For that matter, why say something once when you can say it twice? (Examples abound: “…a young lady rushed after him in pursuit” instead of “…a young lady pursued him”.)
Faye leans heavily on modifiers instead of letting her nouns do the work, a sure sign of an unsure author. Some enterprising editor should instruct Faye, when she finishes a story, to go back and delete one-third of all the adjectives and adverbs. Then go back and delete another one-half.
Faye’s overuse of simile also grates. A well-placed simile can be invaluable (Doyle himself uses them to good effect), but Faye relies on them so often that one begins to suspect she prefers to avoid describing an actual thing by describing something else.
In short, Faye utterly fails to capture the essence of Doyle’s style: his spare, muscular prose and his unmatched ability to drive a story forward with little fuss and even less frippery.
Nowhere is this failing more evident than in the dialogue between Holmes and Watson. Faye turns these two laconic bachelors into a couple of endlessly clucking hens, constantly needling each other, scoring off each other, and generally playing slap-and-tickle. Even their unspoken dialogue is a riot of flicked eyebrows, quirked lips, and thrusting chins. The stoic Holmes and Watson of Doyle become, in Faye’s hands, a couple of annoying, incontinent ninnies.
Any suspense created within the stories themselves is beside the point, hopelessly obscured by the fog of bad style and sophomoric dialogue.
My hopes were very high for this work, especially based on the glowing reviews here (which I now suspect are not entirely “honest”). I made a sincere effort to read deeply enough into the book for an informed judgment. Sad to say, the stories did not get progressively better, as I kept telling myself they surely would. I’m forced to leave this one unfinished.
[Final note to other reviewers: a female writer of pastiche is a “pasticheuse”, not a “pasticheur”. Like it or not, French is one of those funny languages that require the proper gender.]
September 26, 2016
"I require your assistance, and you suppose you're too good for my money! Well, you aren't, Mr. Holmes!"
"On the contrary. I suspect that I've been too good for better people's money as a matter of fact."
The cases Holmes investigates in pastiches are often grand and important. Conspiracies that involve powerful people. Killers that are so clever nobody but Holmes even knows that they're out there. Cases where the future of the world is at stake (or worse: The future of England). That doesn't have to be a bad thing but to me the point of the original stories has always been that Holmes didn't investigate important cases. He investigated interesting cases. And sometimes it would turn out that there wasn't even a crime behind it all, only an interesting story. But that was enough.
The Whole Art of Detection captures exactly that spirit. All but one stories are about mundane things but that doesn't mean that they're boring. Just because somebody's actions don't have far-reaching consequences doesn't mean they can't do really clever things that are interesting to read about.
Now in some of the stories the solution was quite easy to guess which is a minor drawback but since I enjoyed everything else about them so much I didn't really mind it. Especially because apart from engaging mysteries Faye is also great at writing the relationship between Holmes and Watson and showing how much they care about each other. If you want to be nit-picky you might argue that it's a bit too much. Not because they express their emotions in a manner that would have been inappropriate for Victorian gentlemen but because almost every story has a few lines (or more) that show that, while Conan Doyle used such scenes very sparsely. I, however, am not nit-picky about that. I just enjoy it very much.
ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 16, 2017
It is difficult for me to read any Holmes pastiche. Even the better ones fall upon my ear like the high school band assaying Souza. One recognizes the broad outlines, the various boxes checked off (Watsonian weather ruminations, obligatory deductive flourishes, etc), but somehow it just does not get there. I read this because friends urged it on me who had enjoyed Ms Faye's prior novel, which I have yet to read. One often gets the tantalizing impression here that if one could take bits and pieces of each of these short stories and excise the inevitable and probably unavoidable syntactic anachronisms one might reach the Promised Land of a paragraph or two which could not be distinguished from the "tincture Conan Doyle." This is not the fault of Ms Faye, whose dry wit, and love of these characters can be seen in every story in this book, but of the reader expecting more than could be given. She avoids many of the pitfalls into which have fallen so many previous pasticheurs (populating them with every notable figure of the Victorian and Edwardian eras foremost among them), but she was not born in the 1850's. Rex Stout was once asked his opinion of authors who it seems are now called, in a loathsome locution, "continuators." He replied, "I don't know whether to call them vampires or cannibals. Let them roll their own." I understand that Ms Faye is now rolling her own, and am pleased to hear it. It seems to me a less hazardous enterprise for a writer of her obvious felicity of expression, and talent, than the one evidenced by this book.
March 24, 2018
Lyndsay Faye is the author of one of my favorite novel-length Sherlock Holmes pastiches, Dust and Shadow, and her short Sherlockian works similarly do not disappoint. She has a wonderful grasp of Watson's voice, and the few stories told from Holmes's point of view are both carefully crafted and laugh-out-loud funny. Although Faye is adept at constructing mysteries in these stories, her focus and forte is characterization. Over and over again, these stories celebrate and unpack the unique bond between Holmes and Watson (and, for that matter, others in their orbit, such as Mycroft and Lestrade) in a very loving (although, yes, sometimes repetitive) way. The more you know Arthur Conan Doyle's canon, and the more you care about these heroes, the more you will find to appreciate in these tales.
April 22, 2017
I've never read Lyndsay Faye before now, but I might have to go out and read everything she's ever deigned to commit to print. This goes beyond Holmes fan service, to the point where I will proudly display this collection of stories alongside Conan Doyle's. There were at least two that made me want to stand up and cheer - or maybe shoot a patriotic VR into my wall. If you're a sucker for the Holmes/Watson relationship at all, this is required reading. There's maybe one mediocre story in this collection, and while Holmes stories can sometimes feel like a dime a dozen, the other eleven here are more than worth the $40.
April 9, 2019
If I weren't inclined to Holmes, I'd have given it 3.5. But as I'm one, it's a four star.
August 5, 2019
These charming but repetitive Sherlock Holmes become more predictable as you go along. They are more about ambiance than mystery.
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