The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part VII: Eliminate The Impossible: 1880-1891

MX New Sherlock Holmes Stories #7

by David Marcum, Jan Edwards (Contributor), Lee Child (Contributor)

Part VII - Eliminate the Impossible: 1880-1891 features contributions by: Mark Mower, Jan Edwards, Daniel D. Victor, James Lovegrove, Gayle Lange Puhl, Thomas Fortenberry, Mike Hogan, Thomas A. Turley, Adrian Middleton, James Moffett, Hugh Ashton, Geri Schear, S. Subramanian, John Hall, Jayantika Ganguly, S.F. Bennett, Steven Philip Jones, Jim French, John Linwood Grant, Mike Chinn, Robert V. Stapleton, Charles Veley and Anna Elliott, and Shane Simmons, with a poem by Jacquelynn Bost Morris, and forewords by David Marcum, Lee Child, Rand Lee, Michael Cox, and Melissa Farnham.
In 2015, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories burst upon the scene, featuring adventures set within the correct time period, and written by many of today's leading Sherlockian authors from around the world. Those first three volumes were overwhelmingly received, and there were soon calls for additional collections. Since then, their popularity has only continued to grow, with six volumes already released, and now two more, Eliminate the Impossible, featuring tales of Holmes's encounters with seemingly impossible events – ghosts and hauntings, curses and mythical beasts, and more.
In "The Sussex Vampire", Holmes tells Watson: "This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply." In each of the stories presented in this massive two-volume collection, Holmes approaches the varied problems with one of his favorite maxims firmly in place: "... when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth..." But what, exactly, is the truth?
2017 is the 130th anniversary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet, the first recorded adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson. What an amazing journey it's been! In addition to the pitifully few sixty tales originally presented in The Canon, published between 1887 and 1927, there have been literally thousands of additional Holmes adventures in the form of books, short stories, radio and television episodes, movies, manuscripts, comics, and fan fiction. And yet, for those who are true friends and admirers of the Master Detective of Baker Street, where it is always 1895 (or a few decades on either side of that!) these stories are not enough. Give us more!
The forty-eight stories in these two companion volumes represent some of the finest new Holmesian storytelling to be found, and honor the man described by Watson as "the best and wisest... whom I have ever known."
All royalties from this collection are being donated by the writers for the benefit of the preservation of Undershaw, one of the former homes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Genres: Mystery

530 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 24, 2017

Reviews

[Thomas Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

MX Publishing’s anthology of traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches took a disquieting turn on Halloween. Despite his adherence to the Great Detective’s dictum that “No ghosts need apply,” editor David Marcum solicited tales for Parts VII and VIII that skirt the edges of the supernatural, adding a proviso that a rational explanation must be forthcoming in the end. The 24 entries in Part VII (a poem, a play, and 22 short stories) fulfill his requirements admirably. Ghosts, revenants, doppelgängers, mummies, and vampires seem to stalk these pages. Soldiers returning from the empire’s outposts discover that exotic stolen treasures have their price. Haunted photographs, clocks, coins, and stilettos afflict Sherlock Holmes’ beleaguered clients. Holmes himself attends a séance and is challenged by a dead man to a duel. As always, historical and literary detail lends authenticity to Marcum’s choices. We relive the rifling of an Egyptian pyramid, visit a strategic North Sea island, and meet a Lincoln Conspiracy villain who isn’t Booth. A second William Wilson and Dracula’s creator call at 221B Baker Street. Ignoring my own contribution, my favorites in Part VII were (in order of appearance) Mike Hogan’s “The Tranquility of the Morning”; Hugh Ashton’s “The Adventure of Vanaprastha”; S.F. Bennett’s “The Last Encore of Quentin Carol”; John Linwood Grant’s “The Second Life of Jazeb Salt”; and “The Vampire of the Lyceum,” by the father-daughter team of Charles Veley and Anna Elliott. Tales from Jan Edwards, James Lovegrove, Geri Schear, S. Subramanian, John Hall, Mike Chinn, Robert V. Stapleton, and Shane Simmons are not far behind them; and there is not a bad story in the lot. Reassured once more by the reliable excellence of this ongoing anthology, I shall press on to Part VIII and more “Impossible” tales from 1892 to 1905.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This massive tome of pastiches apparently conforming to canonical views, yet exposing Holmes and Watson to things that are rather outre, contained the following:
* 'Introduction' part with a valuable Editorial, three breezy pieces from Lee Child, Michael Cox and Roger Johnson, and few other words.
* 23 Adventures.
Its these adventures which made the collection less of a thrilling (or chilling) read, than it should have been. Most of the authors presented very formulaic tales that were either intended to be as soporific as history lessons, or mere imitations of ACD's style— with inevitable anachronisms. However there were a few memorable exceptions. They were~
1) James Lovegrove's "The Adventures of the Marchindale Stiletto";
2) S. Subramanian's "The Manor House Guest"— a delicious story that brings two greats together;
3) Jayantika Ganguly's "The Adventure of the Mortal Combat";
4) Steven Phillip Jones's "The Case of the Petty Curses"— a story that infuses gentle humor and pathos in an otherwise gruesome case;
5) Jim French's "The Tuttman Gallery"— the most sensational and macabre piece of this book;
6) John Linwood Grant's "The Second Life of Jabez Salt"— brilliant stuff, befitting the author's very high standards;
7) Thomas Fortenburry's "The Mystery of the Scarab Earrings"— some more humour, adroitly pushed into a gothic tale;
Overall, it is indeed a nice tome to spend the darkening evenings and nights. But it's those seven tales that make it worthwhile.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thanks go out to Steve and Timi at MX Publishing for my copy of this book.

This is the latest in this ongoing series. In this volume, the stories often will deal with things that should be impossible. As Holmes always stands solidly on science and reason, he needs to dig deep to eliminate the impossible!

I will put a ***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** here, though I am only trying to make the readers thirst for more with the tidbits I hand out. I also will be marking best and worst story in the book according to me, along with any other pertinent information.

• The book begins, as these volumes usually do, with a poem. This one I don’t really like.
1. “The Melancholy Methodist” by Mark Mower, is a change-up for Mower whose previous novels have been written in verse. A dead man seems to be haunting a Methodist minister…
2. “The Curious Case of the Sweated Horse” by Jon Edwards tries to discover what is riding the horses during the full moon on a rich estate…
3. The Adventure of the Second William Wilson” by Daniel D Victor deals with the supposed son of Poe’s enigmatic William Wilson…
4. “The Adventure of the Marchindale Stiletto” by James Lovegrove tells of the loss of a family heirloom. This story is “Best in Book!” from me…
5. “The Case of the Cursed Clock” by Gayle Lange Puhl deals with a cursed clock and Voodoo…
6. “The Tranquility of the Morning” by Mike Hogan is the investigation of a possible poltergeist…
7. “A Ghost of Christmas Past” by Thomas A Turly is a story of Watson’s first wife Constance ( according to William Stuart Baring-Gould)
8. In “The Blank Photograph” by James Moffet, Holmes takes on a Spirit Photographer…
9. “The Adventure of a Rat by Adrian Middleton is a mixture of several mentioned in passing cases from the Holmes canon. The problem is there are too many factors to make a good story. Unfortunately, this one gets “Worst in Book”…
10. “The Adventure of Vanaprastha” by Hugh Ashton deals with a man who robbed a religious cult in India…
11. In “The Ghost of Lincoln” by Geri Scher, John Wilkes Booth’s brother-in-law seems to be haunted by President Lincoln…
12. “The Manor House Ghost” by S Subramanian is a version of The Manor House case mentioned in GREE…
13. In “The Case of the Unquiet Grave” by Jon Hall, the Squire and Vicar of the village of Roundham have a problem in the church graveyard…
14. “The Adventure of the Mortal Combat” by Jayantika Ganguly finds Holmes challenged to a duel to the death…
15. “The Last Encore of Quintin Carol deals with a ghostly singer in an apartment house…
16. In “The Case of the Petty Curses” by Stephen Philip Jones, a man suspects his wife of placing a curse on him…
17. “The Tuttman Gallery” by Jim French is a play. I do not read plays.
18. The Second Life of Jabez Salt” by John Linwood Grant deals with a woman haunted by her recently hanged husband…
19. “The Mystery of the Scarab Earrings” by Thomas Fortenberry deals with an archeologist and a mummy’s curse…
20. “The Adventure of the Haunted Room” deals with a woman whose house is recently haunted…
21. In “The Pharaoh’s Curse” by Robert V Stapleton, Miss Beatrice Venton comes to Baker Street about a missing mummy…
22. In “The Vampire of the Lyceum” by Charles Veley and Anna Elliot, Bram Stoker is attacked at the Lyceum, apparently by a character from his unfinished manuscript, “Dracula”…
23. “The Adventure of the Mind’s Eye” has one of Watson’s patients involved with a spirit medium…

These books in this series just keep getting better! I give this volume Five Stars Plus!

Quoth the Raven…

[Irwin Fletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of Holmes stories with a supernatural slant. Could have been good, I've read plenty of stories involving Holmes and the supernatural. What makes this collection tedious is that they tell you in the beginning that none of these stories will actually have a supernatural solution. It's not so much that they aren't supernatural that's annoying but knowing ahead of time they won't be but still having to go through all these setups about ghosts and vampires when you know it's really just some human scheme. The cases just aren't that interesting as the authors seemed to have been hamstrung by having to give each case a supernatural slant then giving it a reasonable conclusion.

[Reed Savory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, a wonderful collection for fans of classic Holmes & Watson adventures! A must-have.

[Tekbrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read

Excellent read as always. Can't wait to start on the next in the collection. Best way to spend a hot and steamy summer afternoon.