THRUST & PARRY: The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

by Craig Janacek

Mr. Sherlock Holmes was no stranger to working on behalf of certain illustrious clients whose exploits have graced the history books. He loved nothing more than a great contest of wits against a well-matched opponent, but was equally willing to engage in a more rough-and-tumble struggle when such physical work was called for. Within are four recently unearthed cases in which Holmes encounters various individuals or their descendants, all of whom have entered the history books for various deeds, ranging from the small and personal to those which shook the very course of nations. Dr John H Watson relates all four adventures in the finest tradition and spirit of such classics as ‘The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual’ and ‘The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.’

THE ADVENTURE OF THE DARK WATERS. March 1888. Dr Watson is planning a holiday in Ireland, and asks Sherlock Holmes to accompany him. Little does Watson know that death lurks in the green valleys and dark waters of the Emerald Isle. Colonel Flanagan has been found drowned in the River Liffey, his mouth stuffed with the green flag of the Fenians. Fearing the beginnings of another revolt, Inspector Brian Nugent asks for Holmes’s assistance with the investigation. This takes Holmes and Watson to the castle where the colonel was last seen alive, and deep into the details of the man’s past deeds. Can Holmes determine the identity of the person who hated the colonel with a such a searing passion?

THE ADVENTURE OF THE LORING RIDDLE. August 1888. Sherlock Holmes is asked to investigate the peculiar case of a dead man found in the library of a medieval manor house. Nobody knows who the man was and what he was doing there. Holmes begins to suspect that the stranger’s presence and death are related to an ancient family riddle, as obscure and puzzling as the Musgrave Ritual. Following the clues from Surrey to Canterbury to New Forest, can Holmes and Watson complete a quest to unearth a mythical treasure once thought lost to the mists of time?

THE ADVENTURE OF THE IMPRISONED MONARCH. November 1888. The Queen of Ruritania is missing! Sherlock Holmes is hired to assist with locating the queen before a usurper can seize control of the throne. Holmes and Watson must travel to Central Europe to unravel the conspirators can finalize their terrible plan. Little does Holmes know that this seemingly straightforward task will bring him face-to-face with one of the most shocking adversaries he has ever encountered and thrust him into playing the greatest role in his long and illustrious career.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE HALLOWED RING. May 1890. Sherlock Holmes was an expert boxer for his weight, but the true details of his final bout have never been set before the reading public. When Lord Avon’s boxer goes missing the day before a match upon which he has waged his entire fortune, it is up to Holmes to determine to where the man has vanished and who took him. Lord Avon suspects that his opponent has had a hand in this nefarious plot, but Holmes begins to suspect a deeper motive. Can Holmes locate the ‘Hope of England’ and guarantee that foul play turns into a fair performance?

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 24, 2022

About the author

In the year 1998 CRAIG JANACEK took his degree of Doctor of Medicine of Vanderbilt University, and proceeded to Stanford to go through the training prescribed for pediatricians in practice. Having completed his studies there, he was duly attached to the University of California, San Francisco as Associate Professor. The author of over seventy medical monographs upon a variety of obscure lesions, his travel-worn and battered tin dispatch-box is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of his fictional works. To date, these have been published primarily in electronic format, including two non-Holmes novels (The Oxford Deception & The Anger of Achilles Peterson), the trio of holiday adventures collected as The Midwinter Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, the short trilogy The Assassination of Sherlock Holmes, a trio of adventures collected as The First of Criminals, and a Watsonian novel entitled The Isle of Devils. His current project is a trio of works entitled A Holmesian Treasure Trove. His first in-press work (The Adventure of the Fateful Malady) was published in the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part One (October 2015), and a second (The Adventure of the Double-Edged Hoard) was included in the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, 2016 Annual (May 2016). Craig Janacek is a nom-de-plume.
For augmented content, connect with him online at: http://craigjanacek.wordpress.com.

Reviews

[Robert M. Roth MD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best

In order to do a proper pastiche of the Canon, one must capture Watson’s voice, Holmes’ personality, and provide stories sufficient to demonstrate Holmes’ art of deduction. The author does commendably well with the first two, however the stories are lacking in quality. Sherlock’s ability to demonstrate his mental prowess is rather limited. The stories are of marginal interest with but one exception.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is fine if a bit more wordy than I remember for AC Doyle in his S Holmes books. I enjoyed the stories and would have rated them higher if I had read just the last one. Although I think S Holmes view of other races might not have been as well-developed as in the story by Janacek