The Confidential Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

by Marvin Kaye (Editor)

This long-awaited volume finally brings to light several cases of the world's most famous consulting detective that were originally suppressed to avoid scandal and embarrassment to the Crown, public figures, or to Holmes himself. Now, the truth is finally revealed regarding Holmes's exploits involving the Titanic , his rematch with Irene Adler, the childhoods of both Holmes and Watson, and such figures as Ida Tarbell, P.G. Wodehouse, and James McNeil Whistler. The Confidential Casebook of Sherlock Holmes is a cornucopia of Sherlockiana that will delight fans young and no-so-young.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Mystery, Anthologies

368 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1997

About the author

Marvin Nathan Kaye was an American mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror author, anthologist, and editor. He was also a magician and theater actor. Kaye was a World Fantasy Award winner and served as co-publisher and editor of Weird Tales Magazine.

Reviews

[Charles Prepolec · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Marvin Kaye’s third Holmes anthology. Like all anthologies, the quality of the stories vary widely. The overall product is very good and this one is much better than his last outing, “The Resurrected Holmes” in that these are straight pastiches, not authors pretending to write in the style of a great author writing in the Doyle vein. (I know this sounds convoluted but it makes sense i.e.:Marvin Kaye writing a Holmes story in the way he imagines Rex Stout would.) Fortunately the umbrella premise for this book is more straightforward, here the linking theme is stories that were suppressed by Watson to avoid scandal. There are some interesting stories here that come very close to the Doyle style while others are stylistically different yet effective all the same. An example of the former is “The Darlington Substitution Scandal” by Henry Slesar. This little tale bears certain similarities to The Man with the Twisted Lip but has far more sinister implications. A frightfully powerful example of the latter is provided by P.C. Hodgel in his remarkable memoir of Holmes childhood entitled “A Ballad of the White Plague”. While no collection is perfect this one (as well as “The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures” edited by Mike Ashley. Carroll & Graf 1997) ranks very highly.

[Meaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad all said and done. I'm not sure that I really enjoyed the two stories at the end, the one regarding Holmes' childhood and the one regarding Watson's scarred memories. They seemed a bit out of place to me, though I suppose that's what the author's were going for. Not a book I'm going to read again, but better than many Sherlock Holmes books I have read.

[Cris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like most anthologies it's a mixed bag. Some of the stories are okay and some are bad.

[Kel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read 13 of the 14 stories. Some were very funny; tongue-in-cheek humor.