The Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes

by Barry Grant

The original super-sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, is back on the case - When James Wilson retires from journalism, he decides to settle down in Herefordshire with a room-mate, a Mr Cedric Coombes, and at first thinks little of his new friend’s eccentric behaviour. But he can’t shake the feeling that he knows him from somewhere else. As Coombes displays his magnificent deductive prowess, and becomes embroiled in the police investigation of the apparent murder of a man in bathtub, Wilson, or should we say Watson, begins to wonder just who this Coombes really is . . .
(front flap)

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Detective

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

Barry Grant is a pen name.

Barry Grant at age eleven boarded the North Coast Limited in Chicago and traveled to his uncles' farm in North Dakota to spend the summer . . . and there he spent every summer thereafter until he graduated from high school. None of the later journeys of his life - by boat up the Amazon, by Volkswagen Beetle over the Atlas Mountains to Zagora, and so on - ever matched those early journeys to North Dakota where he learned to love prairies, loneliness, big skies, and agriculture.

From the other side of his family he learned to love higher culture. On holiday visits to his grandmother's house in Moline, Illinois, he found his deceased grandfather's library in barrister bookcases that lined the walls and reached to the ceilings of the living room and every bedroom. In those cases he discovered travel of a different kind - books of every sort, among them the complete works of Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, Poe, Shakespeare, Dickens, Kipling, Burns, and Conan Doyle.

He is co-author of a translation from the Chinese, A Woman Soldier's Own Story: the Autobiography of Xie Bingying, published by Columbia University Press in 2001 and by Berkley Books in 2003. He has lived in England, Spain, eleven of the United States, and now lives in Wisconsin. Among his hobbies are cycling, bread baking, piano improvisation, and tennis.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my other reviews at Never Enough Books

James Wilson has decided to retire from journalism and to live out his days in Hertfordshire. To make the rent a bit easier to handle, he agrees to take on a roommate. Upon meeting Mr. Cedric Coombes, Wilson finds the man’s behavior a tad eccentric and he also experiences a strange feeling and swears he has seen Mr. Coombes somewhere before.

When Coombes is asked to assist on a local murder, Wilson cannot help but to follow along. There he witnesses first hand a display of deductive reasoning that could only have come from a novel. After several instances of seeing such marvels, Wilson begins to wonder just who Coombes really is.

A retiring gentleman takes an apartment with an eccentric roommate only to find himself drawn in to a baffling mystery. The roommate has a brilliant mind, plays violin, and has a penchant for cocaine despite the laws and health risks. Sounds familiar, no?

If the basic plotline of The Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes sounds familiar, it is with good reason. It is the first in a series and much like it’s predecessor, A Study in Scarlet, it introduces us two very familiar characters. And though the names have changed, much of the rest remains the same.

Grant has done his research well in regards to creating a unique yet familiar voice for Holmes. Much of his speech and mannerisms are the same, harkening back to his Victorian days, yet there are also minor differences as Holmes grows accustomed to modern times and modes of speaking. The way Holmes is brought in to the modern day is also handled well with enough factual science combined with a bit of hand waving to make the truth plausible.

One thing I found quite amusing, and is something I hope is continued through subsequent books; is how a goodly number of those who meet Coombes/Holmes for the first time have a kind of deja vu. They feel like they have seen him or met him before but can not quite place where. Once Wilson knows the truth about Coombes it is something he finds amusing, and is something I found funny as well.

As much as I enjoyed The Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes, I found a few minor drawbacks. For me, I found the book too short. Much like the original story it is a novella and therefore under 200 pages. I found it too short to deal with the various threads of the story in a satisfactory manner.

The other point that irked me was how quickly and neatly the case was resolved. The villain fairly spelled out his crimes to Wilson and Holmes. There was little to no guessing as to who had done it.

As a Sherlock Holmes fan, I liked reading The Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was a light and fun story and reminded me a good deal of the animated series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century. Fans of Conan Doyle and Holmes might well enjoy this series.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book may divide fans of Sherlock Holmes as it could be viewed as a homage to the great detective or a poor substitute to the original stories.
At times I almost got it and became carried along with the crafted writing at other times I felt uncomfortable.
Basically it is the story of Sherlock Holmes being brought back to life after being in suspended frozen limbo for 90 years.
I enjoyed the real time story related by Holmes about how he "lost" his life but the modern day detective out of time was more problematical. some of these issues are raised but not really tackled. Perhaps later episodes will get to grips with these issues.
However what I disliked the most was the simplistic motive for revenge based on the excesses of USA personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Worth reading but overall I'm a little disappointed.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

TL;DR: If this book is going to treat the #1 advocate for humanity in such a disgusting way, STEER CLEAR OF IT! The best story in the world isn't going to make up for that.

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!!!

TW: Mocking and profaning humanity's best advocate.

There is a conversation halfway through the book in which both main characters choose to ridicule the best man who ever lived: Jesus Christ.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, God Himself, who decided of His own will to come and live the human life, chose to show us the truth (no matter how hard it was for us to accept it), and, most of all, chose to die in one of the most horrible ways known to all of mankind though He had never committed a single sin, and why, you may ask, did He choose to die?

So that we might live with him, forever, for all of eternity, in a place where there is no sorrow, pain, loss, grief, and pain.

He also was one of the first male advocates for women's right, the rights of the poor, no discrimination, and the greatest promoter of love.

Because that's what God is: Love.

Not the charlatan that this book made him out to be.

In the hideous conversation these two men have, they label Jesus as a charlatan, or fraud, and claim that the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus that can be found in the Gospels was actually very similar to Frankenstein's monster, and that no wonder Dr. Frankenstein found it so easy to make his monster.

...

I'm not going to waste my time trying to go in depth and correct all of that. Just know that all of what they said was false. Jesus truly raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had been dead for FOUR WHOLE DAYS in that tomb before Jesus came. And about Frankenstein? Gosh...the author should have really read the original source material before including that factoid, because, quite frankly, it's B.S.

Lazarus was born and then resurrected into a full man. Frankenstein's monster was assembled in a painstaking process that "created" a new, mangled being from the carcasses and remains of others. The Monster wasn't even a "reanimated" being, so his "creation" has nothing to do with resurrection at all. Why even bring it up...except to mock the one man who would never mock anyone in the whole world.

And when you truly think about the story itself, it seems quite rich of an author trying to pull off a Steve-Rogers-esque storyline with Sherlock Holmes (where the great sleuth is in a kind of suspended animation that kept him alive all this time) to mock a man who truly pulled off a genuine resurrection. It kind of seems to me that this author is a bit jealous of what God can do vs. what he himself can do.

I'm not saying the story, or the author himself for that matter, is awful. I'm cautioning all discerning audiences though to take a step back and think about what really matters in life: reading another detective story, or standing up for the man who died standing up for you?

In my reviewing world, 2 stars is a Purgatory. Y'all don't even wanna know what a one-star review is from me. It is something that is... not good to dwell on. I'll say that much.

[Gus Scholtz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started OK then just bogged down. About 190 pages could have been a great story at 90. To many characters and descriptions that had nothing to do with the story.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange is certainly a word for it. As a pastiche of Holmsian fare, The Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes by Barry Grant is passable. Buried in this bare-faced retelling of the original meeting of Holmes and Watson--only it's "Coombes" and Wilson--are some interesting bits of story-telling. Bits would be the key word. The entire scenario regarding Holmes's appearance in the 21st Century is highly improbable, if not down-right impossible. But, okay, let's suspend our disbelief on that count. The mystery itself is fairly interesting and watching Holmes come to grips with the world he has been "reborn" into is a pretty problem indeed. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that the world's first consulting detective and arguably one of the more brilliant men of all (fictional) time can quickly come up to speed with the ways of the internet and DNA cloning.

Where Grant really falls down is in his inability to properly convey the spirit of the original stories. There are moments--brief glimmers, but they are few and far between. And he completely turned me off by using Holmes as a political platform. It does not matter to me how much in agreement I may or may not be (I am fairly a-political when it comes to spreading my views hither and yon)--I do not care to see one of the most beloved fictional characters used as Barry Grant's soap box. Please, Mr. Grant, if you want to write a political book, then by all means do so--but make sure it gets shelved properly in the non-fiction area.

Two stars out of five. Mainly for the love of Holmes and the brief glimmers of what this book could have been. Overall, a fairly disappointing read.

This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Granted (um, no pun intended), I do know Barry (member of the same Holmes group to which I belong. The Notorious Canary Trainers), but I do not hold that against him. :-) Not the greatest pastiche I have ever read (heck, I have read dozens), but I found it to be a fun read by someone who obviously did a LOT of serious research. Does a nice job both portraying the Holmes of the Canon (who is here, even though the story occurs in the 20th century, but I will reveal nothing else), and in setting up a good yarn. I especially enjoyed the political/social comments that Barry sneaks into the narrative (without ruining the story). Also works as a nice set up to sequels, without being obnoxious about it. Barry, ya done good. I look forward to reading the next one.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the book starts out with a retired journalism man retiring in a Welsh town. He meets up with a strange man and they become roommates. This is set today and you are led to believe right from the start that this man (Coombes) might possibly be Sherlock Holmes. I was greatly excited in the beginning but then I calmed down quite quickly. The story itself was OK but it wasn't as good as a REAL Sherlock Holmes book.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care much for the overt political commentary the author chose to make; for me, it overshadowed what could have been a better book.

[Richard Kettlewood · Rating 5 out of 5]

RA

Brings the whole Afghan side of Holmes and Watson bang up to date. Intriguing and beautifully conceived double narrative (past and present). A tribute to Conan Doyle, and just as clever and satisfying. Only one slight flaw, Holmes is desperate for any small clue, and an avid reader of wheelbarrows of books, but doesn't read the Abu Ghraib book, prefering to shoot up with a 7% solution! In the round though, the book doesn't play up the Sherlock Holmes trope, but plays it with measured subtlety, like the great detective's own violin. A welcome addition to the ever expanding Canon of Holmesiana.

[Phillip Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I nearly gave up on this novel in the first paragraph, when our supposedly English narrator John Wats...erm, I do beg your pardon, John Wilson, mentions having been "on an airplane to India". I think you meant to say you were *in* an *aeroplane*, old chap.

I immediately deduced that the author was an American gentleman. (Assuming there is such a thing.) I turned to the back flap in order to confirm this deduction - only to be informed, rather tantalisingly, that "Barry Grant is a man of mystery with a double identity, a published author writing here under another name."

So the mystery began.

At Hay-on-Wye, Wilson is introduced to one 'Cedric Coombes' who, slowly but surely, is revealed to be Sherlock Holmes, revived after being found frozen inside a glacier since 1914. (Adam Adamant anyone?) Cedric tells the Thirty-Nine-Stepsy tale of how he came to be trapped in the ice while on a mission for King and Country at the outbreak of the Great War, but it's the current war in Afghanistan that provides the backdrop for the crime with which Scotland Yard require his assistance in 2007.

Since being thawed out, Sherlock has been busy catching up with the modern world: he is au fait with DNA (he's trying to develop a forensic technique for determining who has owned or handled any book in the world) and he now attends crime scenes armed with a digital camera as well as his magnifying glass.

Anyone who enjoys Gyles Brandreth's Oscar Wilde detective stories will probably enjoy Barry Grant's Sherlock novels as well. Although the author's Americanness results in a few more jolting clangers along the way. Cedric uses the phrases "I guess" and "pretty much", for example, which I think we can safely say Sherlock Holmes never would - being, as they are, one step up from "I dunno" and "whatever!"

Be warned though: in the end, this is no cosy mystery. Some readers (American ones) find the denouement uncomfortably political. For me, the ending added unexpected power to what was otherwise a mere divertissement.

I had never heard of this book until I saw it on the shelf at my local library and borrowed it on impulse. It was good to find Sherlock living on - despite occasionally lapsing into New World lingo, but sadly the library is slated for closure. Hopefully a future case for Cedric will involve the mysterious, and very brutal death of the British Culture Secretary inside a closed library.

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second book in this series, Sherlock Holmes and the Shakespeare Letter, looked more interesting but, no, I had to start with the first book.

Purists who don't like to see Sherlock Holmes be made to appear silly had better find something else to read. This book is not so much a pastiche, it's a parody. Cedric Coombes fumbling with his cell phone and James Wilson repeatedly wondering why Cedric Coombes seems familiar doesn't give me the feel of the original stories at all. Atmosphere was lacking. American politics weren't.

And then there was the bizarre Case of the Shrinking Dachshund. That was what Watson intended to call it. He even wrote it up. But his wife convinced him it was too horrible a tale to present to an unsuspecting public, particularly as it was a tale not only without a point or a moral, but without a real beginning or real ending.

There was also the case, back in '97, of the Christmas tree candle conspiracy, in which the candles were tampered with and the angel on the top of the tree exploded, resulting in a whole family being burnt to death as they opened their gifts -- a case so outré and grisly that the newspapers of the time would not even print it. I could not solve it, Watson. I couldn't! I lacked one fact.

The affair at Notting Hill in 1890 in which a man and his dog were both dissolved in acid. The only facts discovered about the murderer were that she loved the poems of Wordsworth and that she could not correctly pronounce the words fissiparous or autochthomous.

One character who graduated from Cambridge, we are told, dreamed of sending his son back to England to attend college and eventually sends him to ... Oxford. Huh?

On page 111 Wilson sees a "...man...about our age or a little older..." Since Wilson is 60 and Coombes is 154, then "about our age" is what?

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise was great, though a bit far fetched. I was hooked from the beginning. And then the ending...

I am not an expert on Sherlock Holmes. I don't pretend to know much about the character. But to have him pull the generic political drivel I read (page 180) out of his back pocket left me shaking my head. WTH.

I read other reviews before I finished the book and knew there was a political feel to the ending and admonished (internally) those reviews that said it was silly and wholly unlike Holmes to spout such nonsense. i mainly thought they were purists who didn't like an updated version of their hero. I understand now. The rant was so far out of place. Like it belonged in another book. I had no problem with the killer's motive. it seemed a bit preposterous that he would email a soldier for months to get him to fly to a small town in Wales and meet this random person he knows only from emailing. I'm sure he could have found a better, simpler way to entice and ensnare the soldier.

Were it not for the pages 1-179, this review would have been lacking at least one more star. I will try the next book in the series and see how it goes. You are on probation Barry Grant.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Retired journalist James Wilson wants to spend some time in the Welsh book village of Hay on Wye. To save expenses, he shares a cottage with a man who looks curiously familiar. Not to give away too much, but he's really Sherlock Holmes, resuscitated by modern science, and trying to get a grip on a strange new century. Holmes' sharp mind is still on call to help the local police, and he investigates a mysterious murder while filling Wilson (whom he repeatedly calls "Watson") in on just what happened almost a century ago, when he disappeared. Good fun at first, the story darkens as the murder case develops deeper implications.

[Schnaucl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought at first that perhaps everyone was going to be a reincarnation of Doyle's characters. Wilson isn't a doctor but he is a war reporter in Afghanistan and he does get shot in the shoulder. His meeting with a friend echoes how Dr. Watson came to room with Sherlock Holmes. But so far there's no evidence of reincarnation.

The premise is that a sixty year old Holmes was frozen in a glacier and thawed out ninety years later.

Holmes spends a lot of time trying to catch up on everything he's missed but he's still prone to his black moods and a feeling that it's all been done before.

The book was surprisingly political focusing on the Abu Ghraib scandal.

[Dale Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes was real, and the books were really by Watson. In Holmes' last adventure, he falls into the ice and is presumed dead. He is found in the present day and revived thanks to the wonders of modern medicine. And he ends up living with someone called James Wilson.
All this is a fairly tenuous set-up for Holmes solving crimes in the current day.
A modern day Holmes isn't a bad idea, but this all felt a bit forced. I think I prefer the approach in the BBC series "Sherlock" where they don't try to explain it and instead just start again.

[Cait · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book's cover is frightfully deceptive -- you look at it and think, "Okay, Holmes and his Watson are going to be middle-aged men. That's cool." BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENS, though granted, that's not really a major complaint about this book. I didn't enjoy the "Holmes was frozen in ice and revived decades later" aspect of the book as it didn't fit in with the rest of the book (which isn't sci-fi by any stretch of the imagination), and Holmes' long-winded (and long-chaptered) explanation of how he came to be in the ice was just... dull. As a Sherlockian, I simply didn't like this book.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fabulous. I wish I wrote it. It was so good I bought a copy instead of just relying on my local library's copy. Grant has a very accurate concept of Doyle's voice. I thought the political commentary was handled very well and that Holmes reacted as the Holmes we all know and love. Holmes' strange resurrection so he can live in the present day is well handled. My favorite bit is about Holmes' ringtone.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holmes has been frozen and thawed out by some mad scientist. A really different twist on Holmes and Watson or was it Coombes and Wilson. Even Barry Grant...Carry Grant. Then the political Iraq issue with the water-boarding and black hoods. I did like the Quality of Mercy. One of the few lines memorized in high school. I guess I liked the twist. Not nearly as much as I love all the Laurie King tales with Mary Russell.

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise, subpar execution. Unfortunate proselytizing at the end. The author is obviously a canon fan, because the text is full of in-jokes which appeal to other Sherlock fans. Holmes' characterization was less than stellar. For a better example of Sherlock Holmes in the modern era, see the most recent BBC Sherlock miniseries.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brings Holmes into the 21st Century in a way that will stretch your credulity, but then Holmes always did (does?). Not as good as Laurie King's "Mary Russell" series but a good beach read. He has the Watson voice done pretty well. Holmes is a not quite right but then he is trying to adjust to the new century. Let's see how the second one is.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lightweight Sherlock Holmes revival with a twist. Holmes has been restored to life in the present, after having been frozen in a glacier in 1914. His struggle to adapt to life in the 21st century adds to the fun of the mystery he sets out to solve. Enjoyable, I'd read another in the series.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

The issue I had with the book is the over heavy political ire. Sherlock books aren't known for their forwardness on hatred of political people; especially real politics. That kind of killed the book for me, I wasn't looking for a political bashing book.

[Cherie Waggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Sherlock Holmes and the Shakespeare Letter first, I had to go back to the beginning to find out what was going on with Holmes and how he got where he was. As with the other volume, the plot just didn't mesh. I guess I'm just too much of a purest of Holmes.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

ending got a bit too political and polemic.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent Debut to Holmes in the modern era. Very well written and engaging till the end. A great read.

[Malia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought at first it was sacreligious to even think of messing with Sherlock Holmes story line and new it would be tough and to propel him into the computer age.
Too be continued...

[Joanna Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ridiculously entertaining. That is all. I blew through this in one day.

[Dona · Rating 1 out of 5]

It started out pretty good but the last chapters were full of profanity and really stupid. I am sorry I wasted my time!

[Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore Sherlock Holmes stories, but not sure how he got to come back into this story. Interesting about afgan imprisoment and torture. And mercy being stronger than revenge!