The Childhood of Sherlock Holmes

Rating:
Summary: Mildly Entertaining for Sherlock Holmes Fans
Review: After Sherlock Holmes supposedly died at Reichenbach Falls, newspaper reporter Josiah Cobbett decided to track down the elusive history of Holmes' early life. The results of his research was suppressed at the time, as Holmes was not really dead. The research was only recently rediscovered.

From this excellent premise, the author has built a relatively good, but tragic story. Young Mycroft Holmes is a particularly strong and interesting character.

One of my complaints is the poor usage of Victorian English. It makes for difficult reading and I personally found its usage unnecessary.

It certainly cannot hold a candle to the original Holmes stories and devoted fans might be disappointed, but I still recommend this book to anyone interested in variations of Holmes stories.

Rating:
Summary: Great tale of an enigmatic figure
Review: Great tale explaining many of Sherlock Holmes character traits. Read the book in two days for the story of Mycroft and Sherlock interactions with their family, tutors, household staff, and each other was too intriguing to put down.
I did not feel the victorian language was verbose or excessive for it is a period piece. The children were somewhat too precocious though, especially Mycroft but; this did not take away my enjoyment of the book.
Some dogs do live long enough to be a companion from childhood to early adulthood for we had one in our household.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent story
Review: I am not a 'Sherlockian,' but I found this book to be a great read. I couldn't put it down, and I have now started reading the originals after reading this book!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I am not a 'Sherlockian,' but I found this book to be a great read. I couldn't put it down, and I have now started reading the originals after reading this book!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent story
Review: The author truly gives you a feel for what the childhood of Holmes might have been like and how those events shaped the person that he became. It is apparent from the book that the author has a good grasp of the feel and voice of the period, unlike many authors of Sherlockian and other period stories. This book is definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting, but Verbose
Review: This could have been one of the best pastiches ever had the author not fallen into the trap of having her characters speak in 'Victorian diction'. One of the joys of the original Holmes stories is that he speaks plain English even though he is a genius. The stories are marvels of understatement and humor, qualities that are lacking here. There are many good ideas in the story and a few that made me cringe. How long does a dog live? Would people really carry on like that in front of the servants? And lastly, is there no other word besides 'lad' that can be used to describe a young boy? The presence of a good editor might have helped this book greatly. As for the subject matter, if you like pastiches, this is worth a read. If you don't, you won't.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This is no ordinary pastiche. It deals with the childhood of Sherlock Holmes, and we find out why Holmes is the eccentric, Bohemian man he is as an adult.

Dr. Morstein has woven an extraordinary tale; entirely believable, engrossing, and impossible to put down. You have never read a pastiche like this--an incredible book!