Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Prince & Other Stories (Sherlock Holmes Mysteries (Breese))

Rating:
Summary: Well Done Jnr!
Review: A teenager, Edmund Hastie, who was only 14 when he wrote the book,hasmanaged, albeit not to perfection, to imitate the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and bring to life his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes. These stories are not perfect by any means, and I do notlay claim that they might be, yet they are a start, and I believe that they are one of those acorns from which great oaks are destined to grow. With that in mind, I regard it as an investmentfor my young son, who I am, at present, trying to introduce to the world of books.

Rating:
Summary: Inauspicious debut...
Review: As Dr. Johnson once remarked to Boswell concerning a dog being exhibited which walked on its hind legs: "Sir, it is not well done, but one is amazed to see it done at all." Here are four Sherlock Holmes adventures penned by a 14-year-old British schoolboy. The introduction by H. R. F. Keating damns the stories with faint and half-hearted praise, which should warn off the sufficiently wary reader who picks up the book at the news stand, as I did. Keating does not note that the stories are to be taken other than as perfectly straight.

However, Hastie clearly does not intend the stories to be taken entirely seriously: Holmes is a parody who continually insults Watson and his own clients, while gulping large glassfulls of vodka (?) and giving vent to maxims of indescribable idiocy. Sample: "A murderer always looks unusually pale for 24 hours after his crime; as Mr. A does not look pale, he cannot possibly be the murderer!" Holmes and Watson are always encountering diaries and letters which give away the whole plot. My favorite is a label on a bottle of poison, which goes on for half a page of narrative text, explaining in detail how the killer has used it! Upon reading it Holmes comments only, "It is rather badly written." He makes similar comments concerning every document he reads, and one wonders if Hastie is foretelling and forestalling the reaction of the reader of this book. Called on a case Holmes usually veers off at random, often accusing the wrong person, and then finding the actual culprit largely by accident or preposterous coincidence. When he is not insulting Watson, his conversation consists of a combination of absurd bragging and pointing out the obvious. "Your name is Seymour." "How can you possibly know that, Mr. Holmes?" "You are wearing a large name tag."

In 96 pages, we get four adventures: Holmes finds a missing Japanese prince, discovers who is killing the members of a family slated for a rich inheritance, uncovers missing plans for a new battleship, and discovers why a disguised cabdriver consistently overcharges his wealthy passenger. Each plot is potentially interesting, and a fairly serious pastiche could be written to any of the four outlines. With the young author's tongue at least partially in his cheek throughout, this is not the place to look for seriousness!

Rating:
Summary: good read
Review: I enjoyed reading this book and found it closely imitated Arthur Conan Doyle's work.

Rating:
Summary: A Rollocking Good Read
Review: I've always had a keen interest in detective fiction, especially Sherlock Holmes. When I picked this book up in my local bookstore, I did, however, view it with some trepedation. Though once I had read the first page, I had decided to buy it.
In all,there are four pastiches of a reasonable length that keep your attention throught them. I'm not much of a writer, but I do strongly believe that this young writer needs to be encouraged in his future work.
Good luck to you Edmund!

Rating:
Summary: Well Done Jnr!
Review: Well one could say that It is a feat to write a book at all, and especially at the age of 14! But I fear that Hasties attempts at humor are rather to infantile for the audience at which this book is aimed. The stories themselves, do, at least in outline have some merit, but the way in which they are written really does insult the originals genius. I have no doubt this is not the last we will here of Hastie and I do think there is some promise here, but in this book you really do have to look very hard.