Sherlock Holmes and the Frightened Golfer (Sherlock Holmes)

Rating:
Summary: Professionally done pastiche
Review: This may have had the best sales of any recent pastiche from Martin Breese--- at any rate, it is the only one I've seen that is in its 2nd printing. J. M. Gregson is a professional writer of mystery novels, at least one of which has also involved golf. He gets Holmes and Watson, and the 1896 milieu pretty much bang-on.

Alas, he uses Standard Pastiche Plot B (more recently seen in Val Andrews' HOLBOURNE EMPORIUM), but in this case it gives a plausible reason for Holmes' inaction, which serves to stretch the material to novel length (174 pages) without insulting the IQ of the reader or Holmes. Like Andrews' novel, the plot is a fairly thin excuse to give a detailed, nostalgic look at a vanished world--- in this case, the world of golfing clubs, golf tournaments and golf championships in 1896. I am no golfer, not knowing one end of a "stick" from another, but I wasn't bored.

Clues are fairly given, and the astute reader will be way ahead of Watson in identifying the villain, even if he doesn't recognize Standard Plot B early on. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Professionally done pastiche
Review: This may have had the best sales of any recent pastiche from Martin Breese--- at any rate, it is the only one I've seen that is in its 2nd printing. J. M. Gregson is a professional writer of mystery novels, at least one of which has also involved golf. He gets Holmes and Watson, and the 1896 milieu pretty much bang-on.

Alas, he uses Standard Pastiche Plot B (more recently seen in Val Andrews' HOLBOURNE EMPORIUM), but in this case it gives a plausible reason for Holmes' inaction, which serves to stretch the material to novel length (174 pages) without insulting the IQ of the reader or Holmes. Like Andrews' novel, the plot is a fairly thin excuse to give a detailed, nostalgic look at a vanished world--- in this case, the world of golfing clubs, golf tournaments and golf championships in 1896. I am no golfer, not knowing one end of a "stick" from another, but I wasn't bored.

Clues are fairly given, and the astute reader will be way ahead of Watson in identifying the villain, even if he doesn't recognize Standard Plot B early on. Recommended.