Contents:

What can you find here? Reviews of new and not quite so new Sherlock Holmes novels and collections. Interviews with authors, link to blogs worth following, links to where you can purchase my books and some reviews of my work garnered from Amazon sites. Plus a few scary pics of me and a link to various Lyme Regis videos on YouTube...see what we do here and how....and indeed why!!! Next to the Lyme Regis Video Bar is a Jeremy Brett as Holmes Video Bar and now a Ross K Video Bar. And stories and poems galore in the archives.

Friday 20 July 2012

The Jacobite Rose

Mycroft has a missing agent; the stepdaughter of Lord Wexford Foyle wants a pearl brooch authenticated. Sherlock Holmes has little interest in either until he learns the gem is the Jacobite Rose, a royal treasure. Reading Debrett's Peerage, Holmes discovers Lord Foyle has a brother who is known as a craftsman in gold. Three strange clues - the drawing of a rose, fish scales and a fragment of pine resin - discovered at the last known locus of the missing man begin to link the two cases..........so says the blurb accompanying Fiona-Jane Brown's 'Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Jacobite Rose'. It is a two-act play, a simple enough story, but even within the constraints of the two acts, there is time enough for the characterisations to come shining through. There is a certain economy of dialogue which is not in any way shape or form a criticism, but rather, a bonus for nothing is wasted and the story fairly zips along. Holmes, Watson and Mrs Hudson are presented to us exactly how we perceive them to be from the Holmesian canon. They think, act and speak how we expect them to. The deductions from Holmes are logical and sound. Humour plays an important part too and the script has many moments which made me smile for all the right reasons (Mycroft: 'One of our ministry men is missing'). Well-researched, well thought out and well plotted. A delight to read and one would think a joy to perform also.
                         



                            


Wednesday 4 July 2012

A Secret Journal............

Phil Growick's, 'The Secret Journal of Dr Watson', is an adventure which takes place in the latter part of Holmes and Watson's lives. They are entrusted by HM Government (although not officially) and the King no less to undertake a rescue mission to save the Romanovs, Russia's Royal family from a grisly end at the hand of the Bolsheviks. There is a wealth of detail in the story but not so much as would detract us from the enjoyment of the story. Espionage, counter-espionage, the ace of spies himself, double-agents, double-crossers...all these flit across the pages in a realistic and exciting way. All the characters are extremely well-drawn and Mr Growick, most importantly, does not falter with a very good ear for Holmesian dialogue indeed. The tale is fantastic yes, but the skill of the author is apparent for he makes us believe that these events could have happened just as he describes. None of the content is superfluous in any way at all and the whole is a pleasure to read. Highly recommended. A five-star effort.