Another Top Ten......

.....these are from Charlotte Smith, the author of the Sherlock Holmes novel, 'The Murder at Lodore Falls'.

Top Ten Sherlock Holmes pastiche novels

That is a challenge! In no particular order I would have to make a beeline for the ones below. Most of these books I have reviewed on My Tin Dispatch Box!

Barefoot On Baker Street Charlotte Walters     
The Secret Journal Of Dr Watson Phil Growick

The Lyme Regis Horror David Ruffle

Sherlock Holmes And Tangled Skein David Stuart Davies

The Consulting Detective Trilogy Darlene A. Cypser

The Chronicles Of Sherlock Holmes Paul Gilbert

Crack In The Lens Darlene A. Cypser

Sherlock Holmes And The Affair In Transylvania Gerry O’Hara

Dust and Shadow Lyndsay Faye

The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes Gerard Kelly

Top Ten Books

Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier                
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte

Great Expectations Charles Dickens

The Woman In Black Susan Hill
Dubliners James Joyce
Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection
Reach For The Sky Paul Brickhall
Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
Oscar Wilde Complete Short Stories Oscar Wilde
Twopence To Cross The Mersey Helen Forrester

Top Ten Actors or Actresses


Jeremy Brett (My all time favourite actor and not just because of Sherlock Holmes!)
Edward Hardwicke (A great actor, Dr Watson and loved him in Colditz and various other roles)
Richard Burton (Just because he is so handsome in toga!)

Clint Eastwood (All round versatile and great actor)

Gene Hackman (You know the film is going to be good if he is in the billing)

Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort!!!)
John Wayne (Greatest cowboy ever!)                                       
Kirk Douglas (I’m Spartacus!)
Lawerence Oliver (The Master!)
Dame Judi Dench (For being so good as M)

'Murder at  Lodore Falls' is available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, and all book-selling websites around the world. Visit Charlotte's web site and read her reviews at My Tin Dispatch Box.

End Peace: A review

Ross K Foad reviews Holmes and Watson: End Peace in his own inimitable style!

Holmes and Watson End Peace is available from bookstores including in the USA Barnes and Noble and Amazon, in the UK Waterstones, Amazon and Book Depository (free worldwide delivery).

Back to work

Back to work Monday after several weeks off with ankle injury, the mantra for Monday is: I must not fall down the steps, I must not fall down the steps, I must not fall down the steps.

Early morning views from the shop:  

A real coup for this blog....

Coming soon to this page.....a real coup; An interview with David Nobbs, one of Britain's leading comic-novelists. Creator of Reginald Perrin, Henry Pratt and so many other memorable characters. David Nobbs’s most famous creation is undoubtedly Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, star of three novels and three television series. Like Reggie himself, the series refuses to die,and was recently revived with Martin Clunes as Reggie. David doesn’t resent this. He didn’t get where he is today by being upset when people mouth his own catch-phrases at him. But there is far more to David’s career than Reggie Perrin. There’s his acclaimed series, A Bit Of A Do, which gained audiences of fourteen million for Yorkshire Television. There’s his work for many top comedians, including Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies.

And above all there are his novels, eighteen of them, all of them humorous in tone, leading Jonathan Coe to state ‘David Nobbs is probably our finest post-war comic novelist.’ They include the four Perrin novels, the four Henry Pratt novels, and two of his own great favourites, Going Gently, Obstacles to Young Love (shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance) and his eighteenth, It Had To Be You, published on June 23rd, 2011.

You can read about all these books by clicking the link below, plus details of his life, his radio and television work, his influences, his enthusiasms, his prejudices, his occasional public appearances. You can ask him questions – he’ll be pleased to hear from you – and he will write a fairly regular blog with his unique take on the events of the day.

David Nobb's Website     

A Top Ten

A new regular feature where I canvass other folk for their Top Tens.....all will become clear I promise!

First up is Luke Benjamen Kuhns; Luke  is a graduate of the University of Manchester where he studied Theology. Luke is an experienced musician and lyricist where for a time Luke served as head writer on several music endeavors. He grew up in a small town in Indiana, USA where he spent hours creating worlds of fiction in short story and poetic form. Luke is a great lover of literature and considers C.S. Lewis, J.R.R Tolkien, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be his biggest creative inspiration. He currently resides in London where he enjoys being in the heart of the British Empire which is home to many of his favourite stories. His initial lists:

1. Top Ten Sherlock Holmes Canon short stories

The Sign of Four 
The Hound of the Baskervilles

A Scandal in Bohemia

The Yellow Face
The Final Problem

Wisteria Lodge

The Bruce-Partington Plans

The Devil’s Foot

The Sussex Vampire
Thor Bridge

'These ten stories are the ones that really capture my imagination the most. The all border on the strange or grotesque and that is what I found most intriguing about each of these stories. Doyle’s own imagination it stunning and that is reflect, for me, in these ten.'

 Top Ten writers                                                      

C.S. Lewis

JRR Tolkien
Robert Lewis Stevenson
Loren D Estleman
Douglas Adams
H.G Wells
J.M. Barrie
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Robert Ludlum
Rick Rioardan

'Each of these ten writers have had some influence on me in some capacity. I grew up reading several of these authors and they aided in shaping my own imagination and also how I see the world. With Lewis and Tolkien and the importance of friendship and hope, Adams and his quirky sci-fi humour, Barrie and the importance of never losing that child like wonder in life are but a few reasons why some of these ten hold a special place for me.' 

3. Top Ten pieces of music or albums

Audio Adrenaline: Until My Heart Caves in
Haste the Day: Attack of the Wolf King
The Romans: The End of the Century - Chinese Rock is a killer track! Just saying.
Anberlin: Never Take Friendship Personal
Fun: Some Nights
Queen: A Day At The Races
Alan Silvestri: Back to the Future Original Sound Track
Hans Zimmer: Sherlock Holmes Original Sound Track
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Swan Theme
Mozart: Requiem in D Minor

'My unique taste in music captured between just ten albums and or pieces of music. Each of these artists/musician are all amazing in their own respect. All bands create great music accompanied with great lyrics while the composers are brilliant at assembling musical pieces that can excite you one moment and calm you the next.'

Visit  Luke's Blog or buy his new book: The Untold Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

A 'Missing Snowman' review...

Charlotte Smith has posted a lovely review of 'Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman'.

In part it reads:

'In his latest book Sherlock Holmes And The Missing Snowman, David Ruffle has had very young readers of Sherlock Holmes in mind when he wrote this book and the theme of the book is a charming tale of a very distraught young client who comes to Sherlock Holmes at the height of the Christmas festivities with a singular case of a missing snowman which had disappeared in mysterious circumstances!.....What makes this story stands out however are the absolutely superb colourful illustrations presented throughout the book. They are rich in detail and obviously done with much love of the characters portrayed.  Children will love seeing these pictures and will come back to them over and over again to take in and enjoy the attention to detail of the artwork done.  Even adult readers of Sherlock Holmes would appreciate them for the quality of the illustrations....Sherlock Holmes And The Missing Snowman will make a fine addition to the Christmas stocking of  young readers of Sherlock Holmes and I can see this book doing well, not only in the children’s section of bookshops up and down the country but also in libraries and schools too.'

To read the review in full, go to My Tin Dispatch Box

                                                             

Moods Etc.....

Mood: Fractured

Ankle: Fractured

Reading: All Passion Spent....Vita Sackville-West

Listening to:

David Ruffle's Sherlock Holmes/Lyme Regis Blog: A giveaway!! Now starts October 10th!!

David Ruffle's Sherlock Holmes/Lyme Regis Blog: A giveaway!!  Now starts October 10th!!: Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Trials, the last in the Sherlock Holmes/Lyme Regis trilogy has a publication date of December 10th......I...

Haunted Edinburgh

The Case of the Edinburgh Haunting by David Wilson is a first-rate pastiche and is extremely well-written. Edinburgh itself is in some ways the star of the show here just as it is in Ian Rankin's Rebus novels, Victorian Edinburgh comes to life under Mr Wilson's skilful pen. One aspect which will cheer any Holmes devotee is the appearance of none other than Dr Joseph Bell who, according to ACD, was the original template for the character of Holmes. Having the two of them meet and dazzle together is David Wilson's masterstroke; I am not sure if it has been done before, but if it has I doubt it has been accomplished so well as it has here. I found myself re-reading that section three times before moving on!  The action is presented to us from various viewpoints which works very well indeed. Watson's own narrative is uncannily spot on and one of the finest of recent Watsonian voices I have come across. The plot initially takes us to a haunted house in Edinburgh (one of many such there one would imagine), but not all is how it seems and the plot moves on from there to encompass murder and corruption. All the developments are handled very well and the pace never flags (it's a gentle kind of pace, a Watsonian pace if you will), The differing perspectives as the plot unfolds serve to give the reader a very clear, concise view on what is going on. The characters are well-drawn (some taken from life as in the case of Dr Bell) and in Constable Morthouse, the young officer who initially is assumed to be out of his depth, we have a policemen worthy of the highest praise from Holmes. He is keen, observant and remains focused in spite of being treated badly by his superior officer. This is a superior pastiche which will leave one wanting more from the pen and imagination of David Wilson, it certainly did for me.

The Case of the Edinburgh Haunting will be published by MX Publishing on the 17th of October, and will be available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, and more places than you can shake a stick at!

A Snowman review......

The first review of 'Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman' by 'The Well Read Sherlockian'.

I know, I know, I’m not ready for snow yet, either. But that was before I got the marvelous opportunity to review David Ruffle’s new children’s book, pre-publication. A prolific writer, Mr. Ruffle now has six published books featuring Holmes and Watson to his credit, and is finishing up the seventh. Most of his books are intended for older readers; Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman, however, is meant for a younger audience–much younger


When I heard that Mr. Ruffle was going to publish “Henrietta’s Problem” as a children’s book, I figured he’d just cut the text into smaller chunks, take out some words and be done with it.** Instead, he’s re-written the story to a child’s level, without losing any of its original charm. In fact, after reading back through the original, I actually think that this simpler version is the best. Mr. Ruffle has a gift for expressing emotion without a lot of verbal clutter, and it’s used here to great effect. The Missing Snowman reads out loud extremely well (more on this in a minute), and Lyme Regis artist Rikey Austin’s soft, nostalgic illustrations, done in a light, wintry palette, add to its gentle mood. It is a simple, touching story that reminds us that, no matter what he wants others to think, the Great Detective is much more than a logical machine.

Read the full review and much more at The Well Read Sherlockian and 'Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Snowman' is available to pre-order at Amazon UK, Amazon USA, Waterstones and many more sites and bookshops.