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The Whole Art of Detection

by Lyndsay Faye
Mysterious Press (March 2017)
388 p. ISBN 9780802125927

Publisher’s Summary

Internationally bestselling author Lyndsay Faye was introduced to the Sherlock Holmes mysteries when she was ten years old and her dad suggested she read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” She immediately became enamored with tales of Holmes and his esteemed biographer Dr. John Watson, and later, began spinning these quintessential characters into her own works of fiction—from her acclaimed debut novel, Dust and Shadow, which pitted the famous detective against Jack the Ripper, to a series of short stories for the Strand Magazine, whose predecessor published the very first Sherlock Holmes short story in 1891.

Faye’s best Holmes tales, including two new works, are brought together in The Whole Art of Detection, a stunning collection that spans Holmes’s career, from self-taught young upstart to publicly lauded detective, both before and after his faked death over a Swiss waterfall in 1894. In “The Lowther Park Mystery,” the unsociable Holmes is forced to attend a garden party at the request of his politician brother and improvises a bit of theater to foil a conspiracy against the government. “The Adventure of the Thames Tunnel” brings Holmes’s attention to the baffling murder of a jewel thief in the middle of an underground railway passage. With Holmes and Watson encountering all manner of ungrateful relatives, phony psychologists, wronged wives, plaid-garbed villains, and even a peculiar species of deadly red leech, The Whole Art of Detection is a must-read for Sherlockians and any fan of historical crime fiction with a modern sensibility.

General Review

Having been a fan of Faye’s work since she published Dust and Shadow, I expected to enjoy this book, and was thrilled to receive an ARC from NetGalley.  What I did not expect was just how MUCH I enjoyed the book.  Faye has a grasp of Watson and Holmes’ partnership that few authors manage to bring to life on the page in quite the same way.  Here we see playful teasing, uproarious arguments, protectiveness and fondness, and a way of interacting that can only come about from decades of knowing each other.

The book is divided into four sections: Before Baker Street, in which Holmes or Watson tell a story to one another about a case they had before they met; The Early Years, which all take place before the Hiatus; The Return, which takes place in the immediate aftermath of the Hiatus; and The Later Years, which cover the years leading up to Holmes’ retirement.

Before Baker Street will bring to mind Gloria Scott and Musgrave Ritual.  Even though either Holmes or Watson is absent from the mystery, however, they are very present within the story itself, either interjecting questions or asides, commenting on the action, or needing to take a break in order to adjust a blanket or eat some food.  If one looks at Gloria Scott or Musgrave Ritual and misses Watson, then that shouldn’t be a concern here.  He also presents his own case to Holmes, in a delightful turn of events.

The Early Years gives us four cases in which we explore the tentative beginnings to the friendship between Watson and Holmes.  Faye is very aware that these stories take place before they were truly comrades-in-arms the way we think of them, and so she shows the gradual blossoming of their friendship as we go through.  We are shown here vulnerable and deeply compassionate sides to Holmes, while Watson’s pawky humor comes through quite clearly, as well as his bravery and willingness to pursue justice.  My favourite story in the entire collection, the Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma, is in this section.  This story takes place during HOUN, while Holmes is still in London, and is drawn entirely from Holmes’ journal entries… in which he rambles about Watson, rants about Watson, and worries about Watson.  If you’ve ever wondered just how Holmes feels about Watson, or worried that he didn’t value the friendship, this story will put such fears to rest.  It is a gem.

The Return, with most stories all taking place immediately after EMPT, focuses on the consequences of Holmes’ actions, and is possibly the bleakest of the four sections.  The first story in the group is heart wrenching, with Mary Watson having just died and Watson not knowing what to do anymore.  In the other stories, Holmes and Watson have to work through the emotional quandaries that arose from the Hiatus and, in The Willow Basket, we get to see just what Lestrade’s take on the whole thing is.  Despite this being perhaps the saddest section, it is still immensely satisfying, and really gives weight to the Hiatus as a whole.

The Later Years feature your classic pastiches, with the focus truly being on the cases themselves.  At this point, Holmes and Watson have largely sorted out any rocky patches in their friendship, and these are some of the years Watson claimed Holmes was at the height of his powers in Canon; the mysteries are, suitably, excellent.

Most of the stories in this collection feature an A plot, which focuses on the mysteries at hand, and a B plot, examining a facet of the relationship between Holmes and Watson.  If the mysteries are at times predictable, it is the B plots that make this book a standout.  It is an amazing collection, and you will want to have it on your shelf.

What About Our Watson?

The Watson that appears here is everything a good Watson should be: he’s loyal, he’s clever, he’s an excellent doctor, he’s brave and resolute, he’s funny, and he’s protective.  The stories are told in a classic pastiche style, very reminiscent of Canon, but we are lucky here in that Watson isn’t edited out as much.  He doesn’t come back into the story just to ask a question so that Holmes will explain something; instead, he is as much a part of the process of detective work as Holmes himself.  His medical experience is featured heavily in these stories, in particular as Holmes’ doctor.  Two stories, Colonel Warburton’s Madness and An Empty House feature Watson alone, with very little Holmes, and so we get experience a slightly difference view on him, unrelated to case work.

Perhaps the two best stories, however, for showcasing our Watson are the two stories that are drawn from Holmes’ notes.  These are not done in the style of Lion’s Mane or Blanched Soldier, with Holmes attempting to write his own story.  Instead, these are unfiltered, raw Holmes, straight from his journals, and so the Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma and The Diadem Club Affair show us exactly how Holmes sees his friend, and, more importantly, gives us an unedited view on what Watson is truly like, without his authorial hand adjusting things.  Watson is steadfast and gentle, brave and bullheaded, sarcastic and intelligent.  It’s a brilliant portrayal, and immensely satisfying for a Watsonian.

You Might Like This If You Like:

Bert Coules radio dramas; friendship stories; the tin box mysteries with new plots; classic pastiche collections

Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma

by Larry Millett
University of Minnesota Press (February 2017)
240 p. ISBN 9781517900861

Publisher’s Summary

Dogged by depression, doubt, and—as a trip to the Mayo Clinic has revealed—emphysema, 66-year-old Sherlock Holmes is preparing to return to England when he receives a shock: a note slipped under his hotel room door, from a vicious murderer he’d nearly captured in Munich in 1892. The murderer, known as the Monster of Munich, announces that he has relocated to Eisendorf, a tiny village near the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

If Holmes is not what he once was, the same can be said for Eisendorf: once a thriving community founded by German idealists but now a dying town with only forty residents—two of whom have, indeed, died recently under highly mysterious circumstances. Replete with all the gothic richness of Larry Millett’s earlier Holmes novels, Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma links events in 1892 Germany with those in small-town Minnesota in 1920 in a double mystery that tests the aging detective’s mettle—and the reader’s nerve—as never before.

Guided by Eisendorf’s peculiar archivist and taunted by the Monster, Holmes finds himself drawn into the town’s dark history of violence and secrecy, and into the strange tunnels that underscore the old flour mill where answers, and grievous danger, lie in wait. No longer the cool, flawless logician of times past, Holmes must nonetheless match wits with a fiendish opponent who taunts him right up to a final, explosive confrontation.

General Review

Taking place during the Retirement Years, even past World War I, Eisendorf Enigma is a fun, fast-paced mystery.  I was very excited when NetGalley sent me an ARC of Millett’s latest Sherlock Holmes novel- growing up, his novels were some of the first pastiches I encountered- and I’m deeply grateful to them for the opportunity to read this book in advance and comment on it.

The story begins quickly, almost abruptly, with the reader being introduced to several things at once, including Holmes’ illness and his history in Munich, before we find ourselves in Eisendorf itself, meeting our cast of suspects.  Eisendorf is a miniscule German village in Minnesota, and it’s layered in secrets.  It is fascinating to see Holmes attempt to tease out information from people when literally everyone he meets lies to him or misdirects him, and the only records he can consult are written by the same people who are lying to him.  Although the book starts very quickly, it soon adjusts to a slower, more measured pace that absolutely suits the very Southern Gothic atmosphere of this book.  We spend a great deal of time meeting the inhabitants of the town, few as they are, and learning the history and the founding of Eisendorf.  In between these moments, we flash back to 1892 Munich, when Holmes first encountered the serial killer known as the Monster.  The two stories are woven together well, each contributing new insights to the other.

Millett has always been phenomenal at writing eccentrics (many familiar with the series will well remember Shadwell Rafferty, who dominated Millett’s later books; while Rafferty appears in this book, he is not a main character), and it shines through here.  Eisendorf is full of strange people.  There’s the archivist, who notes down every detail of the town and whom Holmes cannot unravel; the young woman with a childish spirit who wears angel wings and claims to know secrets; the recluse who threatens Holmes whenever they meet; the outcast whose actions during World War I endangered much of the town; the town leader and his wife, who make for an odd pair; and the widow, that Holmes finds captivating.  The secondary characters are delightful, and it is enjoyable trying to sort out which among them may have a motive and committed the crimes Holmes is investigating.

Millett’s descriptions are lush and rich, and anyone who likes to craft a good visual in their head will appreciate his attention to detail with the setting.  Minnesota is a beautiful place, and the author’s descriptions create a written picture that will match any photos you pull up on the Internet or in a book.

The first two-thirds of the book are from a third-person perspective, following Holmes, which could be disconcerting for readers used to Watson’s first-person perspective.  Thankfully, in the last third of the book, we return to what we are used to.  The first part of the book is still well done, however, if occasionally too willing to repeat internal thoughts of Holmes’ that don’t need to be stated with such frequency.

It’s a charming, quick book, and I enjoyed it immensely.  I hope Millett will consider writing more works in this timeline, one rarely explored by pastiche writers.  It would be lovely to have a set of books that focus on the cases of Holmes and Watson, well past retirement and post-World War I.

What About Our Watson?

For a while, I feared I would have little to report on the Watson front.  The first two-thirds of the book feature Holmes by himself, without any of his usual allies or friends, in Eisendorf.  I was fully prepared to write about the occasional affectionate thoughts that Holmes has for Watson, and to note that his brief appearance at the beginning is pleasant, if unsatisfying for the dedicated Watsonian.

Thankfully, however, Watson makes a heroic entrance towards the end, and while he doesn’t get to contribute much in the solving of the mystery, his personality comes through in spades.  Watson rushes off to America, leaving his irate second wife behind (the second Mrs. Watson is not well liked by Holmes, or the author it would seem) in order to get to Holmes’ side.  He is shown to be an excellent doctor, whose medical opinion Holmes trusts above all others, and is quick to follow through on Holmes’ strange requests.  His sarcastic humor comes out at the most unexpected times, much to my amusement.

While there isn’t as much Watson content as I would like, when Watson is there, he is very recognizably Watson.

You Might Like This Book If You Like:

Minnesota; small town histories; Southern Gothic mysteries; ruminations on age and illness