Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Raven’s Call follows Holmes into retirement, where shortly after he arrives in Sussex Downs he becomes aware that a reported accidental death may have been murder. Holmes uses his gifts for observation and deduction to discover the identity of the murderer and teams up with a new partner to get the guilty party’s confession. A pastiche of the first order, Raven’s Call will delight the Holmes enthusiast as it shows the consulting detective may retire, but is never retiring.
Dean Turnbloom, JHWS “Stoker”: Sherlock Holmes and The Return of The Whitechapel Vampire
Bodies washing up along the eastern coast of New England and the mysterious grounding of a “ghost ship” near Manhattan combine to bring Sherlock Holmes out of retirement to resume his pursuit of the villainous Baron Antonio Barlucci-the Whitechapel Vampire. But when he arrives in London to enlist the assistance of Dr. Watson, the good doctor has reservations.
It’s been twenty-five years since Holmes and Watson hunted Barlucci, twenty-five years since they learned the baron was buried beneath a mountain of ice and snow.
Has Holmes’ preoccupation with Barlucci driven him to see connections where none exist? Have his powers of deduction gone stale while in retirement? Has Watson’s worst fear, that Holmes’ obsession with the baron has unbalanced his finely tuned psyche, come true?
Sherlock Holmes and the Return of the Whitechapel Vampire is the exciting finalé to the Whitechapel Vampire Trilogy. In this final chapter, Holmes must face more than evil. He must face his own mortality-the only certainty in an uncertain world.
Reviews:
“Right from the opening paragraphs, I was overjoyed because I felt I was reading a brand new Conan Doyle mystery. Being a die- hard fan of the original, I then became wary: could a modern author be successful in this tremendous undertaking? The answer is a resounding yes! SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE is more than an homage to Conan Doyle: Mr. Turnbloom essentially captures everything that is Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson but makes it his own, without the reader ever having the impression of the author “trying”; never does the author endeavour to copy, but he in fact prolongs the formidable legacy of Conan Doyle.” – Monique Daost
Dean Turnbloom, JHWS “Stoker”: Sherlock Holmes and the Body Snatchers
With Baron Barlucci escaping London on his way to New York with Abigail Drake, Dr. Watson is certain they’ve seen the last of the Whitechapel Vampire; Sherlock Holmes isn’t so sure. They soon learn the Animus Lacuna, barque of the now infamous Barlucci, was reported lost at sea and a longboat carrying the body of Abigail Drake was recovered by Newfoundland fishermen. But when Inspector Andrews of Scotland Yard arrives to retrieve her remains, the body suddenly disappears and Sherlock Holmes is called in to investigate.
“Sherlock Holmes and the Body Snatchers” takes up the story of the Whitechapel Vampire in New York, where Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet, work with, and sometimes work against, New York detectives Mylo Strumm and Michael Murray. Holmes and Watson are on a quest to find the missing body of Miss Abigail Drake, while Strumm and Murray are investigating a string of unusual murders that bear a striking resemblance to the ‘Ripper’ murders in London.
Reviews:
“Sherlock Holmes and the Body Snatchers is a complex, well-plotted, well written novel. So many plot threads are woven throughout the book’s pages, and each one is nicely wrapped up in the finale. Turnbloom takes his subject matter incredibly seriously, even when he’s writing about vampires in New York City. Along with the fine plot are the excellent characters. Each character is developed in depth and you will emphatise with them as you read.” – The Consulting Detective
Weekly Quiz 2014-6
Everyone did so well on the palindromes last week, here is one more. Good Luck!
RESULTS: The honours go to Denny Dobry “Kirby” with 25 points; Melissa Anderson “Faith” with 25 points; Dean Trunbloom “Stoker;” and our Team SOBs Margie Deck “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgrieve “Daisy” with 25 points.
ANSWER: Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe = e-o and o-e, a palindrome of vowels frontwards and backwards.
How About Just a Tiny Quiz to Tide Us Over . . .?
AND THE RESULTS ARE . . . It would seem that this question could be the basis of a very interesting paper for The Watsonian. There are echoes in both solutions below to indicate the presence of myth, folklore, religion, and supernatural belief. And, there may well be additional names that fit the specter of the Hound.
Dean Turnbloom “Stoker” sends this interesting and historically pertinent solution to the question:
Cusith or Cù-Sìth was a Hellhound, harbinger of death (Scotland, the Hebrides, Ireland). According to Scottish folklore, the Cù-Sìth is said to be the size of a young bull with the appearance of a wolf. Its fur is shaggy, and usually cited as being dark green though sometimes white. Its tail is described as being long and either coiled up or plaited (braided). Its paws are described as being the width of a man’s hand. The Cù-Sìth is thought to make its home in the clefts of rocks in the Highlands, and also to roam the moors and highlands. The Cù-Sìth was feared as a harbinger of death and would appear to bear away the soul of a person to the afterlife, similar to the manner of the Grim Reaper. In this role the Cù-Sìth holds in Scottish folklore a function similar to that of the Bean Sidhe, or banshee, in Irish folklore.
According to legend, the creature was capable of hunting silently, but would occasionally let out three terrifying bays, and only three, that could be heard for miles by those listening for it, even far out at sea. Those who hear the baying of the Cù-Sìth must reach safety by the third bark or be overcome with terror to the point of death.
Congratulations to Mr Turnbloom who resides in Santee, California.
Kenneth Siarkiewicz sends his analysis and suggests “Lucifer” as the hellhound’s name, a name that seems eminently logical, fitting and in keeping with the supernatural speculation of the story.
“Cooper” also suggests the name might be ‘Black Shuck” from one of the English folk-legends. This legend bears quite a close resemblance to the Hound. It is spectral and foreboding and deserves to be read in its full description on Wikipedia (follow the link) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Shuck
Congratulations to “Cooper” who resides, reads and thinks in Tucson, Arizona. Kenneth joined the Society in August and we appreciate his contribution in helping us to think about this unique question.
Question
The hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles is not given a name in the text by Dr Watson. From the Canonical textual evidence and from inference, what is the likely name of the hound?
Submit answers to buttons@johnhwatsonsociety.com by 12 Noon (Pacific) Friday. The answers will be judged and the results will be posted here by Saturday.
Have fun . . .
Weekly Quiz #7: 1 November to 6 November 2013
Weekly Quiz #7
1 November to 6 November 2013
RESULTS: Elinor Hickey “Misty” was second in with 16/20; Dean Turnbloom “Stoker” was third in and tied with 16/20; and James O’Leary “Pippin” was first in with 15/20. They go forward to the Monthly Quiz on 8 November 2013.
Watson used colour sparingly in his writing with only a few exceptions. Compared to imagist writers, however, he was not a “colourful” writer. “Colour in the Canon” would make a superb research paper for The Watsonian (any takers?).
This week’s quiz is concerned with those few colours. Identify the object being described by the colour and an associated word or two in the text, the story, and all the accurate page citations (5 point bonus) in the Doubleday one-volume edition of 1930 (the “W” edition).
Colour – – – – Object/Person – – – – Story – – – – Page
- Yellow (Nov. 1895)
- White (rustic)
- Amber (pile)
- White (curve)
- Red (bully)
- Green (mottled)
- Gray (jack-in-a-box)
- Gray (scraped)
- Green (dreaming)
- Brown (study)
- Black (insane)
- Glossy black (noble maybe)
- Purple (girt round)
- Red (wire)
- Brown (first usage)
- Black (smoke tree)
- Crimson (guilty)
- Gray (mist)
- Pink (curve)
- Lavender (aristocrat)
Results: Weekly Quiz #6
The fun has produced Weekly Quiz Masters! The Answers are posted below.
Taking the Individual Member Category this week is our intrepid Quiz Master James O’Leary “Pippin”, who once again was first in with 20/20 correct answers plus the 5 bonus points for a total of 25 points. Denny Dobry “Kirby” was in with 19/20, and our new member from Italy, Michele Lopez “Reggie” and Dean Turnbloom “Stoker” tied with 18/20, and Elinor Hickey “Misty” was next.
The Team Member Category once again was captured by Margie Deck “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgrieve “Daisy”, who maintain their Team honours for the sixth week in a row.
Congratulations to all these Quiz Masters on what was a more difficult quiz than it first appeared. On to Week #7!
Weekly Quiz #5 Quiz Masters
The honours for Weekly Quiz #5 go to: (answers posted below)
Member Individual Category: The first to submit with 20/20 correct answers plus 5 bonus points for textual citations is James O’Leary “Pippin”, who claims the honours this week. He was followed by Denny Dobry “Kirby”, Dean Turnbloom “Stoker”, and Elinor Hickey “Misty”, who all came within two questions.
Member Team Category: Again (for the fifth week) our intrepid team of members from Seattle, Margie Deck “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgrieve “Daisy” took the team honours with 20/20, also plus the 5 bonus points.
Congratulations to these Quiz Masters and Quizzees who continue to be difficult to stump. They will go forward to the Monthly Quiz #2.
Results: Weekly Quiz #4 and Monthly Quiz #1 with New Schedule (see below; also Answers below)
After grueling competition, the results are in!
Weekly Quiz #4:
Member Individual Category
Denny Dobry “Kirby” took the honors and James O’Leary “Pippin,” Elinor Hickey “Misty”, Ron Lies “Chips” were all close.
Team Member Category
Margie Deck “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgrieve “Daisy” of Seattle continued their near-perfect streak for team honors.
Non-Member Category
Dean Turnbloom, in his final appearance as a non-member (he has joined the Society) took the honors.
Congratulations to these Weekly Quizzers and Weekly Quiz Masters. This was a difficult Weekly Quiz and required determining the best case of logic, textual evidence, and association or relationship to arrive at a string of connected answers that satisfied the clue design in both inductive and deductive directions (working form the beginning or working from the end). There are several possible sets of answers to the clues, but only one has the highest quotient of logic, evidence and association; however, alternatives that were supportable were considered and accepted when the proofs could be presented. The best score in all categories was 8/10.
Monthly Quiz #1
This week’s quiz also was Monthly Quiz #1 among those who were successful in the prior Weekly Quizzes, which partly explains the somewhat diabolical nature of the quiz structure. The Monthly Quiz honors go to:
Member Individual Category
Denny Dobry “Kirby” is our first Monthly Quiz Master with a combined score on all quizzes this month of 47/60.
Team Member Category
Margie Deck “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgrieve “Daisy” are our first Monthly Quiz Masters with a combined score on all quizzes of 47/60.
Non-Member Individual Category
Dean Turnbloom is our first Monthly Quiz Master with a combined score on all quizzes of 47/60.
Congratulations to all of our Quiz Masters. You all now go forward to the Quarterly Quiz and on to the Annual Quiz. As we all now see, participating in every quiz is how you boost your cumulative score towards the Annual Quiz Master honor, a reality shown by the equal scores of 47/60 by all three Quiz Masters. If one misses a week, it can mean a 10 to 20 point difference; of course, if one doesn’t miss a week, it can be a 10 to 20 point advantage . . . diabolique, n’est pas?
Responding to a participant’s excellent suggestion (Dean Turnbloom), Buttons will make it a bit easier for participants to have the time to work on the quizzes by changing the schedule a bit so that a weekend is available to you on every quiz. Therefore, the Weekly Quiz will now be posted on Friday by 4 pm (Pacific) and end on Wednesday at 4 pm (Pacific) when answers have to be received. The next Weekly Quiz will be Friday, 17 October through Wednesday 23 October 2013. Good luck to everyone, and for all of our members who have not participated, please join in the fun. A comment from one of our participants sums up what we gain when we work on the quizzes: ” . . . these [quizzes] are certainly broadening my Canonical knowledge.” Enjoy!
Here are the Weekly #4/Monthly #1 Quiz answers:
Welcome to Dean Turnbloom, JHWS “Stoker” to Charter Membership
The Society is delighted to welcome Dean Turnbloom, JHWS “Stoker” of Southern California to Charter Membership.
Mr. Turnbloom has been participating in the Non-Member Individual Category of the Treasure Hunt and the Weekly Quiz, and has been doing very well. We are honored by his decision to join the Society and would offer our members that you have a formidable quizzer amongst the membership.
Dean’s biography reads:
Dean Turnbloom lives and writes in southern California after growing up in southern Indiana. His political side can be seen in his former avocation as an editorial cartoonist and in his series of books that display the national prize winning cartoons of your favorite editorial cartoonist, Prizewinning Political Cartoons. This series informs the readers about the national contests for editorial cartoonists as well as displaying the work and bios of the cartoonists themselves.
In fiction, Dean’s tastes run to the macabre. His first short story was published in L&L Dreamspell’s Horror edition. He has a self-published short story available for those who would like to sample his work, The Banshee of the Rannoch Moor. His first novel, published by MX Publishing in the UK and available everywhere in both paperback and digital editions is SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE (a review is found on the Dr Watson’s Library page).
Please welcome Dean with the Society’s traditional greeting to new members:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Dean Turnbloom, JHWS “Stoker”: The Whitechapel Vampire
Victorian England’s most famous consulting detective is hot on the trail of London’s most notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper. But in Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Vampire, Jack is a vampire and Holmes refusal to believe it could be his undoing as the two match wits in this delightfully original first novel.
Available from Amazon and MX Publishing. $17
Reviews:
Sherlock Holmes. Vampires. Watson. Jack the Ripper. Vincent van Gogh? All come together in this excellent pastiche- Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Vampire. Throw in some Italian immigrants, murders in Paris and London and lovely music- enchanting music that will soothe and mesmerize the soul. I really enjoyed Whitechapel the TV series with Rupert Penry-Jones and Phil Smith- so I was set to dig into another Ripper tale, this time with Holmes for added body.
I found this to be a suspense story with just the right amount of clues and bloody gore. Will the vampire be able to be cured? Will he marry his love before she finds out about his dubious past? Will Holmes and Watson find the Ripper before he strikes again? Or leaves for the Big Apple? If you like vampires or are a fan of the ripper, don’t miss this one.
-Maurice
Having a title like “Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Vampire,” it sounds hard to pass up the opportunity to read this book. The idea of having the world’s greatest detective face the forces of the un-dead is hardly a new one, as is Sherlock Holmes vs, Jack the Ripper. Author Dean P. Turnbloom does an expert job of weaving a story with a number of diverse plot points. The novel reads more like a thriller than an actual mystery and features Baron Barlucci, a centuries-old vampire who comes to London in order to cure his vampirism. However, the Baron’s thirst for blood drives him to committing the notorious murders attributed to Jack the Ripper, and soon the world’s greatest sleuth is on his trail.
-Sand
Weekly Quiz #3 Results
The results are in! The Quiz Master for Week #3 is Denny Dobry, “Kirby”. He was followed by James O’Leary, “Pippin” in second place.
There were no submissions in the Member Team Category, or Non-Member categories.
Buttons learned that our Quizzees are not too sanguine about Word Scrambles. Next week’s quiz returns to Canonical references that are readable; in fact, it consists of single word clues. You’ll love this one!
Weekly Quiz #4 is also Monthly Quiz #1 for those who are competing in the Monthly Quiz Master challenge. The Monthly Quiz Master will be eligible for the Quarterly challenge as well as the Annual challenge. Monthly quizzes are:
Member Individual Category
Denny Dobry, “Kirby”
James O’Leary, “Pippin”
Elinor Hickey, “Misty”
Ron Lies, “Chips”
Member Team Category
Margie Deck, “Gwen”
Sheila Holtgrieve, “Daisy”
Non-Member Individual Category
Dean Turnbloom
Good luck to you all. Anyone may participate in Weekly Quiz #4 and we look forward to an expanded roster of members, teams and non-members who wish to match wits with the slow boy who mostly lunches. The questions will be posted by 12 noon (Pacific) on Monday 7 October 2013 and will end at 12 Noon (Pacific) on 12 October 2013.
Results: Weekly Quiz 2; September 23-28, 2013
The results are in and the answers are posted below. We had good participation this week, and there is always room for more!
Individual Member Category: James O’Leary “Pippin” with all 20 correct answers.
Team Member Category: Margie Deck “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgreive “Daisy” with 20 correct answers.
Individual Non-Member Category: Dean Turnbloom with 19 correct answers.
Other members doing very well included Denny Dobry “Kirby”, Ron Lies “Chips”, and Elinor Hickey “Misty” who all tied for second place in the Individual Member Category.
Tomorrow’s Weekly Quiz 3 will be posted by noon (Pacific) and will consist of 10 questions, but they are diabolique!
Congratulations to our successful Quiz Masters! Onward to the Monthly and Quarterly Quizzes!
Weekly Quiz Masters for 16-21 September 2013
The First Weekly Quiz was successfully completed by the following participants:
Team Category: Margie Deck, JHWS “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgreive, JHWS “Daisy”. These two intrepid quizzers and members of the successful Team Category of the First JHWS Annual Canonical Treasure Hunt, had all 20 correct answers.
Individual Member Category: First to answer within hours of the quiz posting was James O’Leary, JHWS “Pippin” who scored 19 correct answers in a three-way tie with Denny Dobry, JHWS “Kirby” and Elinor Hickey, JHWS “Misty” also with 19 correct answers each.
Individual Non-Member Category: Dean Turnbloom who answered all 20 questions correctly.
These Weekly Quiz Masters may now challenge for the Monthly Quiz Master designation in their quest for the Annual Quiz Master title.
Interesting that the participants with 19 correct answers missed the same question, #11 having to do with the circa 1683 ancestral home of the Roylotts, Stoke-Moran. The answers are posted at the bottom of the original quiz notice below and may be downloaded by clicking on the icon.
Next week’s Quiz will be posted by 12 noon (Pacific) on Monday, 23 September 2013 and will end on 12 noon (Pacific) Saturday, 28 September 2013. Please join in as the more challengers we have the greater the fun!
Good luck to all and congratulations to this week’s Quiz Masters.