Murder, My Dear Watson: New Tales of Sherlock Holmes Paperback – November 6, 2003

A really good collection of stories, I would definitely recommend it.

Within the past three months I've read a dozen collections of Holmes pastiches, and found this to be the best. It includes several quotable "plums." Such plums were one of the key features of the original Holmes stories; they'd be a raisinless rice pudding without them. Here are a few:P. 13: The best way to tell a lie effectively is to tell the truth badly.P. 18: The moral, Watson, is that while life contains its hazards, it is the man who does not know how to calculate the risks who is in real danger.P. 67: An amateur. Which means he is either a genius or a dilettante. There is no in-between in such cases.P. 69: Swamp gas can only explain so much, sir, so much and no more.P. 154-55: I saw the small twitch of irony catch the corner of his mouth. The next moment the face had regained its classically sculpted lines, something poised between Roman senator and an American Indian.P. 161: He acted as though he expected to have the fatted calf killed daily on his behalf.

An anthology of Holmes pastiches that again also has extras in the form of articles or essays at the end. One of which here looks at Sherlock Holmes on the internet - being written by someone who has constructed such a site, and a list of major books of interest to those interested in studying Sherlock Holmes at a decent level.With a pretty decent overall story quailty, a worthwhile book for Holmes fans.Murder My Dear Watson : 01 The Adventure of the Dying Doctor - Colin BruceMurder My Dear Watson : 02 The Adventure of the Young British Soldier - Bill CriderMurder My Dear Watson : 03 The Vale of the White Horse - Sharyn McCrumbMurder My Dear Watson : 04 The Adventure of the Mooning Sentry - Jon L. BreenMurder My Dear Watson : 05 The Adventure of the Rara Avis - Carolyn WheatMurder My Dear Watson : 06 The Adventure of the Agitated Actress - Daniel StashowerMurder My Dear Watson : 07 The Case of the Highland Hoax - Anne Perry and Malachi SaxonMurder My Dear Watson : 08 The Riddle of the Golden Monkeys - Loren D. EstlemanMurder My Dear Watson : 09 The Adventure of the Curious Canary - Barry DayMurder My Dear Watson : 10 Before the Adventures - Lenore CarrollMoriarty has some comet predictions and life insurance dodges.3 out of 5Watson looks into helping an old army acquaintance who helped him.3.5 out of 5Hermaphrodite heredity case.3 out of 5The Birth of A Nation has Holmes involved at a screening, with a crazed killer on the loose.3 out of 5The brothers Holmes come across the Maltese Falcon.4 out of 5An early Holmes stage actor does some deduction.3 out of 5Holmes and Watson have a case of Killer Queen.3.5 out of 5Holmes and Watson meet Sax Rohmer, who has a problem of his own regarding the man upon whom he based Fu Manchu.4 out of 5A strange poisoning to look into.3 out of 5Watson's recovery after the war, and some literary insight and advice.3.5 out of 5

great book! luv holmes and watsonlooking forward to more books by these authors.I feel like i.have be transported back to the victorian era

I love Sherlock Holmes, and I love to explore Holmes pastiches, parodies, novels and essays. I was intrigued by this one, because I've read other anthologies and works by Stashower and Greenberg, so I thought I'd give this one a look too.Wish I hadn't wasted my time. Very, very bad stories. They just weren't good. Slim plots that were easy to bust; poorly written and not in the Victorian style at all (I like pastiches that at least ATTEMPT to sound like Watson; 90 percent of these weren't even close); and Holmes and Watson were somewhat out of character (or not even in the piece, such as Stashower's short). One of the most annoying stories used exclamation points at the end of half the sentences. That drove me freakin' insane. Exclamation points are just uncalled for, and I don't imagine Holmes and Watson shouting constantly. Very bad. The only story I liked was Estleman's, but I knew I would because I've liked his other work.I was also annoyed because most of these are not murder stories. They involve stolen brooches, riddles and, at its most boring, insurance swindles. Silly of me to think a book entitled "Murder, My Dear Watson," would kill off a few people.The essays at the back don't offer much either. The one on "the head and the heart" is a decent read but is available in other collections. "Sherlock on the Internet" is woefully out of date; it's a 9-year-old essay, and the Internet has changed so much that nothing in the essay is really applicable. The author rants and raves about how cool listservs are. Talk about dating yourself. The third is just a list of other Holmes pastiches.Pass on this one. I wish I had.

I thoroughly enjoy the story line which is presented regarding Sherlock Holmes. It was very spell binding making it very difficult to put down.

A treasure chest of short stories and interesting knowledge about Sherlock Holmes. Each perfectly packaged story is a thought evoking treat. This is a must read for those who can't get enough of Holmes and Watson.