Rhys Bowen and Michael Mallory contribute to anthology of Sherlock Holmes in America stories
Rating: 4 stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“I thought this tied in well with Sherlock’s ability to pick up the smallest clue,” says Sherlock Holmes Cutting For Signs author Rhys Bowen. “I read about the Shadow Wolves, the members of the Tohono Odom tribe on the border who are used by US customs because they are so famous for their tracking skills and how they can read a blade of grass accurately. The most amazing research was finding out that the Shadow Wolves were sent to Afghanistan to hunt for Osama Bin Laden.”
Sherlock Holmes: The American Years is the third anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories edited by Michael Kurland. Set between 1870 and 1880, ten stories chronicle Sherlock Holmes’ time in America. Written by ten top mystery writers, with a forward by Leslie Klinger, the anthology cleverly chronicles young Holmes in America and Mexico where he meets famous luminaries and solves cases before he becomes the great Baker St. sleuth.
Contributor Bowen is busy at work on a new Molly Murphy novel set in New York’ Chinatown. Bowen’s website (www.rhysbowen.com) has details of her touring schedule and a trailer of her new Houdini book, The Last Illusion.
Another contributor is Michael Malllory, who gives us Sherlock The Sacred White Elephant of Mandalay, in which Holmes meets circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum to discuss fooling the public.
“A lot of my early research was all thrown out along with the first, failed version of the story,” says Mallory. “After laboring over the story for a couple months and having completed about 10,000 words, I had to accept that it simply wasn’t working. It was veering off into several wrong directions all at the same time. I tore it up and started all over again, with much better results. A story occasionally crashes and burns.”
“The challenge issued was to have Holmes meet up with a celebrated person of the time,” says Mallory. “Each of the authors were allowed to choose our own location and celebrity. I picked Bridgeport, Connecticut, the home base of P. T. Barnum. We each wrote our stories separately, though I had a preview of Richard A. Lupoff’s contribution, which he emailed me. In addition to being a very fine writer, Dick is a friend. Several of us in the book know each other.”
Michael Mallory was born in Port Huron, Michigan, and currently lives in Los Angeles. He’s writing a new Amelia Watson novel and shopping around a novel he completed last year that’s not part of a series.
Sherlock Holmes: the American Years is an enjoyable collection of stories. Fans of Sherlock Homes will enjoy following the young Holmes leaning the craft of deduction. The personalities in all the stories are strong. You see the beginning of Holmes personality emerging.
Sherlock Holmes: The American Years. Hardcover: 368 pages, Publisher: Minotaur Books (February 2, 2010), Language: English .ISBN: 978-0312378462
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