The Whole Art of Detection

I really did love this book! Lindsay Faye is the very best writer of Holmes pastiches. She captures the setting, atmosphere, Watson’s narrative voice, Holmes’ narrative voice and the overall style of Conan Doyle’s original tales with uncanny mastery. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else, so I’ll just add that “Memoranda Upon the Gaskell Blackmailing” was one of my favorites because it fills in the gaps of Holmes’ absence in The Hound of the Baskervilles, has Holmes fussing about Watson’s forgetting to pack his muffler and having it posted first thing in the morning, and, like “The Adventure of the Thames Tunnel,” characterizes Holmes as emphatically not misogynistic. He’s as kind, protective, sympathetic and gallant to women as he is the original stories. “The Adventure of the Beggar’s Feast” and “Notes Upon the Diadem Club Affair” both illustrate Holmes’ compassionate care for children-his band of Irregulars; it’s an insightful inference I believe Conan Doyle would be pleased with. I don’t agree with those authors who have condemned the detective for callous exploitation of these poor children. I find such negligence to be completely out of character. “Notes Upon the Diadem Club Affair” gives Watson the opportunity to neatly put Holmes in his place and also clears the detective of that appearance of avarice Conan Doyle included in “The Adventure of the Priory School.” It also introduces a version of Sir Percy Blakeney, another of my all time favorite characters of fiction, whom I was delighted to see quite at home in this environment in a clever twist at the end. Like Dust and Shadows, this is a real treat for Holmes fans. I’m hoping for more soon!

Finally! An author whose ‘voice’ is true to AC Doyle. It’s not 100% perfect but it’s very close. I’ve always found Sherlock Holmes clones to be uninteresting and unsatisfying because the writing just does not capture Watson’s voice. This is the first author I’ve ever found that I thought was every bit as entertaining as the original. I haven’t checked to see if Faye has written any other Sherlock Holmes books but I would buy them!

The book is a collection of short stories; the “lost mysteries.” Many of them deal with Holmes early cases. I thought Faye’s Holmes was as entertaining as Doyle’s which is about the highest praise I can think of. Big kudos to the author!

The author Lyndsay Faye has done an excellent job in writing in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Faye has picked up the story of Sherlock Holmes a few years after Holmes’ demise battling Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. We find that Dr. Watson has married and is currently mourning the death of his wife of a few years. Watson is so despondent that over the double loss of his best friend and now his wife that he wishes to leave London behind. As a depressed Watson is saying his final goodbyes to Inspector Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson the keeper of 221B Baker Street as he prepares to go to sea as a ship’s surgeon; he is quickly brought back to his senses in receiving word that indeed Holmes is alive and has returned to Baker Street.

As Faye reunites Holmes and Watson, we find a subtle change in Holmes, in how perceives his friend Watson and the criminal world in London. Yes, a slight softening of the acerbic wit of Holmes is noticed. Faye picks up the timeline of the Holmes and Watson as it ended with the disappearance of Holmes at Reichenbach Falls. She continues the timeline into the early 20th Century, not bringing the legendary exploits of the inhabitants of221B Baker Street to an end but allowing for a continuation of the saga.

Faye’s story writing is very good and she brings into to her series of Holmes adventures Inspector Lestrade, the Baker Street Irregulars and the familiar environs of London.

I have been a life long Sherlock Holmes fan and I recommend this new compilation of adventures to those who enjoy the exploits of the greatest fictional detective of 19th Century England.

I read about this book in a review in our local newspaper, and being a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I immediately went to Amazon and bought it. The Whole Art of Detection could have been written by Arthur Conan Doyle–it was that authentic. A couple of the adventures were quite brief, but even those were good. None of the stories were as good as The Hound of the Baskervilles, but
that would be hard for anyone to replicate. If you have read all the original Holmes and still want more, this book is worth buying.

I absolutely love Lyndsay’s Gods of Gotham series, and Dust and Shadow was fantastic, but I had a real challenge penetrating these stories. It felt like too much focus was on imitating Conan Doyle’s rambling style, which Doyle pulls off of course, but I feel as if Lyndsay would have been better off using her own voice and focusing instead on describing the character. I know — there’s a meta aspect of the Holmes books, where you’re actually reading Watson’s words, so style imitation is part of that, but I think deemphasizing this is a compromise worth making.

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