Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil: And Other New Tales Featuring the Great Detective Book

When started this book over a year ago, I had read (in quick succession) two previous Holmes books by this author. As I recall, I did not give glowing reviews to them, as the characters felt wrong in their speech and mannerisms. I was about three fourths of the way through this one when I hopped on a plane to the UK for two weeks (June '11), but kept it "open" on goodreads intending to finish it off. But work (a credible, if not good excuse) kept me busy. Two weeks back in the US, then another three weeks in the UK in July. By then, it had sunk to a low, "inevitable" priority.

Over the intervening year, I remembered my place in the book and my rough feelings about it and the guilt grew. Finally I got it back and finished it.

As with Mr. Thomas' other Holmes books, he tries a balancing act: fiction plus fact. The author has written several documentaries & crime books that span several decades and reach back as far as the Victorian Era (1840s - 1900s). He is something of an expert in these matters. In this book each of the five stories is based around historical events, although woven into the fabric of Doyle's creation. In some cases, the veneer of fiction is rather thin; in others it is deeper and more inventive.

When I picked the book up again (Aug '12) I started in at the start of the fourth tale (as that was what I was in the middle of a year earlier. I chose to re-read the entire story and found that I could identify where I had stopped. This is one of his typical tales where there is a lot of first-person interaction between Holmes, Watson, and the other characters, much as Doyle did in the majority of "official" stories.

The last tale is written more as a historical record. There is minimal "conversation" and much more description of past events. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this story read a lot more naturally to me than most of his others. The narrative flowed smoothly and the sparse dialog was much more "in character". While it wouldn't be much of a challenge for the author, if more of his Holmes stories followed this template, I would have probably rated his volumes more highly.

Even though I think the fifth story was a more enjoyable read, to be honest about my feelings from one year ago I am rating this book as I did the others. If you've read "The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes" or "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt" or "Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly" or "The Execution of Sherlock Holmes" and thought well of them, then I think you will enjoy this one, also. Despite my criticisms, I am glad that I read these books.

To paraphrase the old Anita Bryant OJ commercials, "A day without Sherlock Holmes is like a day without sunshine." Or to put it another way, I'm always happy to discover new material about the world's greatest Consulting Detective. As much as I appreciate the new and the different, Holmes is one of those things that I hold dear. So, I'll be going after "Sherlock Holmes and the Running Noose" someday.