Book Review: A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman (The Sandman series) has delivered a Sherlock Holmes pastiche that scores big on Canonical references and is just about adequate on the mystery element.

In the classic tradition, Inspector Lestrade comes knocking at 221 B, seeking Holmes’s assistance. A German royal has been murdered and the word “RACHE” has been inscribed nearby. Holmes applies his powers of observation and deduction and brings the case to a successful conclusion. The story is very brief (about a 9 page PDF to be exact) and revealing any further details will be going into spoiler territory. 

As readers of the canon would have realized, the story is influenced by both A Study in Scarlet and A Scandal in Bohemia. The first encounter between Holmes and Watson at St Bart’s Hospital has been expanded on and Gaiman nails this one perfectly.

Another nice touch is related to Holmes’s advice to Watson in The Final Problem about picking not the 1^st or the 2^nd hansom. I loved this part and I am sure other Sherlockians will do as well. 

Overall, a decent effort from Gaiman. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz is still my favorite Sherlock Holmes pastiche. 

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Image Sources: Neil Gaiman 

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Book Review: Grave Passage by William Doonan

This is a review of the Kindle version.

Henry Grave has had an interesting life, having been a POW, ran for Congress in 1972, authored a book in archeology and an International dancing champion in Tango. Now 84 years old, he works for the Association of Cruising Vessel Operators in Washington D.C. and investigates crimes on ships.

The ship under question in one Contessa Voyager, an ultramodern cruise ship. Robert Samson, a retired FBI profiler is a regular on the lecture circuit. Samson was about to reveal the identity of the perpetrator of an unsolved murder at Cape Cod, when he was murdered.

Contessa has 1532 passengers on-board and 640 crewmembers. Henry has a long list of suspects:

• Hugh Arlen, Chief Security Officer
• Captain Egil Erlander, Ship Captain
• Helen Ettinger, 70 years old passenger who takes a keen interest in Henry Grave
• Duarte, a Venezuelan General evading deportment
• Elliott Powell and Doug Baxter, Veterinarians and their wives - Donna and Opal respectively
• Ron Gibson, Cruise director
• Inga Hess, Entertainer
• Shelley Tobin, actress and her husband /lead writer, Jack
• Vasily Orlov, cosmonaut
• Hector, a young security officer

William Doonan, the author

William Doonan has crafted a nice debut for Henry Grave. The mystery element is OK. What impressed me the most was Doonan’s writing style.

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Here are the things I liked best about the book:

• Nice description of life on a cruise ship voyage
• Good humor all around, with some particularly funny exchanges
• Grave’s philosophical reflections on life, food etc.
• Good description of cruise ship amenities, eager-to-help crewmembers with name tags & how they get tipped for their services etc.

For all the good points mentioned above, I felt there were a few missteps. There are a couple of racial stereotypes (physical description of Asians and the weak English spoken by a particular Russian character) that stuck out like a sore thumb in what was otherwise a very enjoyable read.

Recommended to fans of the mystery genre.

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Image Sources: Amazon

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Remembering Arthur Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930)

Arthur Conan Doyle and Wife (1892)

Arthur Conan Doyle passed away on this day in 1930.

In addition to Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle also created Professor Challenger in his novel The Lost World and a few other stories. He was equally at home in non-fiction as he was in the fiction genre.

As a tribute to this certifiable genius of a writer, I present here my personal favorite Sherlock Holmes quote from The Sign of Four:

“…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth…”

Thank You Conan Doyle for the Sherlock Holmes Canon and The Lost World. I owe a considerable amount of gratitude to the Canon for developing my interest in reading books and improving my vocabulary.

I have a lot more of your works on my to-read list!

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Book Review: Bending the Willow: Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davis

This is a review of the Kindle version.

David Stuart Davies is a big fan of Brett’s interpretation of Sherlock Holmes and his admiration leaps right out of the pages. His book gives great insight into the inception and making of the Granada series. The book delves on how Michael Cox, the producer cast Jeremy Brett and David Burke. David Burke had to leave the series due to some pressing personal concerns and the mantle passed on to Edward Hardwicke (who was suggested for the role by Burke himself).

The series makers have taken the utmost pains to make as faithful an adaptation of the canon as possible. Right from the casting of the principal characters to the sets and locations, the series does great justice to the stories. Jeremy Brett was passionate about his work and did considerable research to make the best possible adaptation.

David illustrates this by citing the example of The Hound of the Baskervilles where Holmes observes Watson’s reflection in a shining coffee pot. Brett realized that he could not see the reflection in a coffee pot, but in the lid. As can be seen in the Granada adaptation, Holmes points to the lid of the coffee pot. This is but one of the many trifling details that Brett painstakingly worked on to give what is considered by many as the definitive portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes

To his credit, David gives a fairly objective critique of the series. He candidly agrees about the deterioration in the performance of Brett as his physical tribulations worsened considerably even as the series kept chugging on. I have often considered that the Holmes as portrayed by Brett was as much a reflection of Brett’s personal characteristics as much of Holmes.

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In the adaptation of The Adventure of the Creeping Man, Brett’s Holmes is quite hostile towards the army personnel. There is no such description in the canon. David explains the reason for this hostility: Brett’s father was in the army and never approved of his son’s decision to take up the acting profession. Jeremy in fact had to change his family name from Huggins to Brett in order to take up the acting profession at the insistence of his father. The lack of approval from his father seems to have had a significant psychological effect on Jeremy and unfortunately comes out quite strongly in the aforementioned episode.

The same issue crops up again when Brett imagined the childhood of Holmes. As per his description, the younger Holmes was a social outcast while his brother Mycroft was always ahead in studies and settled in life nicely. Sherlock would have been a school dropout and finally became the only consulting detective in the world. The interesting fact to be noted is that even here, Brett imagined Holmes’s father to be “an army toad”.

As the series progressed (as did Brett’s manic depression), more and more of Brett came into his portrayal of Holmes, making the real Holmes almost an afterthought.

(An aside: if you are looking for help with manic depression or any mental health issues you may be facing, BetterHelp is one of the world's largest e-counseling platforms. BetterHelp has the resources to provide you with help.)

Here is a clip from "The Musgrave Ritual", in which Brett (as Holmes) is unable to control his fits of laughter:

The book delves quite a bit into the physical hardships Brett had to undergo and it is quite depressing to read. Brett suffered greatly and still insisted on donning the grease-paint.

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.

This book is a must read for fans of the Granada adaptation and/or Jeremy Brett.

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Image Source: Bending the Willow: Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies

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Book Review: Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten

This is a review of the Kindle version.

Sharks have evolved over millions of years and have evoked both fear and fascination in man since time immemorial. While man has visited outer space and scaled the tallest mountain peaks, our knowledge of the underwater life is extremely limited. It is estimated that we have only explored about 5% of the underwater world. It does not help that sharks (especially Great Whites) have quite a menacing physical appearance.

Steve has tapped into this widespread fascination and fear that sharks (extinct or otherwise) generally incite in us. Peter Benchley started it all in 1974 with his bestseller Jaws. Steven Spielberg created the concept of “Summer Blockbuster” with the immensely successful movie adaptation of the book.

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In Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, Steve wastes no time in establishing the physical supremacy of the Megalodon by having the shark munch on the King of All Land Predators, the T-Rex! This interesting encounter between the 2 predators happens in some prehistoric time and sets the tone for the rest of the book.

The story then shifts to the present and we meet the protagonist, US Navy deep sea diver turned Paleontologist Jonas Taylor. Jonas is in depression, after unintentionally causing the deaths of his two teammates in a deep underwater submarine operation. He is soon contacted by an old friend, Tanaka to investigate the presence of Megalodons in Mariana Trench. Tanaka owns a big aquarium and is keen on adding these prehistoric giants (should they exist) for the public display.

Steve Alten, the author

Reluctantly, Jonas joins the team comprising among others Tanaka’s son, DJ. DJ is killed by a Megalodon. Tanaka’s daughter, Terry wants revenge and soon it is man vs shark even as the Megalodon sets out on a killing spree targeting everything from whales to humans foolish enough to cross its path. Then there is Jonas's estranged wife (and news reporter), Maggie who wants to film the Megalodon and strike gold in her career.

The plot is indeed as silly as it sounds (!). It is by no stretch of imagination either high literature or even scientifically accurate, it does qualify as popcorn entertainment. I saw the movie Jaws long time back and have been quite fascinated with sharks ever since.

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Image Sources: Screenrant, The Authors Speak 

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Book Review: What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People by Joe Navarro

Joe Navarro does a splendid job explaining the intricacies of the body language.

The book starts with an example of how Joe solved a case by noticing a subtle change in the body language of a suspect under interrogation. He gives many examples from his career as to how lives were saved by observing and interpreting subtle messages AKA the body language.

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Joe takes a scientific approach to explaining body language by explaining how the brain works and has been instrumental in controlling our innate responses to external causes of stress/danger. His writing style is quite lucid, so that even the layman can understand the intricacies of the body language.

Highly recommended to people interested in reading Body Language books.

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Book Review: Peoplewatching by Desmond Morris

Desmond Morris has created a classic with his book Peoplewatching.

This book has and will stand the test of time as an enduring classic. One will be hard put to find any book on Body Language that does not cite Peoplewatching.

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Simply put, if there is only one book to be read on Body Language, this IS the one.

Desmond Morris, the author

Desmond Morris's book provides a wealth of information that deserves to be read and re-read.

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Image Source: Earth sciences and The nature

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Book Review: The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz

This is a review of the Kindle version.

I have read the complete Sherlock Holmes Canon (56 short stories and 4 novels) and have watched different adaptations.

Coming to the book in question, this is an excellent effort by Anthony Horowitz. Not having read any of the author's previous works, I was not sure if the author would do justice to Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved creation. Having read the book, I whole-heartedly recommend the book to any Holmes fan/fan of the thriller genre.

Anthony Horowitz, the author of 'The House of Silk'

Horowitz captures the essence of Doyle's books, which are the foggy streets of London and the classic relationship between Holmes and Watson. Horowitz nails both of these to near perfection and delivers (what to this reviewer is) one of the best Sherlock Holmes pastiches.

The story starts with an arts store owner paying a visit to 221 B Baker Street. As Holmes investigates the case, he finds himself (and Watson) involved in a dangerous game with a bunch of antagonists, hell-bent on keeping their criminal enterprise alive and kicking. The novel has 2 plots that come together for a stunner of a climax that is truly Vintage Sherlock Holmes.

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Besides Mycroft, couple more characters make their cameos. I will leave it to the reader to discover these, but rest assured, one of these cameos will knock any Holmesian's socks off.

What I liked best about the book: The settings, the atmosphere, the Holmes-Watson dynamics and the climax!

What could have been done better: The book lags little bit in the middle, despite a good start. But the killer climax offsets the lagging middle though.

I am eagerly looking to the (hopefully inevitable) sequel/next Holmes pastiche from Horowitz. 

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Image Source: The Telegraph 

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Book Review: Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey captures the essence of what makes the Mountain Gorillas a truly great species.

Dian was leading a relatively normal life in USA, when she made a short trip to Africa. She brought back some pictures and written descriptions of her experience with Mountain Gorillas. This eventually led to her being designated as one of “Leakey’s Angels”. She was chosen to study Mountain Gorillas, just as Jane Goodall and Birute M. Galdikas were chosen to study Chimpanzees and Orangutans respectively.

Dian studied Mountain Gorillas for more than a decade and she describes her experience in great detail in this book. She had great love and respect for these magnificent animals and this shines through in each page. Some of her favorite Gorillas include Digit, Rafiki, Uncle Bert and Macho. In addition to the Gorillas, she also had a pet dog, who she loved very much.

Dian with her favorite gorilla, Digit

Digit’s massacre by poachers led to Dian starting the “Digit Fund”, which is now known as “The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International”. Dian advocated “Active Conservation” efforts to save the Gorillas.

She also found “Karisoke Research Center”, which continues Fossey’s work in studying Mountain Gorillas.

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Dian was murdered in her cabin in 1985. Her murder still remains unsolved to this day.

Dian was not perfect. She was reported to be a heavy drinker as well as a different person to get along with. She was also not the first person to study Mountain Gorillas. Still, she will always be remembered for dedicating her life to studying Mountain Gorillas and ensuring that people all over the world know about the plight of these magnificent apes. Dian’s book is a rare insight into her awe-inspiring work.

Highly recommended to people who love Mountain Gorillas or are interested to know more about Dian Fossey.

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Image Source: Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Inc 

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