BOOK REVIEW: “The Consulting Detective Trilogy Part I: University”

Darlene A. Cypser; Publisher: Foolscap & Quill (May 2012)

[Note: This novel is a direct sequel to Darlene Cypser’s The Crack in the Lens, which was published in December 2010. You can read my review of it here. Spoilers for The Crack in the Lens potentially lay ahead, although I always endeavor to avoid them.]

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“Perhaps it would help if they understood what drove him to it,” Sherlock suggested.

“Do you believe that anyone can truly comprehend what goes through a person’s mind at such times?” Dr Mackenzie asked.

“Not if they haven’t been there. But perhaps they can understand the stresses that drove him over the edge of reason.”

It sometimes seems that Sherlock Holmes’s greatest asset is time. His character is at once both timeless and demonstrative of the values and mores of a particular age. It is “always 1895” as the Sherlockians say, but a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, who texts and uses the internet, has found himself at the center of a breathtaking upwelling in popularity – and a likewise resurgence of interest in the original Great Detective from whom he was built. Sherlock Holmes always knew how to make use of time. The Canon is full of instances in which the Detective demonstrates an almost transcendental patience in puzzling out a case (TWIS) or waiting for a quarry, but he also knew how important even one second could be in capturing a suspect, or how disastrous one ill-timed movement could be in the course of a chemical experiment (NAVA).

And at the onset of The Consulting Detective Trilogy Part I: University, by Darlene A. Cypser, it would seem that all Sherlock Holmes has going for him is time. The events of The Crack in the Lens have devastated him. Physically, he is weak, unable (or unwilling) to leave his room for extended periods of time, consuming food is necessary but a struggle, and even doing something as simple as climbing stairs is a trial. Emotionally, he is far worse off. Even the smallest triggers seem to send him into stress-induced trances. He cannot bear to set eyes on and compulsively avoids most female members of the household staff. The eldest Holmes brother, Sherrinford, is expecting his first child and the timing of the child’s birth (or perhaps the child’s mere existence) fills Sherlock with anger and guilt. He cannot even look at the snow, and keeps his curtains constantly drawn.

But he is determined to move on, move away. Sherlock’s first experience with time in the novel is how little of it he is willing to waste in getting into university and away from Mycroft Manor. He finds himself enrolled at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge with what almost seems like lightening-speed, perhaps a testament to Sherlock’s determination to prove that he is well. Unfortunately, he has drastically underestimated how much time his recovery would take, and the first snowfall of the season finds Sherlock hugely unprepared, with devastating consequences. Later, he will make another gross miscalculation as the plot of the novel convergences with that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The ‘Gloria Scott’”. The encounter is unquestionably illuminating. As the elder Trevor states:

“I don’t know how you manage this, Mr. Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and of fancy would be children in your hands. That’s your line of life, sir, and you may take the word of a man who has seen something of the world.”

But Holmes’s offhand remarks have devastating consequences for Victor Trevor and his father, and certainly there are lasting results for Holmes himself. He learns a lot from his encounter with the Trevors, but more than anything, he learns what he still does not know, and how much time it will take to learn it. Cypser has artfully constructed a Sherlock Holmes who is utterly wrought, his foundation undermined, and all his components stripped away. The Great Detective is a man under construction in this novel; his entire framework has been brought to earth and he is trying to build again from scratch – with all the dangers that entails. The journey is long, and arduous, but Cypser’s young Holmes is certainly a man with the mettle for it.

Sherlock Holmes finds himself flanked on his journey by two companions: the young Jonathan Beckwith, who readers may remember from The Crack in the Lens, has joined Sherlock at university as a personal servant; and Dr. George Mackenzie, who is introduced into Sherlock Holmes’s life when it seems to be at its absolute worst. In The Crack in the Lens, Cypser introduced her readers to Sherrinford Holmes, the eldest of the three Holmes brothers, who seemed a forerunner for Dr. John Watson – earnest and compassionate, a companion for Sherlock Holmes when no one else seemed willing or able to fill the role. Now, Sherrinford is married, with young children, and Sherlock is living away from the manor. It would be unfair and inaccurate to somehow classify every single one of Sherlock Holmes’s pre-Watson companions as a precursor for the Good Doctor, but Jonathan’s and Dr. Mackenzie’s presence prove crucial to Sherlock’s development, nonetheless. From Mackenzie, Sherlock Holmes first learns the necessity of time and patience in the application of knowledge and diligent study (both within and without). From Jonathan, he learns the importance of a companion who remains devoted over any length of time, and through any circumstance.

The transformation of Cypser’s young Sherlock of The Crack in the Lens into the maturing Sherlock Holmes of The Consulting Detective is both subtle and brilliant. By the end of Cypser’s second novel, the reader stands in full knowledge and awareness of the man before them, and you wonder how you missed it, so understated was his development. Where previously there was only the merest hint of the man that would become the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes now stands tall, assembled, if not yet fully-formed. There are miles and years of distance between the “Sherlock” of Mycroft Manor and “Sherlock Holmes” of Baker Street, and while he is not quite yet the man of Doyle’s stories, the readers recognize him. Moreover they know him, and they are glad to see him again. Cypser’s novel is only the first in a trilogy that will take the Great Detective to Baker Street, but right now his path is clear, even if the road is not. And for now, Sherlock Holmes’s greatest asset is still time.

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The Consulting Detective Trilogy Part I: University is available in paperback and e-book formats from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  A full list of booksellers is available here.  More information about the novel and its author is available on its website, follow the novel on Facebook, or Darlene Cypser on Twitter.

 “Better Holmes & Gardens” now has its own Facebook page.  Join by “Liking” the page here, and receive all the latest updates, news, and Sherlockian tidbits.

SHORT STORY REVIEW: “The note, as I remember, was quite short.” (THOR)

The short story format is how most readers are familiar with the adventures of the world’s first consulting detective.  Although Sherlock Holmes’s first adventure was presented as a novel-length account, fifty-six of the sixty original published stories were short narratives.  So it would seem only natural that authors would return to this form when they take up their own pens and try their hand at the world of the Master Detective.  There are a multitude of anthologies and collections of Sherlock Holmes stories, of various themes and formats, from the more traditional The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, to the more fantastic The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

The short story format also offers writers the opportunity to experiment with characters, settings, or plot devices, which might otherwise be difficult to commit to over the course of a longer story or novel.  The following three short stories, while naturally all revolving around Sherlock Holmes and the variables of his universe, all also make use of a variety of different aspects of narration and perspective.  I have spoken elsewhere about the limitations and benefits of the restricted narrative perspective in the Sherlock Holmes canon, but the authors of the following stories were burdened by no such restraints or constrictions, and the results are another crisply defined angle in the Sherlockian prism.

“The Adventure of the Apprentice’s Coin” (Darlene Cypser, May 2011):

After reading Darlene Cypser’s novel, The Crack in the Lens¸ which features a teenaged Sherlock Holmes, I immediately wondered how she would take on a more “traditional” Sherlock Holmes story (“traditional,” that is, at least in terms of the Detective’s age and locale).  Cypser’s “The Adventure of the Apprentice’s Coin” seemed the very answer to my unspoken request.  After a brutal attack and being left for dead in an alleyway, Sherlock Holmes is tenuously recovering from his injuries back at Baker Street under the care of Dr. Watson.  But when the young silversmith’s apprentice who saved Holmes’s life is accused of passing a counterfeit coin, Holmes must solve the mystery without leaving his bed.

When readers purchase “The Adventure of the Apprentice’s Coin,” they are actually getting two stories: a “traditional” first person narrative from Dr. Watson’s limited perspective, and then a third person narrative from an omniscient point-of-view.  Cypser’s third person narrative brilliantly shows how, even if the reader knows the solution to the mystery (as he or she should, after finishing the first person perspective), that sometimes details are left out of the final telling.  Cypser leaves it up to her reader whether or not those details are ultimately important or superfluous.

“The Adventure of the Apprentice’s Coin” is available for both the Kindle and Nook.  More information about The Crack in the Lens is available here.  You can also follow the author on Twitter.

“A Hansom for Mr. Holmes” (Gillian Linscott, September 2002):

Sometimes, I think it is easy for all devotees of Sherlock Holmes to assume that everyone in Holmes’s sphere was similarly committed.  Why wouldn’t the Great Detective be accommodated without complaint: restaurants held open, various services rendered gratis, all manner of personages available for any request by sending a mere telegram?  Furthermore, what cabdriver would not be honored to convey Mr. Sherlock Holmes as he embarks on his exciting escapades?  Well, as the cabdriver in Gillian Linscott’s “A Hansom for Mr. Holmes” tells the reader, there is a very good reason for cabbies to stay away from Baker Street—and many of the experienced ones do! 

“And if trouble’s what you don’t want,” the cabbie says, “you certainly don’t go driving up and down Baker Street waiting for some geezer to shout, ‘A hansom for Mr. Holmes’ (129).”  Unfortunately for the narrating cabdriver, he is distracted on a particular evening and drives down Baker Street anyway, and before long, he hears that dreaded call.  Linscott’s story presents a narrator with a unique perspective on Baker Street’s most famous tenant.  Again, it is easy for readers to assume that once the case is solved, that the story is over, but Linscott’s short story is an extremely humorous reminder that even the Great Detective’s actions had consequences and repercussions—and occasionally a cabdriver was left in his wake of deductive destruction.

I found Gillian Linscott’s “A Hanson for Mr. Holmes” in the short story anthology Murder in Baker Street, which was edited by the incomparable Martin H. Greenberg, Jon Lellenberg, and Daniel Stashower.  Copies are available on Amazon, and if you find this tale in another collection, let me know.

“The Aristotelian” (Steve Poling, April 2011):

From the outset, Steve Poling’s short story is a bit of a rare gem.  Told from the perspective a young Mycroft Holmes, “The Aristotelian” follows the oldest Holmes brother as he tries to prevent Sherlock from taking reckless measures in the wake of their mother’s untimely death; and when he cannot stop his brother, it is up to Mycroft to control the damage that Sherlock wreaks.  While there is a larger mystery at work—a heavy shadow hanging in the background of the story—Mycroft’s own extraordinary powers are torn between his sometimes wild younger sibling (who spends a large portion of the story awkwardly trying out some of the deductive powers that he will wield so expertly as an adult) and their distracted and indifferent father.

Mycroft’s narration oftentimes seems detached and clinical—and perfectly in character with the man that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle presented—but his apparent disinterest is offset by the determination with which he tries to shield his younger brother, and console his isolated father.  Indeed, Mycroft Holmes is a layered character, his relationship with his brother complex, and Poling’s use of Mycroft as a narrator is a perfect presentation of all those elements.

Steve Poling’s “The Aristotelian” is available on Amazon for the Kindle, and Smashwords for the Nook, and other compatible devices.

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Sometimes, it is nice to return Sherlock Holmes to the form in which we knew him best.  The short story format does not require a lengthy time commitment from the reader, and therefore, a shorter period of suspended disbelief.  Authors are free to try out new plot techniques, or introduce new characters to see how they are received.  Perhaps there is a reason that Sherlock Holmes spent most of his time in short stories—he certainly seemed the most comfortable there.

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Congratulations to James Clelland, who is the winner of the “Ideal Sherlock Holmes Story” contest!  He will receive a prize package of three Sherlock Holmes pastiches, including The Italian Secretary, by Caleb Carr, The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls, by John R. King, and The Sherlockian, by Graham Moore.  Thank you to everyone who played!

BOOK REVIEW: “The Crack in the Lens”

Darlene A. Cypser; Publisher: Foolscap & Quill (December 23, 2010)

During the course of the canon stories, Sherlock Holmes comes into contact with “four Violets,” either as clients or in some other capacity in his role at the world’s first consulting detective: Violet Hunter (COPP), Violet de Merville (ILLU), Violet Smith (SOLI), and Violet Westbury (BRUC).  In addition to it being a relatively popular first name for Victorian girls, William Baring-Gould posited that Sherlock Holmes’s mother was named Violet, and other scholars have suggested the existence of a Holmes sister, also possibly named Violet.  It’s fun to theorize how (or “if”) the name could have had some personal significance to Sherlock Holmes, and Darlene Cypser’s novel The Crack in the Lens offers a compelling new theory, and a fresh perspective on the Great Detective’s early years, with careful consideration to what readers already know.   

In 1871, Sherlock Holmes is seventeen-years-old, and just returned to Holmes Hall—his family’s Yorkshire estate—after two years on the Continent.  Life at his family home is changing rapidly.  Sherrinford, the oldest Holmes brother, is preparing to marry, and eventually assume his duties as the head of the estate.  Mycroft is in London, working in his capacity for the British government.  A new tutor has been hired to prepare Sherlock for university.  And Sherlock meets Violet Rushdale, the daughter of a tenant farmer, on the moor that spring.  Cypser’s young Sherlock cuts a striking, romantic figure—vibrant and in the prime of life—riding across his family’s estate.  But there is a keenly felt distance between that young man, and the person who Dr. Watson will meet in 1881, in the laboratories of St. Bart’s.

The thorny issue with writing new back-story for Sherlock Holmes is that, while the canon leaves lots of room for speculation on the Detective’s early years, unless the author intends to rewrite or readapt the known back-story, there are certain plotlines that a reader already knows will not end well.  A romance for a young Sherlock, no matter how passionate or compelling, is probably one of those plotlines.  Before even opening the book, the reader already knows that Sherlock Holmes does not arrive at Baker Street with a wife on his elbow, so heartbreak clearly looms on the horizon from the outset for Sherlock and Violet.  And that type of knowledge can sometimes be very distracting while reading—a reader can get anxious when constantly waiting for the axe to fall.  

But the real strength of the novel lies outside of Sherlock’s youthful romance.  The relationships that connect the Holmes family are rich, complex, and so very telling when considering the evolution of Sherlock’s character.  Within the first few pages, the reader is introduced to Squire Holmes and his wife, and Sherlock neatly sums up their relationship:     

“They were not close.  He and his brothers had been brought up, as was not unusual for a family of their standing, by a succession of governesses and tutors.  He had vivid memories of these, both good and bad, but his mother had always been a distant, fuzzy figure absorbed in the details of the running of the house and the maintenance of the squire’s social circle” (4).

The narrative immediately brings to mind Jeremy Brett’s description of the Detective’s early life (or how the actor envisioned it):  “I mean, I know what his nanny looked like, for example; she was covered in starch.  She probably scrubbed him, but never kissed him.  I don't think he probably saw his mother until he was about eight.  Maybe caught a touch of the fragrance of her scent and the rustle of her dress.”  Mrs. Holmes is an infrequent presence in the novel (perhaps fittingly so), but Squire Holmes is a formidable figure.  He is an uncompromising mountain of a man, commanding unquestioning strength and obedience from everyone around him.  It’s easy to see how his youngest son became a man who could bend fireplace pokers (SPEC), leap onto the backs of criminals to curtail them (SIXN), and narrowly avoid being struck down by a poisonous dart without blinking (SIGN).  

Even more compelling is the relationship between the three Holmes brothers.  Sherrinford, the eldest and nine years Sherlock’s senior, is not blindingly or incisively intelligent in the manner of his two younger siblings, but he is earnest and compassionate in a way that foreshadows the presence of Dr. Watson.  When Sherrinford tells Sherlock, “You will always be welcome [at Holmes Hall] when I am squire” (118), the reader knows he is sincere.  Mycroft, the middle child, appears on the page far less frequently, but always arrives at crucial moments, when Sherlock needs someone to speak to him in their native and shared language of logic and reason.  And when the three brothers are together, there is a sense that the whole world could change—or even just their world—simply because they are all occupying the same space.  Cypser effectively conveys the feeling that whatever the three brothers say to each other, whatever they decide when they are together, will have lasting, far-reaching consequences.         

The author is also adept at setting a scene.  The novel’s locales are as vivid and alive as any of the people.  Holmes Hall is constantly bustling with activity, reminiscent of the beehives that Sherlock Holmes will turn to in his twilight years.  The local village is colorful, filled with a diverse supporting cast of characters.  The moors on which Sherlock and Violet conduct their romance are haunting, and beautiful.  And when Sherlock visits York, with Sherrinford and his pretty new bride, there is a glimpse of the confident man who will one day walk the streets of London, directing his troop of Irregulars, knowing each alley and doorway.  The echoes of who Sherlock Holmes will become walk behind him throughout the novel, just out of reach, but ever-present.   

This novel will probably not be to everyone’s taste.  The image of Sherlock Holmes, young and (sometimes quite literally) foolishly in love, might not sit well with some.  In addition, The Crack in the Lens is not a typical Sherlock Holmes mystery, in the terms that readers have come to expect.  The author herself said, in a March 12, 2011 interview on “The Baker Street Blog”: “You need to understand that my book is not a Sherlock Holmes mystery  where he solves crimes.  In fact the mysteries that arise in The Crack in the Lens are not solved in the book.” 

But to borrow a line from “The Sussex Vampire,” there are “unexplored possibilities” here.  Cypser’s teenage Sherlock is a man perched on the cusp of greatness, and her vision of how the Great Detective was ultimately fashioned is both devastating and captivating.

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The Crack in the Lens is available in paperback and e-book formats from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  A full list of booksellers is available here.  More information about the novel and its author is available on its website.  Or follow the novel or Darlene Cypser on Twitter.

Show off your knowledge of Sherlock Holmes, his creator, and his world, to win a prize package of reference works!  Entries are being accepted until 11:59p.m. EST on Saturday, May 21, 2011.