Adventure of the Five Sherlocks

 As most of you know, not only am I a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories and films, I have written a fair share of stories featuring the Great Detective myself. I was also the first to introduce Sherlock Holmes to fantasy writer HP Lovecraft and his cadre of monster-gods, which I did in 1983 with "The Adventure of the Ancient Gods." I've published two collections of Holmes-related tales and provided a handful of stories for anthologies edited by others. The latest example of the latter is "The Adventure of the Five Sherlocks" in Mystery Magazine (formerly Mystery Weekly Magazine), a Canadian periodical, for its October 2022 number.

Mystery Magazine
October 2022
Special Sherlock Holmes Double Issue

I had provided two stories for previous issues, in 2017 and 2019. Both were tales having do with Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, one set in the period between Holmes' apparent death and his return, the other narrated by a Bertie Wooster-like character. When editor Kerry Carter contacted me recently and asked if I had anything to contribute, I considered another foray into the Mythos, but I really wanted to do something completely different, especially since I am now working on my third and final collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, this time taking him into HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands, a wild ride to be sure.

Quite some time ago, I wrote the opening paragraphs to a story titled "The Adventure of the Five Sherlocks." As is often the case with me, I had the opening and I had the final lines of the story, but everything in-between was a little vague. Had Kerry not emailed me, who knows how long my protagonists would have sat in that chamber after their monthly dinner wondering what was going to happen next? Kerry's request spurred me to finish it in a couple of months.

The main characters are Basil Rathbone, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett, all actors known for, among other accomplishments, portraying the Immortal Detective on the screen. In case you're wondering, no, the story is not set in the past, when they were all contemporaries of each other, but, rather...later. Yes, I know they are all dead, but in the context of the story that really does not matter.

While I admire all of them for their acting skills and the entertainment they brought me over the years, I must admit Basil Rathbone is my favorite Sherlock Holmes, and that bias probably shows in the story as events unfold. What can I say? We all remember our first as being the best--Sean Connery as Bond, Roger Moore as The Saint, David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, John Nettles as DCI Barnaby, and Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. 

The plot of the story is a bit "out there," but I don't want to go into it, lest too much be given away about the mysterious disappearance of Gaius Julius Caesar, the noblewoman who arrived with her barbarian bodyguards,  and the mysterious girl who spoke an unknown language. Suffice it to say that it will entertain both Sherlock Holmes fans and movie buffs. If you want (should you decide to read it), you can even imagine the events of the story unfolding in glorious black and white, as the best films do.

I am not alone in this special issue of Mystery Magazine. I am joined by sixteen others, all presenting new adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It is quite the value. If mysteries are your thing, you might want to consider a digital subscription to the magazine, which will save you quite a bit.

A Holmes Duo

In 2017, I sent a Sherlock Holmes pastiche to Mystery Weekly Magazine for their annual tribute to the Great Detective. This was a little shilling shocker called "London After Midnight." If the title sounds a bit familiar, it's because it was a 1927 silent film starring Lon Chaney Sr, helmed by Todd Browning. Unfortunately, it is a lost film, the last surviving copy being destroyed in a fire in the 60s. I did see a recreation of the film, using the original script and stills from the production. Even in that version, it was memorable. In 1935, Todd Browning remade his film as a talkie, with Bela Lugosi in Chaney's role. It is a good film, but not as memorable. I've always liked the title, with its evocation of gas-lit London and thick fogs, so when a chance to legitimately use it (the story does start after midnight) I  took advantage.

When others write Holmes pastiches, they seem intent on recreating a Conan Doyle story, right down to the tone, types of crimes and the use of Watson as a filter. I have usually taken a different route. Ever since I created the Holmes/Lovecraft mashup (see "When Sherlock Holmes First Met HP Lovecraft"), my first choice is to embroil Holmes in situations such as Conan Doyle never thought of and which would have sent Watson scampering home to one of his many wives. When I told the editor my submission might be "a little weird," I was told, "We like weird." So, Holmes was going to again enter Lovecraft territory.

In stories, I try to give Holmes third-person narrators or unique first-person narrators. In this case, I chose the latter and drew upon my inner P.G. Wodehouse for a Bertie Wooster-like character. Shades of young men in spats! An advantage of using a unique voice is that different aspects of Holmes come to the fore and we at times get a more honest, sometimes more critical view of Holmes. In this case, the narrator is a little cheeky, a bit esoteric and probably drinks a few too many gin & tonics.

A couple of years later, I was again asked to submit a story for the 2019 Holmes issue. This time, I decided to use a third-person narrator and set the tale during a time in Holmes' life that is rarely explored. It's called the Great Hiatus and is the three-year period (May 1891 - April 1894) following his apparent death at the hands of Professor Moriarty, as related in "The Final Problem." Holmes returned to the public eye in "The Adventure of the Empty House" (see my previous post for what really happened the night of his return), but he was always reticent about his activities during his absence from London. Relatively few stories are set during that time in his life, possibly because of that reticence, but possibly, also, because his true identity could not be shared with any of the people he met or helped. Not only was it a chance to explore Holmes' life when to the world at large he was dead, but it provided the opportunity to get Holmes out of London, out of England, which I did by setting the story in a small Italian village with a dark past, and darker secret.

A week or so ago I came across the contracts for the stories and realized that the exclusivity period requested by the publisher (12 months from date of publication) had lapsed. Though not enough for a full collection, I thought a Sherlock Holmes duo would make a nice quick read for someone needing a brief diversion from worldly anxieties. Sherlock Holmes & the Mythos: Two Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos is now available as an e-book on Amazon. Because of its brevity, it will be digital only. As an extra bonus, I added a gallery of original Lovecraftian art at the end of the publication.