Sherlock Holmes

Dan Andriacco

Description

Tobacco millionaire John Vincent Harden has barely arrived in London when strange things start happening to him. The clerk at his hotel swears that Harden has checked out and taken his luggage with him. Then Harden receives a wire calling him home to his plantation in Kentucky - which it turns out was never sent. Finally, when a four-wheeled cab almost runs over the American, Harden knows it is time to turn to Sherlock Holmes for help. Who is behind this peculiar persecution of John Vincent Harden? Holmes solves the puzzle too late, learning in the process that indeed "one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."Praise for The Peculiar Persecution of John Vincent Harden: This story originally appeared in Baker Street Beat: An Eclectic Colleciton of Sherlockian Scribblings, where it drew the attention of critics as one of the highlights of the book: "If you don't read any other Holmes pastiche this year, please, please read the short story The Peculiar Persecution of John Vincent Harden which has to be the closest in tone and content to a Holmes work that I have read in a long time." - Felicia Carparelli's Sherlock Holmes Murder Blog"One of the best short pastiches that I have read." - Ross K. Foad, "No Place Like Holmes" reviews

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 24 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781780921358
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page

Sherlock Holmes in

THE PECULIAR PERSECUTION OF JOHN VINCENT HARDEN







by
Dan Andriacco




Publisher Information

First edition published in 2012 by
MX Publishing
335 Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive,
London, N11 3GX
www.mxpublishing.com

Digital edition converted and distributed in 2012 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com

© Copyright 2012 Dan Andriacco
The right of Dan Andriacco to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not of MX Publishing.

Cover design by www.staunch.com




Dedication









In Memorium

Bill Russell, Norma Holt, Evelyn Weber




Introduction: In the Foosteps of a Giant

The only bad thing about the canonical Sherlock Holmes stories is that there aren’t enough of them. The original four novels and fifty-six short stories (leaving out Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s two plays and several other small writings about Holmes) comfortably fill a single large volume.
Since just this isn’t enough and nature abhors a vacuum, it’s no wonder that the remarkable Philip K. Jones has compiled a database of some 8,000 pastiches and parodies of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Seemingly any Sherlockian with writing genes eventually takes up the challenges to write a new Holmes story.
And having an incentive doesn’t hurt.
In 1988, Mysteries from the Yard Bookstore in Yellow Springs, Ohio, held a contest for the best original Sherlockian pastiche. The prize was a $100 gift certificate at the bookstore. I found that irresistible.
To write a Sherlock Holmes pastiche is to walk in the footsteps of a giant, which is daunting. But from having read the real thing many times, and a host of both good and bad pastiches, I had some strongly held notions about how to go about the task. You can find them in an essay on “Writing the Holmes Pastiche” in my book Baker Street Beat.
Suffice it to say that I wanted the story to feel as much like one from the pen of John H. Watson, M.D. as possible, both in terms of language and in shape of the story. An immense help in that regard was Ronald A. Knox’s seminal essay, “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes.” Monsignor Knox lists eleven elements of a canonical Sherlock Holmes story. A Study in Scarlet has all eleven elements, and most stories in the Canon have at least five. Those elements are:



1.A homely Baker Street scene to start, with invaluable personal touches and sometimes a demonstration by the detective or reference by either Holmes or Watson to an untold tale of Sherlock Holmes;
2.The client’s statement of the case;