Archives for 2023

Our featured writer today is Vicki Delany  Let’s give her a warm welcome!

If you would like your talent featured in Authors in Our Midst or Artists in Our Midst, send me an email message.  Don’t be shy!  I have no more Artists or Authors posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.

The Enduring Appeal of Sherlock Holmes

by Vicki Delany

What is it about Sherlock Holmes that has captured the popular imagination arguably more than any other figure in fiction? Is it his incredible intellect that has us all enthralled? Is it the gaslit streets, the extravagant dresses and hats, frock coats, walking sticks, and top hats? Maybe it’s the sometimes-stiff, formal language. Is it Dr. John Watson himself, ever confused but always loyal, or the simple friendship between two such different men?

Regardless of the reason, there’s no doubting the continuing popularity of the Great Detective.

When I first had the idea of setting a mystery series in a store dedicated to all things Sherlock Holmes, I wondered if it might be a stretch trying to stock such an establishment. After all, it sounds like a very specialized niche, and there aren’t that many books. Are there?

A quick bit of research quickly showed me that such a thing would be not only possible, but easy to pull together.

And thus, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, located at 222 Baker Street, West London, Massachusetts, was born and I set about stocking my virtual store.

Aside from the original sixty Holmes books and stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, there’s a plethora of pastiche novels and short story collections, either continuing the adventures of Holmes and Watson or other individuals mentioned in the original books or reimagining new characters in their image. Modern interpretations are no longer limited to the gaslit, fogbound streets of the greatest city in the world, the ‘smiling and beautiful countryside’ or the ‘lowest and vilest alleys in London’ but are set in just about any time or place imaginable.

Every book mentioned in the books for sale in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium exists in the real world.  (Except for the obvious exception of a visiting author who drops dead at the signing table in the second book in the series, Body on Baker Street!)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for the detective he created, but he wrote many other books, and there are numerous biographies of him and his contemporaries, plus non-fiction works to do with the Canon and their offshoots.  And then there are the stage plays, TV shows and movies, virtually countless, of which some of the best-known star actors ranging from Basil Rathbone to Jeremy Brett to Benedict Cumberbatch. There are many books on the making of those productions.

For the Emporium part of my fictional store, I stock games, puzzles, mugs, decorative plates, dolls, finger puppets, socks, T-Shirts, calendars, cardboard cut-outs of the actors. The choices are endless.

The protagonist in my Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, Gemma Doyle, is herself a recreation of Sherlock. I had great fun reimagining Sherlock Holmes as a modern young woman, with the ever confused but always loyal Jayne Wilson at her side.  Jayne runs Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, at 220 Baker Street.

One can find Sherlockian societies in almost all corners of the world. I don’t know for sure if there’s one in Antarctica, but I would not be surprised. When I began writing my series, I was concerned that I might offend some of these illustrious scholars and amateur enthusiasts, but they have taken my books in the spirit in which they are intended: good, affectionate fun.  Members of the group nearest where I live, The Bootmakers of Toronto, have helped me with book titles. It’s not easy coming up with a book title that 1) says cozy mystery 2) says bookstore mystery 3) says Sherlock Holmes related.

I believe much interest in Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson is because they are more than just fictional characters, they’re faithful representations of their times and attitudes (or those of their creator). I have an essay in the book Villains, Victims, and Violets: Agency and Feminism in the Original Sherlock Holmes Canon by Resa Haile and Tamara R. Bower, focusing mainly on the situation of the Stoner sisters in “The Speckled Band” my personal favourite of all the stories. (The word “Violet” in the title refers to the most commonly appearing female name in the Sherlock Holmes Canon.)

Whether in bookstores, at the movie theater, in front of the TV, or gathered around the games table, the game is indeed afoot. And may it always be so.

I’d love to hear the Balloon Juice community’s thoughts on the continuing appeal of Sherlock Holmes, and any theories as to why that is.

🌼 Upcoming book, release date January 9!

On January 9, 2024, Crooked Lane Books will release The Sign of Four Spirits, the 9^th Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery. (The Sign of Four is one of the four Holmes novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

When a psychic fair arrives in West London, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, wants nothing to do with it. But somehow, at the urging of Donald Morris, an enthusiastic Sherlockian, she finds herself talked into attending a séance, along with baker and best friend Jayne Wilson, store assistant, Ashleigh, and former pop star Bunny Leigh.

But to her surprise, Gemma finds herself banned from the séance and shown the door. Curious, she listens in from outside the room. The medium informs a disappointed Donald that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will not be able to make it tonight. Then, Gemma hears a voice cut off, a cry for help, a scream. Gemma bursts into the library to see that someone has collapsed on the table–dead. The windows are all locked, and Gemma was guarding the only door. Someone in this room is a murderer. But who?

The game is once again afoot for Gemma Doyle, as she hunts a killer. But, this time, is the killer of flesh and blood or had the medium summoned doom from beyond the veil?

You can find Vicki’s books here.

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