Sherlock Holmes | Scene of the Crime

Posts Tagged ‘Sherlock Holmes’

Stephen Booth’s Cooper & Fry Series: The “Darkness Lurking Underneath” England’s Peak District

Posted in Interviews, tagged Cooper & Fry, Derbyshire, England, Peak District, Sherlock Holmes, Stephen Booth, The Black Dog, The Devil's Edge, The Hound of the Baskervilles on October 20, 2011| 6 Comments »

British writer Stephen Booth was a journalist for twenty-five years before turning to fiction. In 2000, his debut novel, Black Dog, marked the arrival in print of his best known creations — two young Derbyshire police detectives, DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry. Black Dog was the named by the London Evening Standard as one of the six best crime novels of the year, the only book on their list written by a British author. In the USA, it won the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel and was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Mystery. The second Cooper & Fry novel, Dancing with the Virgins, was shortlisted for the UK’s top crime writing award, the Gold Dagger, and went on to win a Barry Award for the second year running.

Booth has turned a novel a year in the series since its inception; the eleventh Cooper & Fry novel, The Devil’s Edge, came out this year in England. All the critically acclaimed Cooper & Fry books are set in England’s Peak District. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Michael Robertson’s Reggie Heath Novels: Coming to You from 221b Baker Street

Posted in Interviews, tagged Baker Street, London, Los Angeles, Michael Robertson, Sherlock Holmes, The Baker Street Letters, The Brothers of Baker Street on June 3, 2011| 2 Comments »

Michael Robertson is the author of two novels featuring barrister Reggie Heath, whose chambers are located at Sherlock Holmes’s legendary address. Set a century after the demise of Holmes, these novels find Heath becoming an unwilling sleuth, set on his task by letters sent to the famous detective.

The series opener, The Baker Street Letters, from 2009, was dubbed “an engaging debut,” by Publishers Weekly, while Booklist noted of this work: “Judging by this installment, it should be a popular series indeed.” The second series addition, The Brothers of Baker Street, was out earlier this year and earned starred reviews. Publishers Weekly noted: “An extremely clever evil scheme will delight readers.” Further praise came from Booklist, terming it a “delightful romp that offers more tension and suspense than a dozen fat thrillers with bloody knives on the cover.” (more…)

Read Full Post »

In the Footsteps of Mary Russell: Laurie R. King’s Fictional Worlds

Posted in Interviews, tagged Kate Martinelli, Laurie R. King, Mary Russell, Scene of the Crime, Sherlock Holmes, The God of the Hive on April 27, 2010| 9 Comments »

Laurie R. King hardly needs an introduction to readers of any persuasion. From contemporary mysteries to historicals to post-apocalypse scenarios, King has delivered a score of entertainments and mainstream novels since publication of her first work, A Grave Talent, in 1993. That novel featured her San Francisco lesbian cop, Kate Martinelli, and won King an Edgar Award for best first novel and the John Creasey Memorial Award. The next year King introduced her popular protagonist Mary Russell in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. Russell, a bookish and intelligent teenager in 1914, almost steps on a recumbent Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex Downs; a most auspicious meeting, indeed. Holmes, retired from detective work, has retired to the Downs, there to raise bees. But a bond quickly forms between the orphaned Russell and this icon of detection. Forty years separate them, but soon they are solving cases together and avoiding enemies out of Holmes’s past–oh yes, and becoming man and wife. (more…)