Tales of the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD

Those that have been reading the Gatehouse Gazette and this blog are no doubt aware of Hugh Ashton’s works, such as Beneath Grey Skies and Red Wheels Turning. I am glad to report that aside from producing excellent alternative-history works and contemporary thrillers (At the Sharpe End), Ashton has now written a truly fantastic Sherlock Holmes book.

This work contains three new tales, stories written up by Dr Watson, the chronicler of Mr Holmes.

I shall be very brief about every short story, because I just do not want to spoil anything for those that have not read them yet.

In the first story, “Sherlock Holmes & the Odessa Business,” we learn a little more about Holmes’ family and his family dynamics and we meet a member of the Holmes family we hadn’t previously encountered.

“The Case of the Missing Matchbox” takes us to the world of the London opera and the artistic drama that comes with the egos part of that world with crime at the center of it all.

In “Sherlock Holmes in the Case of the Cormorant,” our duo takes a little trip to investigate a matter that has bestowed upon Holmes by a very important person indeed. How a cormorant is involved? Well, you’ll just have to read and find out for yourself now, won’t you? Trust me, you won’t regret it!

I am absolutely convinced that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself would be pleased to have Hugh Ashton take up where he left off all those years ago. These three new adventures of the famous sleuth and his fateful companion could have been of the hand of the grandmaster himself as the writer does such an excellent job portraying the characters and weaving the stories exactly as their inventor did. If I hadn’t known it was a book written by a different author, you could have easily made me believe it was by Conan Doyle himself.

If you’re a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, then don’t doubt, just get this book, you will not regret it. And if you’ve not gotten into Sherlock Holmes yet, then just get it anyway, now’s as good a moment to start as any.

Personally I hope that Ashton will take up his proverbial pen to let us know which other tales are still waiting to be unveiled from Dr Watson’s deed box.