This is a good collection of non Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. There is a substantial industry involved in publishing non Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories and they vary enormously in quality from the execrable to the excellent, this collection is good, not excellent. Alan Stockwell takes a very straightforward approach, the stories are all within the general outlines used by Conan Doyle, there are no unlikely match ups nor does the author use any of the left dangling by Conan Doyle in the originals as starting points. The author does not try to imitate Conan Doyle too slavishly which is a god thing, the stories are clearly written with his own versions of Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. This works very well as he does not make the maddening mistake of treating Dr. Watson as cretin or a buffoon as other writers have done. He is a foil to Sherlock Holmes not a fool.
What is missing from these stories is the moment of revelation where Sherlock Holmes displayed the line of deduction that he followed to his conclusion, the the theatrical flourish which which he showed off. For these stories this is the dog that did not bark. The episodes are fine in themselves, there is enjoyable questions raised and the resolutions are fair and thoughtful, the spark that makes Sherlock Holmes the icon that he is does not ignite. A pleasant read for fans.
