Sherlock Holmes Missing Years

January 12, 2015
Indian author Murthy offers an offbeat pastiche that purports to tell the real story of what happened after the legendary Holmes-Moriarty encounter at the Reichenbach Falls. In 1893, two years after Watson believed both men died, he receives a letter postmarked Yokohama, Japan. Inside is a note in Sherlock Holmes’s hand: “Watson, I need you. My violin, please. S.H.” Also enclosed is a first-class ticket for a merchant ship bound from Liverpool to Yokohama. Aboard the boat, Watson finds an oddball assortment of passengers, including his Japanese suitemate, Kazushi Hasimoto, who’s murdered during the voyage. Moriarty turns out to have survived Reichenbach, but those expecting a genuine battle of wits between the professor and the detective will be disappointed. The humor isn’t for all tastes (in a footnote Watson remarks that he didn’t read one of Holmes’s monographs, as he “felt it was one monograph too many”), and the plot drags for long stretches.

October 15, 2015
Yet another version of what the Great Detective was up to during the busiest period of his life: the three years when he was presumed dead. Murthy, who's already offered a quite different account of the Great Hiatus (Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years: Japan, 2015), now begs to differ with himself. Holmes wasn't in the Far East between 1891 and 1894 after all; he was in Italy and Africa in pursuit of a manuscript from the time of Marco Polo, half of which Antonio Rozzi, chief conservator of the Venice Museum, brought to Baker Street shortly before Holmes' disagreement with Professor Moriarty led to those greatly exaggerated reports of his death. Since the manuscript, once its two halves are united, promises the secret of everlasting life, the stakes are high. Nor is Holmes, disguised as a Polish priest with the implicit blessing of the Holy See, the only person who's looking for it. A Tangier secret society called the Guardian of the Letter, which has had custody of the second half of the manuscript for 500 years, has been so stirred up by a visit from Thalassery Vatoot Mohammad Koya, an Indian cinnamon merchant descended from its original author, that they've joined forces with Col. Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's right-hand man, to seize the Venetian half. If this sounds like a recipe for exotic adventure and canned history rather than crime and detection, that's exactly what it is, and Holmes, though he naturally excels as explorer and diplomat, has precious little to do--and Watson, who spends most of his time grousing about his companion's undying fondness for writing obscure monographs, still less--in the role that made him famous. Shame on you, says Watson, if you don't like the heroes in their unaccustomed new roles. Readers who expect Holmes and Watson to act like Holmes and Watson may want to think twice before taking this particular plunge.

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November 15, 2015
This is the second of Murthy's Holmesian pastiches and, like the first, which was set mostly in Japan, it provokes two responses. First, Murthy is one fine writer. Second, why ever is he hitching his wagon to Sherlock Holmes? Once again he's produced an excellent adventure. This one features a quest that takes our heroes to the Vatican for some sparring with the Holy Father, and on to a camelback trek across the Sahara, seeking a piece of parchment that may have magical powers. Readers can feel the heat, taste the wind-blown sand, and wish they were not in the company of Murthy's mock-ups. We have a snarky Holmes, a lamebrained Watson, and something worse: an undercurrent of mockery. Holmes writes a monograph on brick mud. Moriarty drops in to call Watson's readers lowbrow. The author, in Watson's voice, intrudes to say that if you don't like it, write the publisher. Murthy seems to be having it both ways, cashing in on Holmes while making fun of him. That will leave a bad taste for many Holmesians, but, still, there's some strong storytelling here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)