The Whole Art of Detection

Starred review from January 2, 2017
Edgar-finalist Faye, whose debut, Dust and Shadow (2009), was one of the better novel-length pastiches pitting Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper, presents pitch-perfect Watsonian narration in 13 of the 15 tales in this outstanding collection; the other two are told from Holmes’s perspective. The stories are divided into four chronological sections: the first predates the Holmes-Watson partnership; the second covers the period before Reichenbach; the third dates to after Holmes’ resurrection; and the fourth treats the pair’s later years sleuthing together. Most take Conan Doyle’s tantalizing references to untold tales as their starting point, as in “Notes Regarding the Disappearance of Mr. James Phillimore,” which deals with a man who vanished after returning home to retrieve his umbrella. All impressively add psychological depth to the friendship, plausibly exploring personal dynamics in the wake of traumas such as the loss of Watson’s wife and Holmes’s apparent return from the dead, in a way that will resonate especially with fans of the BBC’s Sherlock. Agent: Erin Malone, William Morris Endeavor.

Starred review from January 1, 2017
Seasoned Sherlock-ian Faye (Jane Steele, 2016, etc.) adds two new stories to 13 she's previously published to give a synoptic overview of the career of the famed consulting detective.Few fictional characters have been reimagined as freely as Sherlock Holmes. The iconic Victorian has been transported to Greece, India, Brazil, Tibet, Japan, and the American prairie, regressed back to his teens, turned into a woman, and played minor roles in a host of novels, including NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Mycroft Holmes. But rather than extracting Holmes from the reality of Victorian England, Faye returns the detective to his Baker Street flat and provides a steady stream of conundrums to feed his agile brain. Before him parades humanity in all its pride and pathos. A suspicious husband seeks to explain his wife's sudden aversion to her jewelry. A taxidermist suffers the loss of a precious gem. An engaged couple claim they can use electric currents to communicate with the dead. A deranged opera singer believes he's been kidnapped repeatedly from Hyde Park and returned to Covent Garden. The impressively varied puzzles not only provide the detective the chance to display his famed powers of deduction, but increasingly humanize Holmes by putting him more and more on the side of the angels, giving him the chance to free women from perilous unions and save innocents from deception and fraud. Faye also restores Watson to Holmes' side and allows the relationship between the detective and his biographer to mature and mellow without altering either man's essential character. It's refreshing to see Holmes be Holmes. Fans and neophytes alike should cheer Faye's reinvigoration of Conan Doyle's hero and his panoramic world.

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Starred review from December 1, 2016
Most attempts to imitate the Sherlock Holmes stories go wide, often by making the Great Detective a sarcastic snip and good Dr. Watson a total boob. But Faye's wonderful collection of pastiches is rooted in a little-understood fact about the Holmes canon: the stories are not about Holmes; they're about Watson observing Holmes. In the originals, we sense Holmes trying to direct his Boswell's narrative and suspect there is more to the story. So does Faye's Watson, speculating that Holmes' emotional detachmentespecially from womenis the result of some tragedy having befallen my friend. And isn't Holmes really much funnier than image-conscious Watson lets him be? We have our answer in sequences penned by Holmes, as when he parodies Watson's fondness for lighting women from behind and describing the sweet ellipse of her mouth parted in dismay.' Or some such drivel. There are mysteries here and razzle-dazzle deductionsHolmes privately calls some of them parlor tricks but the real attraction is the power of these 15 stories to make the originals glow even brighter. For Holmesians to read, then treasure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2016

Author of the Edgar Award-winning The Gods of Gotham, Faye offers 15 Sherlock Holmes-inspired stories. Ten were originally published in the Strand and have been expanded, three have appeared in multi-author anthologies, and two have never before been published.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016

Faye (Jane Steele), who first wrote about legendary sleuthing duo John Watson and Sherlock Holmes in her debut novel, Dust and Shadow, here collects 15 of her best Holmes-inspired stories. Spanning the breadth of the detective's celebrated career, these pieces find him rubbing shoulders with bogus beggars, avaricious offspring, jewel thieves, and all manner of scoundrels. Devoted fans might recognize many stories from previous publication in the Strand magazine, but "The Adventure of the Thames Tunnel" and "The Adventure of the Mad Baritone" are exciting new works. VERDICT Sherlockians will be delighted, as will Faye's many fans. A nice companion to The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, edited by Otto Penzler. [See Prepub Alert, 9/19/16; library marketing.]--Liv Hanson, Chicago

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.