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You can tell that Dan Amdriacco loves his subject and is a devote Sherlockian and treats Holmes and Watson with the respect they deserve.
The story is however nothing new and relies on many things we already find in the canon.
We have here a case mentioned in THOR and it being solved by Holmes in 1895. "Among those unfinished tales, " Dr. Watson writes, "is that of Mr. James Phiilmore, who, stepping back inot his own home to get his umbrella, was never more seen in this world."
The writing style is fine, and is very suited to a Holmes short story, but it lacks filling and any sense of the hunt.
The ending, although original, hardly seemed so, feeling more like it was taken from several other stories.
Without giving the ending away, it was hardly satisfying.
I will check out his other works because, like I said, he has a very good style of writing.
I read the ebook version.
I give it . . .
I had a similar disappointing experience with another book by the same author - No Police like Holmes.
ReplyDeleteThat book deals with a murder that takes place during a Sherlock Holmes Colloquium. I was able to pick out the murderer halfway through the book....
Since then, I have stayed away from Dan's books.
B2B.
John, there are a few typos--"Sherloclian", "relays" (relies), "since" (sense), "the writing style is fine" (The). As someone with slight dyslexia and whose proofreading skills mysteriously improve after hitting "sent", I can sympathize.
ReplyDeleteThanks, got them I think.
DeleteAh, if my fingers only typed what my mind thought.
I like reading pastiche reviews, even though I don't read them as often as I used to. This might be a drawback to single short story purchases for e-readers. In the past, a story like this would be part of a collection where the potential strengths of other stories could help lift the rating of any one story since Mr. Andriacco has a writing style you like and a love for the characters. Set the Magic Umbrella amongst stronger companions and the story's positives may outshine the negatives. Of course, the converse is true as well.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say that. . . . But he does say this is one of a collection but he chose to publish it again because he wanted to try a different ending.
DeleteInteresting, given your opinion of the ending that you read: "The ending, although original, hardly seemed so, feeling more like it was taken from several other stories." It would be interesting to see what you thought of the original ending--although I am not suggesting that you go out and get the collection it's in just so you can compare the two and satisfy my idle curiosity.
ReplyDelete