I’ve read quite a bit of Sherlock Holmes pastiche, though by no means even close to all of it, and so far, I think Lyndsay Faye’s version of Holmes and Watson is my favorite.
This collection, which was gifted to me by Bunnybean for Book Exchange in CBR9, is made up of fifteen stories published over a period of ten years, many of them in The Strand, the very same magazine that published Conan Doyle’s original stories. All of the stories mimic Conan Doyle’s style, as Faye (a member of the Baker Street Irregulars) is a player of the Great Game (all players behave as if everything ACD wrote actually happened, and Holmes and Watson were real).
She makes it very easy to believe. In my opinion, she hits just the perfect balance of mimicry and improvement. Conan Doyle’s writing could at times be a bit dry, and his stories were always plot-based, which didn’t leave much room for emotional development, which was nearly all of it between the lines. I get most of that from fanfic, which this essentially is. It’s basically professionally written fanfic with official backing (how much more official can you get besides being published in The Strand?)
The stories here are clever, the mysteries in the vein of something Conan Doyle would have written, and yet she also adds in little touches: Watson coping with the death of his wife and of Holmes, Holmes finally admitting he was a patronizing asshole to his client Mary Sutherland back in “A Case of Identity,” Watson trying to feed Holmes up (which is a staple of Sherlock Holmes fanfic).
I just really enjoyed this, and will definitely be coming back to it in the future. I was already a fan of Faye for having written Jane Steele (<3), but now I’m even more excited to read the rest of her stuff, including the novel-length Holmes pastiche she wrote about Holmes going up against Jack the Ripper, which I already own.
[4.5 stars]
Oh, man. I totally forgot about this! I have my signed copy just sitting on the shelf looking at me. I need to make this happen!!
It was really good! I think you will like it.
AND. I just found out she will be at my amazing local bookstore on Friday to talk about her new book!
Oh, you should totally go!
I love Lyndsay Faye. I didn’t really get into her Sherlock book because of my lack of Sherlock knowledge, but her Timothy Wilde books (starting with The Gods of Gotham) are some of my favorites, ever.
Those are definitely on my list, probably not until 2020 though. I forget, have you read Jane Steele?
I have not. I need to though. I wanted to read Jane Eyre first, and now I have.
::waits patiently for you to get to it:: ::blinks angelically with folded hands::
::goes to library website:: ::requests book for February first::
:D
So. I just went to see her at my local shop and she was a delight. Her new book about 1920s Oregon sounds wonderful. Up next for her will be a modern day retelling of Hamlet, and I couldn’t be more excited about that.
She’s so good at retellings, so that’s really exciting. Except it’s probably going to be sad :(