Reviews

Adult/High School-Rennison covers the "life" of fictional Sherlock Holmes in depth while providing entertaining reading for anyone who has met the detective in print or on screen. There have been numerous Holmes mysteries written by authors other than Conan Doyle over the years, some of which have added to what we "know" about Holmes. Nicholas Meyer's The Seven Percent Solution (Norton, 1993), any of Laurie R. King's excellent series, or Michael Chabon's The Final Solution (HarperCollins, 2004) are a few of the good ones that preceded this clever extrapolation. Rather than presenting a Holmesian mystery, Rennison takes the history of a legendary man with extraordinary powers of deduction and attempts to demystify him. In presenting Holmes's life, he lays historical events side by side with Watson's related tales and shows how, by thinly veiling names and adjusting small facts, one can work out a real time line for Holmes's activities. This is a thoughtful and fun addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon, and a must for everyone who enjoys the greatest detective of all time.-Dana Cobern-Kullman, Luther Burbank Middle School, Burbank, CA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

The Victorian detective continues to fascinate, and this unauthorized "biography" (can one have a biography of someone who doesn't exist?) will be welcomed by true Sherlockians, detective fiction lovers, and those mainly interested in the historical context in which Holmes supposedly lived. Rennison (The London Blue Plaque Guide) reveals Holmes's lonely childhood, his "death" and missing years of 1891-94, his work for the British government, and the real story behind his cocaine addiction. Rennison also addresses Holmes's friendships with Sigmund Freud, Oscar Wilde (Holmes refused to work on Wilde's lawsuit against the Marquess of Queensberry), and others. A wonderfully clever read, written with wit, charm, and a sound grounding in historical research; recommended for all libraries. Susan L. Peters, Univ. of Texas Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Rennison creates an in-depth biography of the world's most famous detective that will intrigue Sherlockians and non-Sherlockians alike. Effortlessly melding genuine Victorian history with episodes from Doyle's original stories, the author adopts the popular conceit that Holmes and Watson actually existed, and uses the few clues from the canon to reconstruct the sleuth's ancestry and upbringing. While some of his conclusions will engender controversy among buffs (such as his assessment that Holmes and his brother, Mycroft, set up Professor Moriarty for the fatal encounter at Reichenbach), Rennison makes a logical case for his assertions. He falls a little short in explaining Holmes's devotion of time and resources to espionage rather than deduction, but overall his attempt ranks with previous similar speculations by Michael Harrison and William S. Baring-Gould. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.