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A review by jstilts
Sherlock Holmes: The Russian Connection by N. M. Scott
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Hilariously bad but mercifully short collection of stories.
Holmes' powers of observation and deduction are almost completely absent, instead leaping to the most surface-level of conclusions if he manages to identify a crime at all - he's basically a borishly posh Lestrade: incompetent, and in some stories it's almost the death of him.
I don't exaggerate - one tale has Holmes called out to look at a corpse. He can't tell if murder was committed, but goes to the most likely suspect. This person calmly and under no prompting simply confesses.
This isn't a stand-out issue, it's the norm - another example involves the death of a savage literature critic, who Holmes doesn't bother to even visit the scene of the crime or look into his affairs, just rightly assumes an author did it. He finds someone who gladly confesses. One can only assume that the author of this book has received similar harsh reviews.
Aside from people confessing with suicidal ease (seeing as they will hang for murder), other characters that should be distraught at the deaths of friends and relations are chipper and jovial, or shift gears between happy and sad from sentence to sentence. One early tale in the book of a murdered girl from a group of cyclists had me wondering if her friends were drugged, in a cult or mentally challenged - turns out they were just badly written.
Each story is only about 10-15 pages (and keep in mind this is a large-print edition) so the stories are very brief, but they seem padded nevertheless. Utterly twistless straightforward crimes unworthy of Holmes or your attention.
Holmes' powers of observation and deduction are almost completely absent, instead leaping to the most surface-level of conclusions if he manages to identify a crime at all - he's basically a borishly posh Lestrade: incompetent, and in some stories it's almost the death of him.
I don't exaggerate - one tale has Holmes called out to look at a corpse. He can't tell if murder was committed, but goes to the most likely suspect. This person calmly and under no prompting simply confesses.
This isn't a stand-out issue, it's the norm - another example involves the death of a savage literature critic, who Holmes doesn't bother to even visit the scene of the crime or look into his affairs, just rightly assumes an author did it. He finds someone who gladly confesses. One can only assume that the author of this book has received similar harsh reviews.
Aside from people confessing with suicidal ease (seeing as they will hang for murder), other characters that should be distraught at the deaths of friends and relations are chipper and jovial, or shift gears between happy and sad from sentence to sentence. One early tale in the book of a murdered girl from a group of cyclists had me wondering if her friends were drugged, in a cult or mentally challenged - turns out they were just badly written.
Each story is only about 10-15 pages (and keep in mind this is a large-print edition) so the stories are very brief, but they seem padded nevertheless. Utterly twistless straightforward crimes unworthy of Holmes or your attention.