Book Review by John Davis

“From Holmes to Sherlock,” by Mattias Bostrom; Mysterious Press: New York

Available on Amazon

How did it happen? How did a series of stories about an eccentric detective from the early 1890s, published in a British magazine, come to be a world shaking modern television series? How indeed did these early tales inspire thousands of theater plays, radio shows, movies and pastiches based on the same character? We ask, of course, about Sherlock Holmes.

Mattias Bostrom, a Swedish master of Sherlockiana, whose writings during some 30 years of research is uncontestedly award-winning, reveals how each generation has a different slant, perhaps more nuanced, on the great detective.

Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a medical doctor. His Holmes, based on a much-admired medical professor, seemed magical in his ability to deduce, infer and utterly astound his compatriots with solutions to crimes based on the most minute evidence. Thus was Holmes born. Bostrom explains how he has lived on until today, famous beyond all imagination to generations of readers, viewers and listeners.

Doyle wanted him dead. His readers did not. Doyle wanted to explore more sophisticated venues, but a clamor of readership almost closed the Strand Magazine when he stopped writing about Sherlock Holmes.

Doyle was constantly quizzed about his creation, even as he wandered the world lecturing on spiritualism. And the clamor went on, even after Doyle’s death. With drawings by Sidney Paget, Holmes’ persona was visualized as an angular, pensive gentleman who once wore a deerstalker hat.

William Gillette wrote an early play based on the figure, which is still presented today. Thereafter came impersonations. Actors as early as Eillie Norwood could make a living impersonating the great detective, followed in turn by Basil Rathbone and a host of others. Traits evolved, which alone identify Sherlock; Gillette even invented Holmes’ curved pipe, the better to deliver his lines.

With the modern media age, Holmes took to the airwaves. No longer books and theater alone carried his tales, but radio reached even greater audiences. With the advent of sound movies, 1930 saw the movie “Return of Sherlock Holmes” capture even more millions of fans.

Thousands of books written in the genre of Holmes flooded the market. When a collector of Holmsiana heard of another in St. Louis, Sherlockians as a class were born. Now thousands of Baker Street Irregulars clubs, quite literally around the world, have sprung up. Each tries to outdo the other in detailed studies of the “canon,” the books written by Doyle, or pastiches created by others in the spirit of Holmes.
Today, we have Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, in a new manifestation of Sherlock Holmes, winning a new generation to this astounding English detective. Elementary.

~ Book Review by John Davis

Read More from John

John William Davis is a retired US Army counterintelligence officer and linguist. As a linguist, Mr. Davis learned five languages, the better to serve in his counterintelligence jobs during some 14 years overseas. He served in West Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands during the Cold War. There he was active in investigations directed against the Communist espionage services of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. His mission was also to investigate terrorists such as the Red Army Faction in Germany, the Red Brigades in Italy, and the Combatant Communist Cells (in Belgium) among a host of others.

His work during the Cold War and the bitter aftermath led him to write Rainy Street Stories, ‘Reflections on Secret Wars, Terrorism, and Espionage’ . He wanted to talk about not only the events themselves, but also the moral and human aspects of the secret world as well.

And now recently published in 2018, John continued his writing with Around the Corner: Reflections on American Wars, Violence, Terrorism, and Hope. 

Two powerful books worth reading.

Read more about them in the following Six Questions:

Six Questions with John Davis: Author of Rainy Street Stories

Six Questions with John Davis: Author of Around the Corner