Seamas Duffy

From Publishers Weekly.

"Duffy’s superb third pastiche collection (after 2015’s Sherlock Holmes and the Four Corners of Hell) perfectly captures Conan Doyle’s tone. In “The Tragedy of Langhorne Wyke,” Holmes is consulted by a Yorkshire inspector following the fatal fall from a clifftop of a married couple on holiday, who apparently gave false names at the hotel where they were staying. To the Baker Street duo’s surprise, the double murder proves linked to a previous investigation, and Duffy’s own insightful critical reading of the canon enables him to provide a plausible epilogue to one of Holmes’s best-known cases. Other highlights include “The Mystery of the Thirteen Bells,” in which a taunting killer sends Holmes cryptic notes leading the detective to a disturbing array of miscellaneous body parts, and “The Problem of the Coptic Patriarchs,” which fleshes out one of Conan Doyle’s teases about an untold tale. But the standout is the title story, directly inspired by Conan Doyle’s actual involvement in forestalling a miscarriage of justice (in a case where a) criminal was falsely charged with murder. Duffy merits comparison with Denis Smith and David Marcum, the top current authors penning new Holmes stories. (Sept. 2022)"

‘Sherlock Holmes and the Sixty Steps’ follows a similar format to his previously published Holmes collections: a novella together with some shorter stories. The four stories are: The Tragedy of Langhorne Wyke (1890). The Adventure of the Thirteen Bells (1895); The Adventure of the Sixty Steps (1897); The Adventure of the Coptic Patriarchs (1898).

The Tragedy of Langhorne Wyke sees the detective and his chronicler travel to Yorkshire's North Riding solve the double murder of a well-heeled but mysterious honeymoon couple; they are immediately faced with the sudden, and ominous, disappearance of the two witnesses to the murder - an elderly widow and her travelling companion. The trail leads back to London and to crimes committed, but unavenged, from Holmes’s past.

In The Adventure of the Thirteen Bells, Holmes and Watson, along with Inspector Lestrade, are involved in a grisly treasure hunt of a murder. In a London mired in an eerie November fog, their footsteps are silently and invisibly dogged as they follow a series of cryptograms with classical and literary allusions which they have to decipher. These macabre clues lead them to some of Victorian London’s queerest places, and to one of its most bizarre institutions.

In the Adventure of the Sixty Steps, Holmes and Watson travel to Glasgow in an attempt to save an innocent man, who has been wrongly convicted of the brutal murder of a rich, elderly spinster, from the gallows. Their peregrinations take them into some of the lowest quarters of the city, peopled by shady underworld characters such as 'The Moudie', 'The Acrobat', and 'Cauld Kale'. In uncovering a web of police corruption and malpractice, they are confronted with the tangled genealogy of the victim and with not one, but two, miscarriages of justice.

In The Adventure of the Coptic Patriarchs (one of Holmes's unrecorded cases from ‘The Adventure of the Retired Colourman’), Inspector Lestrade of the Yard arrives at Baker Street to inform Holmes that the rare and priceless 9th Century Alexandrian Scroll has been stolen and Father Philoxenus of the London Coptic Patriarchate has been kidnapped and ransomed. Holmes and Watson travel to the sleepy Thameside village of Bourne End to unravel the mystery of how the burglar-cum-kidnapper managed to escape from the scene of the crime in the middle of a blizzard without leaving a single trace in the snow.

My second novel 'Sherlock Holmes and The Four Corners of Hell', was published last year by Robert Hale, London, and a large print version is due out soon (F.A. Thorpe.) It contains three stories: 'The Soho Picture Gallery'; 'The Edmonton Horror'; and 'The Rotherhithe Ship-breakers' - all of which are based, to varying degrees, on real life crimes in the Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian periods. It has, so far, attracted mainly 4 and 5 Star reviews, was reviewed as follows in Publishers Weekly:

"Duffy springs into the first rank of Sherlock Holmes pasticheurs with this superior collection. The contents-a novella and two short stories-are faithful to the originals, meld clever plotting with accurate characterizations of Holmes and Watson, and effectively evoke the mean streets of Victorian London. "The Adventure of the Soho Picture Gallery," the longest entry, impressively breathes life into a tired trope. In 1895, Scotland Yard consults Holmes about a series of Ripper-like murders. The female victims were not butchered this time, but the presence of five shillings under each corpse, and ears of corn in their left hands, invests the slaughter with a ritual element. Duffy does a good job of misdirecting the reader, and the resolution validates Watson's downbeat prologue, in which he observes that "the story of criminal detection is but rarely conducive to happy endings." The well-crafted "The Adventure of the Edmonton Horror" features an apparent murder by a vampire who left his victim's bloodless corpse in her bed, wearing a bridal gown. The equally adept "The Adventure of the Rotherhithe Ship-breakers" focuses on an inexplicable attempt on the life of a ship-breaker. Sherlockians will be delighted by the emergence of this new talent."

From the Historical Novel Society: 'If we can’t have more Conan Doyle, this is the most similar in atmosphere, characterisation and writing style you can get. The stories are fast-paced, interesting and full of the typical Holmes-style descriptions of the seedy backstreets of London, with gaslights, fog and the dangers of pickpockets. The plots are well-constructed with a suitable amount of red herrings and clear characterisation. Very much recommended for Sherlock fans and non-fans.'

My first novel 'Sherlock Holmes In Paris' (Black Coat Press, February 2013) has, so far, had only favourable reviews, some by celebrated Holmesians, such as Roger Johnson in The District Messenger (Sherlock Holmes Society of London); Steve Rothman in the Baker Street Journal (Baker Street Irregulars, N.Y.); and Charlie Cook in 'Sound of the Baskervilles' (Seattle, WA.). It has had only 5-star and 4-star reviews.

I wrote the Foreword for 'The Aggravations Of Minnie Ashe' by Cyril Kersh (Valancourt Books, Jan 2014) which currently has seven 5-star reviews on Amazon.

Literary criticism:

' “A humble M.R.C.S.”: The Man behind the Mask'. (under 'Jim McGrory'): Category - Study of Conan Doyle canon; .published in Baker Street Journal, Autumn 2020.

'The Great Perennial Problem: The Religion of Sherlock Holmes' (under ' Jim McGrory'): Category - Study of Conan Doyle canon; published in Baker Street Journal, Autumn 2011.

Review Of 'London Belongs To Me' by Norman Collins: Category - London Literature; published on London Fictions website, October 2011.

Review of 'Fowlers End' by Gerald Kersh: Category - London Literature; published on London Fictions website, February 2012.