The Lost Years of Sherlock Holmes by Ted Riccardi

When you step into the shoes of a master writer, meticulous care has to be taken. There should be neither a spill over nor a deficiency. The author has certainly adhered to these cardinal principles. Right from the chapter ‘preface by Dr Watson’, Ted Riccardi has not shown any inclination towards himself but always to the celebrated author who has produced the greatest sleuths of all time- Sherlock Holmes ‘. Neither once did he let the reader to think that they are not interacting with the Sherlock Holmes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but Ted Riccardi’s.

‘ The Lost years of Sherlock Holmes’ speaks about that particular period when the world assumed Sherlock Holmes to be dead. He was dead to his known world but all alive in the orient world. It deals at length about his adventures and exploration mainly in India, Nepal and Tibet. When some of his cases included many coincidences on his way, others were to protect the interests of his empire whose pride lay in the vast expanses of India. Only his brother Microoft knew that Holmes was not dead. Dr. Watson was mourning his death. Though Holmes’ brother knew Holmes’ whereabouts, for strong reasons, they kept Watson in the dark. May be to fill this vacuum, Ted introduces a new friend for Sherlock – Gorashar, who is an Indian. In many cases, we could see Gorashar rushing to help the sleuth. The mysterious orient lay bare beautifully through this book.

Riccardi has definitely used a simple language but has never allowed in any part of the book to fizzle out the style of Doyle. It will grip and engage you, the way Arthur Doyle has been doing his readers for so many years. The incidents were not narrated in a chronological order. But that is excused as Dr Watson has put it in his preface that if the readers look for historical consistency, he/she will be disappointed.

At the same time, there are minor flaws which can be conveniently shoved off. Though the initial chapters will grip you immensely, the tempo diminishes a little when we reach the middle of the book. But that could not be attributed to the author’s callousness but to the interests of the readers. Doubtlessly, it is good and engaging read. If you are an ardent fan of Sherlock Holmes and mourned his death, Ted Riccardi’s  ‘ The Lost years of Sherlock Holmes ‘ will give you an opportunity to revel in his resurrection.

****  I received this book from Jaico Publishing House for review

By the way, I hated its cover. I am not sure why they came up with such a horrendous cover.

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

 

Mr Shaitana was a person of dubious character. He was attending a snuff box exhibition when he ran into Hercule Poirot, the detective. Shaitana was quick enough to invite him for dinner and lured him to meet some strange invitees.

There was something peculiar about the invitation. A collector of many strange things, Shaitana also nurtured a macabre habit of extracting dark hidden secrets from people. Some of the invitees to the dinner invitation also had one. They were murderers who had gotten away easily.

 Finally, the fateful day had come. After the dinner, the guests decided to play bridge and divided themselves into two groups.

When the first group consisted of Dr Roberts, Major Despard, Mrs Lorrimer and Miss Anne Meredith, the second group consisted of Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard, detective fiction writer Mrs Adriane Oliver and Colonel Race, a retired secret service operative.

Both of the groups sat in two different rooms while Shaitana, the host did not take part in the game but sat in the first room by the fire, observing the players.

When they approached their host to bid goodbye, after the bridge, to their utter shock, they found him murdered in his chair. He was stabbed in the neck with a stiletto.

In no time, Superintendent Battle took charge of the situation. It was then, the players in the second room realised that Shaitana had carefully picked his guests. While the guests in the second room were associated with investigation and authority, his choice of guests in the first room was a hint from Shaitana that they were possibly murderers who had gotten away after committing it. Shaitana had suggested the same thing to Hercule Poirot when they met at the snuff box exhibition.

Never in the wildest of his dreams, he might have thought that by inviting such people he was inviting his own death.

According to Christie, this was Hercule Poirot’s favourite case though Hastings, his companion, found it dull. For a change, she had come up with three other sleuths along with Poirot to nab the culprit from among the four possible murderers. It’s not mostly the clues which had helped the four detectives in their sleuthing but pure psychology.

Though I understood the basic plot, the reading became a bit strenuous when Poirot decided to analyse the suspects from their bridge scores. I don’t know how to play bridge. Besides, there were many twists and turns.