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The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
„I had discovered the Sherlock Holmes books in my local library when a youngster, a major event in my imaginative life. In fact these stories played their part in taking me from children’s to grown-up literature. I began to collect battered second-hand copies of the red-clothed volumes. Even then my first love was myth, legend and the supernatural, but the Holmes stories spoke to me from the first, with their brooding atmosphere, and of course their moody, introverted, drug-using and brilliant hero. Once I had fallen under their spell, my expectations of the genre were changed and enriched forever.“
– Ron Weighell
„The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Homes“ (198 pages) is published as limited edition of 199 numbered and 26 lettered exemplars. The numbered edition has an illustrated cover by the wonderful Daniele Serra, head-and tailbands and a silk bookmark.
– Ron Weighell
„The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Homes“ (198 pages) is published as limited edition of 199 numbered and 26 lettered exemplars. The numbered edition has an illustrated cover by the wonderful Daniele Serra, head-and tailbands and a silk bookmark.
197 pages, Hardcover
First published March 19, 2012
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61 people want to read
About the author
Ron Weighell
37 books12 followersRon Weighell (1950 - 2020) was a British writer of fiction in the supernatural, fantasy and horror genre, whose work was published in the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Canada, Germany, Ireland, Romania, Finland, Belgium and Mexico.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 9, 2012
In recent weeks I have found myself reading some of the gothic-style work of Basil Copper and renewing my interest in macabre fiction. So when I came across The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Holmes at the Calabash Press site, I was in the right frame of mind to tackle another Holmes versus the supernatural type book. Expecting to regret my spur of the moment decision, I went ahead and ordered it anyway. The result, well, lets just say that I’ve made worse decisions.
The book consists of five short stories of rather varied levels of success. Each is tied to some element of the supernatural. Not what I would generally consider to be a clever blending of genres, but happily the author manages to maintain the Holmes of old with only a minimum of strain.
The first story, The Case of the Fiery Messengers is likely the strongest in the book. The case is brought to Holmes attention by no less of a literary figure than M. R. James, himself a master of the macabre tale. A missing manuscript page stolen from an occult tome in the hand of John Dee, leads our erstwhile heroes to Cambridge where a clever little riddle is the key to nabbing the culprit. Was there a vengeful spectre that delivered retribution? You can decide for yourself.
The second story takes us to the cold and foreboding Yorkshire moors to investigate The Shadow of the Wolf. As the title implies, this is a fairly traditional werewolf story, but somehow manages to drag in yet another episode of Holmes travels in Tibet (told in flashback) at Mycroft’s bequest. As with much of this type of fiction the main point for the reader is playing a quick game of guess which cursed family member is actually the hairy horror. A far superior story to the similarly themed Sherlock Holmes & The Silver Vengence by W. Lane, put out by Magico a few years back.
The next two stories are the weakest in this collection. The Curse of Nectanebo is a silly sort of mummy story that starts, of course, at the British Museum and swiftly takes our heroes to Egypt. I have a feeling that the author overly enjoyed the recent Universal Studios Mummy film or possibly The Wind and the Lion, as this one treats us to the spectacle of Holmes at the head of a troop of Arab horseman. The penultimate case relies a little too much on a dubious fictional episode from Holmes past to be of any interest (remember the fencing bits in Young Sherlock Holmes?), but does take us to the canals of Venice in The Sect of the Salamander.
The final story The Black Heaven, does present the odd bit of interest as author, Arthur Machen, keeps encountering passers by on the street who casually refer to his literary works as real events and people. Troubled by this, and having read enough Machen, who wouldn’t be? He turns to Holmes for help, but is soon caught up in a web of intrigue involving Welsh Satanists, standing stones and the unlikely spectacle of Mycroft Holmes on horseback. Look you, there’ll be the Devil to pay for this one!
As silly as much of this book was, I found myself enjoying it. Oddly enough, the dialogue is quite good and Holmes manages to stay mostly in character. In answer to those that will throw out the "no ghosts need apply” bit, the author just sort of forgets about it and carries on as though werewolves and Satanists are a perfectly normal part of the Holmesian world. Surprisingly, that seems to be the best way to proceed in pastiches of this sort. Once again, I still affirm that the best blending of Holmes mythos and the supernatural are the two books by Mark Frost, The List of Seven and The Six Messiahs featuring Conan Doyle battling the forces of evil.
The book consists of five short stories of rather varied levels of success. Each is tied to some element of the supernatural. Not what I would generally consider to be a clever blending of genres, but happily the author manages to maintain the Holmes of old with only a minimum of strain.
The first story, The Case of the Fiery Messengers is likely the strongest in the book. The case is brought to Holmes attention by no less of a literary figure than M. R. James, himself a master of the macabre tale. A missing manuscript page stolen from an occult tome in the hand of John Dee, leads our erstwhile heroes to Cambridge where a clever little riddle is the key to nabbing the culprit. Was there a vengeful spectre that delivered retribution? You can decide for yourself.
The second story takes us to the cold and foreboding Yorkshire moors to investigate The Shadow of the Wolf. As the title implies, this is a fairly traditional werewolf story, but somehow manages to drag in yet another episode of Holmes travels in Tibet (told in flashback) at Mycroft’s bequest. As with much of this type of fiction the main point for the reader is playing a quick game of guess which cursed family member is actually the hairy horror. A far superior story to the similarly themed Sherlock Holmes & The Silver Vengence by W. Lane, put out by Magico a few years back.
The next two stories are the weakest in this collection. The Curse of Nectanebo is a silly sort of mummy story that starts, of course, at the British Museum and swiftly takes our heroes to Egypt. I have a feeling that the author overly enjoyed the recent Universal Studios Mummy film or possibly The Wind and the Lion, as this one treats us to the spectacle of Holmes at the head of a troop of Arab horseman. The penultimate case relies a little too much on a dubious fictional episode from Holmes past to be of any interest (remember the fencing bits in Young Sherlock Holmes?), but does take us to the canals of Venice in The Sect of the Salamander.
The final story The Black Heaven, does present the odd bit of interest as author, Arthur Machen, keeps encountering passers by on the street who casually refer to his literary works as real events and people. Troubled by this, and having read enough Machen, who wouldn’t be? He turns to Holmes for help, but is soon caught up in a web of intrigue involving Welsh Satanists, standing stones and the unlikely spectacle of Mycroft Holmes on horseback. Look you, there’ll be the Devil to pay for this one!
As silly as much of this book was, I found myself enjoying it. Oddly enough, the dialogue is quite good and Holmes manages to stay mostly in character. In answer to those that will throw out the "no ghosts need apply” bit, the author just sort of forgets about it and carries on as though werewolves and Satanists are a perfectly normal part of the Holmesian world. Surprisingly, that seems to be the best way to proceed in pastiches of this sort. Once again, I still affirm that the best blending of Holmes mythos and the supernatural are the two books by Mark Frost, The List of Seven and The Six Messiahs featuring Conan Doyle battling the forces of evil.
January 29, 2011
This is one of the most satisfying collection of pastiches where Holmes encounters supernatural. It happens because of several reasons: -
1) Ron Weighell IS a superb writer. He has proved it with his Jamesian a other traditionally supernatural tales time & again, and he does it superbly in these 5 stories.
2) In these stories Holmes & Watson behave in their characteristic fashion, without being much perturbed by the fact that many of the incidents happening around them and the other protagonists (in one story, Dr. M.R. James himself, in another Arthur Machen!) fairly demolish the basic Holmesian principle established in "Adventure of The Sussex Vampire", namely: "No ghosts need apply...". It happens because of the application of another Holmesian axiom: "Once you have eliminated the impossible, ...", and in the process the characters become more believable, except in the last story where Mycroft Holmes is shown to be acting in a totally unbelievable way. In fact, it has been one of the reasons for me shedding off one star from my rating!
3) The plots are tight, and the narrative never slackens.
A reader might have his own pick from amongst the stories presented here, but one story that somehow disappointed me was "Shadow Of The Wolf". Let me qualify this statement: it is one of the all time greatest & creepiest Holmesian pastiches involving supernatural, in my opinion, but I had loved the earlier version of the story published in "The Northern Musgraves" and used for inclusion in the Mark Valentine edited anthology "The Werewolf Pack" that used the werewolf-concept as a trick, to deceive the reader at the last moment into the much more shocking & profound truth. Somehow, in its more "super-naturalized" avatar, the story has lost much of its punch, and thus has become another reason to deprive the book of a star. Otherwise, top-notch work, and highly recommended!
1) Ron Weighell IS a superb writer. He has proved it with his Jamesian a other traditionally supernatural tales time & again, and he does it superbly in these 5 stories.
2) In these stories Holmes & Watson behave in their characteristic fashion, without being much perturbed by the fact that many of the incidents happening around them and the other protagonists (in one story, Dr. M.R. James himself, in another Arthur Machen!) fairly demolish the basic Holmesian principle established in "Adventure of The Sussex Vampire", namely: "No ghosts need apply...". It happens because of the application of another Holmesian axiom: "Once you have eliminated the impossible, ...", and in the process the characters become more believable, except in the last story where Mycroft Holmes is shown to be acting in a totally unbelievable way. In fact, it has been one of the reasons for me shedding off one star from my rating!
3) The plots are tight, and the narrative never slackens.
A reader might have his own pick from amongst the stories presented here, but one story that somehow disappointed me was "Shadow Of The Wolf". Let me qualify this statement: it is one of the all time greatest & creepiest Holmesian pastiches involving supernatural, in my opinion, but I had loved the earlier version of the story published in "The Northern Musgraves" and used for inclusion in the Mark Valentine edited anthology "The Werewolf Pack" that used the werewolf-concept as a trick, to deceive the reader at the last moment into the much more shocking & profound truth. Somehow, in its more "super-naturalized" avatar, the story has lost much of its punch, and thus has become another reason to deprive the book of a star. Otherwise, top-notch work, and highly recommended!
April 15, 2022
The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Ron Weighell (2000) is the first Weighell collection I have read. He is clearly a writer who takes great pains with his material, and creates a pleasing frisson at several points in these stories.
Sherlock Holmes pastiches, like those by epigones of Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, always strike me as frustrating work made by frustrated readers and aimed at other frustrated readers. We're never going to get back the thrill of reading "The Red-Headed League" or Baskervilles for the first time; persisting like this is at best unhealthy. Conan Doyle lived, wrote, and triumphed; we are left with cross-referencing and footnotes.
One might make a case that The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Holmes is such a series of cross-referencing notes.
Full review: http://jayrothermel.blogspot.com/2022...
Sherlock Holmes pastiches, like those by epigones of Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, always strike me as frustrating work made by frustrated readers and aimed at other frustrated readers. We're never going to get back the thrill of reading "The Red-Headed League" or Baskervilles for the first time; persisting like this is at best unhealthy. Conan Doyle lived, wrote, and triumphed; we are left with cross-referencing and footnotes.
One might make a case that The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Holmes is such a series of cross-referencing notes.
Full review: http://jayrothermel.blogspot.com/2022...
March 20, 2023
Weighell, Ron - The Irregular Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes
New stories of the legendary consulting detective.
The first case opens with a harried Cambridge don, last name James, who faces a puzzle, as well as a difficult student, last name Crowley.
The final mystery features an extremely marginal writer, named Machen, dealing with a cult of three imposters.
In between are other tales, stylish, faithful to the canon, yet with a slight weird bent.
Not excessively so, these are not outré pastiches, but seasoned faintly with elements of the supernatural.
Holmes’ fans should be pleased with the quality of stories and prose, right down to throwaway cases, alluded to and left tantalizingly unexplored.
Fans of M.R. James or Arthur Machen will find other references to mull over.
New stories of the legendary consulting detective.
The first case opens with a harried Cambridge don, last name James, who faces a puzzle, as well as a difficult student, last name Crowley.
The final mystery features an extremely marginal writer, named Machen, dealing with a cult of three imposters.
In between are other tales, stylish, faithful to the canon, yet with a slight weird bent.
Not excessively so, these are not outré pastiches, but seasoned faintly with elements of the supernatural.
Holmes’ fans should be pleased with the quality of stories and prose, right down to throwaway cases, alluded to and left tantalizingly unexplored.
Fans of M.R. James or Arthur Machen will find other references to mull over.
November 19, 2020
Sherlock Holmes meets M.R. James and Arthur Machen. No, I’m not describing the story, I’m outlining it. Huzzah! Of these five Sherlock tales, the opener and closer, where Holmes and Watson detect for James and Machen, respectively, are the best. The others are okay too if overly long. Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading more from Wieghell.
February 15, 2017
Five entertaining Sherlock Holmes short stories, with little elements of the supernatural, great atmosphere and the appearance of such real people as M.R.James, Arthur Machan and others.
Fun stuff.
Fun stuff.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews