Review - "The Whole Art of Detection"

The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
by Lyndsay Faye
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 7th March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

I have never been Sherlock Holmes' biggest fan. Sure, I read them (or rather, my mum read them too me, and freaked me out a little), but I've not read any Holmes stories in at least 10 years. Lyndsay Faye's take on Holmes and Watson is wholly refreshing and, although some stories worked better than others, totally in the vein of the originals (or, what I can recall of the originals).

My first thought on starting the book, within the first paragraph, was how uncannily similar to Arthur Conan Doyle's writing the style is. Lyndsay Faye has managed to mimic his style so closely that it reads as if it would slot into his stories with ease. If I had any problem with the style it would be that, occasionally, the descriptiveness of the writing didn't suit the context it was in, like in the first few stories, where it's just Watson and Holmes recounting stories, the speech seemed somewhat stilted because it was very descriptive. But that problem disappears for the most part after the part one.

The best stories were, in fact, the ones that were written as entries into Holmes' diary. These were amusing, and managed not to seem condescending, as can happen when your detective is a Brilliant Detective who is a genius and therefore sees links mere mortals would not.

Part three was the saddest of the parts, as it follows Holmes' "death" (which, I'll admit, I never read), and this is where Lyndsay Faye's ability to make me emotional comes into play. It's very subtle; most of the time it's just a sentence thrown in almost carelessly, which is able to just force you to stop and think. It's a skill that most of my favourite authors appear to have, and she repeatedly does the same in her Timothy Wilde Mysteries.

Overall I think this is a great set of Sherlock Holmes stories which stay true to the characters and style (it's clear that she has done copious amounts of research, and is a huge fan of the original stories herself), and should satisfy both avid fans and those who are perhaps less so.