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Sherlock Holmes at the Raffles Hotel By John Hall | |||||||||
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The notion was an odd one – Sherlock Holmes in retirement. That alert mind occupied by nothing more than catching a local schoolboy poaching! It was indeed an odd notion to Dr Watson, who became worried that Holmes, without a challenging case, would soon be but a shadow of his former self. A chance meeting took Holmes and Watson to Singapore for a well-deserved rest – a rest that was soon to be interrupted by murder … John Hall spent many years in the civil service before becoming a professional writer specialising in crime fiction. His book Death of a Collector won the Sherlock magazine’s competition for the best new fictional detective. John’s favourite fictional detectives are Lord Peter Wimsey (before he married that dreadful woman!), Hercule Poirot and, of course, Sherlock Holmes. John has a large collection of tobacco pipes and is a member of The International Pipe Smokers’ Hall of Fame. | |||||
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Reviews for this publication Roger Johnson, Editor of the Sherlock Holmes Journal wrires ... A year or two after the detective’s retirement to Sussex, his old friend, recently widowed and himself at a low ebb, finds the detective a victim of melancholic ennui. An unexpected encounter with an old friend provides Watson with the perfect excuse to get both of them away from an English winter to the tropical paradise of Singapore, for the friend in question is Arshak Sarkies, one of the four Armenian brothers who established a chain of luxury hotels in south-east Asia. Their destination is the most famous of them all — possibly the most famous hotel in the world — but what Dr Watson intends as a rest cure quickly becomes a real criminal investigation. They are greeted by Arshak’s brother Tigran, manager of the hotel, with the news that a visiting English lady has been murdered. Of course, this, rather than relaxation in the sun, is what Holmes needs. Mr Hall is a good writer and an artful storyteller; moreover he knows his subject — or rather, subjects. His depiction of Singapore in Edwardian days is both enticing and convincing, and of course he is renowned as a Holmesian scholar. Sherlock Holmes at the Raffles Hotel is a grand read. | |||||
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