Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #10. Arthur Conan Doyle

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      FROM WATSON’S SCRAPBOOK

      Both Holmes and I are doubly delighted with this, the 10th issue of Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine. Firstly because, with the exception of one article and the usual columns by Mrs Hudson and Lenny Picker, all of the stories are about Holmes and me—all adventures and problems that until now I hadn’t managed to write up.

      Our second reason for rejoicing is that our magazine, which up to now has been published quarterly, now becomes a bimonthly periodical—which means, of course, that we shall be in need of more submissions!

      No fewer than ten new Holmesian narratives appear below. I have restricted myself to a brief composition called “The Field Bazaar,” though, for personal reasons, I have allowed my editorial colleague Mr Kaye to run it as if it had been written by Doyle, my literary agent. Of the other selections, I merely wish to comment favourably on one of them—“The Curse of Edwin Booth,” which, having occurred on the other side of “the pond,” I mean the Atlantic Ocean, I was not involved in it. But I am glad that Holmes has seen fit to assign its writing to Ms Carole Buggé, who already has done splendid renditions of two of our longer, hence novel-length, exploits, The Star of India and The Haunting of Torre Abbey.

      And now I shall turn over the rest of this editorial column to Mr Kaye.

      —John H. Watson, MD

      * * * *

      Other than the good doctor’s classic cases, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine seldom runs reprints, but this issue makes an exception.

      One of the interesting sidelights concerning Dr. Watson’s many stories is the question of viewpointing. In all but three cases the tales are told first person by the good doctor himself. However, two of them—“The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane,” and, earlier, “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier,” which Dr. Watson is very fond of because in it, Holmes finally admits that he was wrong for frequently badgering his friend for “pandering to popular taste instead of confining himself to facts and figures.” His exasperated companion finally dared him to “Try it yourself, Holmes!” and when he did so, the following admission was penned: “…I am compelled to admit that, having taken my pen in hand, I do begin to realize that the matter must be presented in such a way as may interest the reader.”

      The third story to vary from the first person style is “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone”—the only tale in the entire Canon to be told third person! It came about in an unusual fashion. Its history was first written up by Watson’s literary agent Arthur Conan Doyle—(Watson would prefer it if I added the prefatory title “Sir,” but I look upon Death as the Great Leveler)—in the form of a one-act play titled “The Crown Diamond.” According to anthologist Peter Haining, it was performed in London on May 16, 1921. William S. Baring-Gould says that “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone” occurred on a summer’s day in the year 1903. The question, of course, is who wrote it. Since it was composed third person, which Watson never chose to employ, I assume that it was adapted from its theatrical original by Doyle himself.

      In this issue, two stories are not in first person. “The Curse of Edwin Booth” is told by the title character himself, whereas Zack Wentz’s “Simplicity Itself” comes from one of those street urchins whom Holmes employed as part of his Baker Street Irregulars.

      * * * *

      Our next issue will feature a new Holmes adventure transcribed by one of SHMM’s best “regulars,” Mr. Jack Grochot, as well as Watson’s own “A Case of Identity.” Other stories include ones by the following authors: Marc Bilgrey, Jay Carey, Sergio Gaut vel Hartman, G. Miki Hayden, D. Lee Lott, and Gary Lovisi.

      Canonically Yours,

      – Marvin Kaye

      CARTOON, by Basil Chap

      SCREEN OF THE CRIME, by Lenny Picker