Sherlock Holmes-Adventures Beyond the Canon III, page 1
part #3 of Beyond the Canon Series
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures
Beyond the
Canon
Volume III: 1903-1921
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures
Beyond the
Canon
Volume III: 1903-1921
Edited by
David Marcum
Belanger Books
2018
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon
Volume III: 1903-1921
© 2018 by Belanger Books, LLC
ISBN- 978-1727215601
ISBN-1727215605
Print and Digital Edition © 2018 by Belanger Books, LLC
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses,
organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
David Marcum can be reached at:
thepapersofsherlockholmes@gmail.com
For information contact:
Belanger Books, LLC
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CONTENTS
Introductions
Canonical Sequels
by David Marcum
Foreword
by Nicholas Utechin
Going Beyond the Canon
by Derrick Belanger
Sherlock Holmes (A Poem)
by Phoebe Belanger
Adventures
The Unsettling Matter of the Graveyard Ghoul
by Will Murray
The Adventure of the Star-Crossed Lovers
by Daniel D. Victor
The Pearls of Great Price
by Deanna Baran
The Adventure of the Crown Diamond
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ann Margaret Lewis
The Adventure of the Gnarled Beeches
by Robert Perret
A Ghost from the Past
by Nick Cardillo
Another Problem at Thor Bridge
by Geri Schear
The Pegasus Affair
by Tim Symonds
The Brook Street Mystery
by David Marcum
About the Contributors
These additional adventures are contained in
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon
Volume I – 1887-1890
The Swamp Adder (A Poem) – Rhea Belanger
A Gentleman’s Disagreement – Narrelle M. Harris
The Incident of the Frantic Countess – Arthur Hall
The Ten Orange Pips – Jayantika Ganguly
The Adventure of the Spectral Menace – Benjamin Langley
The Greek Murder – Katie Magnusson
The Adventure in Nancy – Stephen Herczeg
The Shadow of Malice – Brenda Seabrooke
The Adventure of the Upright Man – Nick Dunn-Meynell
A for Argentina – Mike Hogan
. . . and . . .
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon
Volume II – 1894-1902
The Great Detective (A Poem) – Rosie Mower
The Adventure of the Empty Cell – Kevin P. Thornton
The Case of the Mysterious Horseman – Roger Riccard
The Adventure of the Third Traitor – Craig Janacek
A Frail Thread – Jacquelynn Morris
Mercy Unwilling to Trust – Thomas Fortenberry
The Officer in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment – Tim Symonds
The Fear of Retribution – Craig Stephen Copland
The Case of the Stratford Poisoner – Mark Mower
The Musgrave Burden – John Linwood Grant
Another Man’s Poison – Paul Goodenough
The Mysterious Client – Derrick Belanger
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
All of the contributions in this collection are copyrighted
by the authors listed below, except as noted.
Grateful acknowledgement is given to the authors
and/or their agents for the kind permission to use
their work within these volumes.
The following contributions appear in this volume:
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon
Volume III – 1903-1921
“The Pearls of Great Price” ©2018 by Deanna Baran. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“Going Beyond the Canon” ©2018 by Derrick Belanger. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“Sherlock Holmes” (A Poem) ©2018 by Phoebe Belanger. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“A Ghost from the Past” ©2018 by Nick Cardillo. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure of the Crown Diamond” ©2018 Ann Margaret Lewis, based upon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Mazarin Stone”. All Rights Reserved. A version of this story originally appeared in The Serpentine Muse, 2007-2008. Printed by permission of Ann Margaret Lewis.
“Canonical Sequels” and “The Brook Street Mystery” ©2018 by David Marcum. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Unsettling Matter of the Graveyard Ghoul” ©2018 by Will Murray. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure of the Gnarled Beeches” ©2017 by Robert Perret. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“Another Problem at Thor Bridge” ©2018 by Geri Schear. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Pegasus Affair” ©2018 by Tim Symonds and Lesley Abdela. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“Foreword” ©2018 by Nicholas Utechin. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure of the Star-Crossed Lovers” ©2017 by Daniel D. Victor. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
The following contributions appear
in these companion volumes:
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon
Volume I – 1887-1890
“The Swamp Adder” (A Noun Verse Poem) ©2018 by Rhea Belanger. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure of the Upright Man” ©2018 by Nick Dunn-Meynell. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Ten Orange Pips” ©2018 by Jayantika Ganguly. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Incident of the Frantic Countess” ©2018 by Arthur Hall. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“A Gentleman’s Disagreement” ©2018 by Narrelle M. Harris. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure in Nancy” ©2018 by Stephen Herczeg. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“A for Argentina” ©2018 by Mike Hogan. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure of the Spectral Menace” ©2018 by Benjamin Langley. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Greek Murder” ©2018 by Katie Magnusson. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Shadow of Malice” ©2018 by Brenda Seabrooke. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon
Volume II – 1894-1902
“The Mysterious Client” ©2018 by Derrick Belanger. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Fear of Retribution” ©2018 by Craig Stephen Copland. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“Mercy Unwilling to Trust” ©2018 by Thomas Fortenberry. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Musgrave Burden” ©2018 by John Linwood Grant. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure of the Third Traitor” ©2018 by Craig Janacek. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“A Frail Thread” ©2018 by Jacquelynn Morris. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Case of the Stratford Poisoner” ©2017 by Mark Mower. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Great Detective” ©2017 by Rosie Mower. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Case of the Mysterious Horseman” ©2017 by Roger Riccard. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Officer in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment” ©2018 by Tim Symonds and Lesley Abdela. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Adventure of the Empty Cell” ©2018 by Kevin P. Thornton. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.
Canonical Sequels
by David Marcum
There aren’t many sequels in The Sherlockian Canon. Each of the original published narratives, as written by Watson and edited by the first Literary Agent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, were meant to be stand-alone tales, with all threads from the larger Tangled Skein cut and neatly tied off, so that knowledge of Holmes’s past cases would not be required for enjoyment of the particular adventure in one’s hands at the moment.
And yet, students of The Canon can’t help but sometimes wonder what happened in the lives of this or that client – or villain – once Watson wrote the last sentence of a particular case. Their lives went on, either in relief or recovery from whatever events had brought them to the door of 221b in the first place – or facing punishment for their deeds, whichever the case may be.
Still, it is for Holmes and Watson that we return again and again to the rooms in Baker Street. If some of us haven’t give a lot of thought to those former individuals who wander on and then off the Sherlockian stage, then they have something in common with Holmes, who attempted to maintain that “A client is to me a mere unit – a factor in a problem.” Through this attitude, Holmes tried to construct a non-emotional and Spock-like detachment from the personalities involved in his investigations. He understood that a scientific objectivity was necessary in his work. And yet, however much Holmes would wish for Watson – and us – to believe that he was simply a brain, it wasn’t true. There are countless instances in The Canon that proclaim otherwise.
For instance, Holmes’s reaction to Watson being wounded in “The Three Garridebs” prompts our favorite Boswell to write of Holmes’s great heart, as well as his great brain. After John Openshaw’s murder in “The Five Orange Pips”, Watson says that Holmes was “more depressed and shaken than I had ever seen him.” In “The Devil’s Foot”, following the foolhardy experiment with the Radix pedis diabolic, Holmes unsteadily apologizes to Watson, who indicates that he had “never seen so much of Holmes’s heart before.”
In “The Six Napoleons”, at the revelation of the Black Pearl of the Borgias, Watson observes that “[a] flush of colour sprang to Holmes’s pale cheeks, and he bowed to us like the master dramatist who receives the homage of his audience. It was at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause.” Soon after, Inspector Lestrade praises Holmes in a scene that, to me, was the finest moment in the entire Granada television series starring Jeremy Brett:
“Well,” said Lestrade, “I’ve seen you handle a good many cases, Mr. Holmes, but I don’t know that I ever knew a more workmanlike one than that. We’re not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, sir, we are very proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow there’s not a man, from the oldest inspector to the youngest constable, who wouldn’t be glad to shake you by the hand.”
“Thank you!” said Holmes. “Thank you!” and as he turned away it seemed to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer human emotions than I had ever seen him. A moment later he was the cold and practical thinker once more.
In A Study in Scarlet, when Watson states “you have brought detection as near an exact science as it ever will be brought in this world,” Holmes “flushed up with pleasure.” Clearly, in spite of his attempts to be perceived as a pure reasoning machine, a “trained reasoner” with a “finely adjusted temperament”, wherein “[g]rit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own highpower lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion”, he is human after all, and as such – like us – he probably can’t help but sometimes wonder what has happened to this or that client or villain.
And after all, it would be to his benefit to keep track of these individuals. Some clients might return someday with another problem – or possibly the original problem could have ripples that return and exert a new influence in later years. Just because a criminal has been identified and caught this time does not mean that he or she won’t surface again at some future point – either with a new scheme that might be identified from the previous modus operandi, or possibly with a desired vengeance directed specifically at Mr. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street. No doubt Holmes continuously updated his scrapbooks with bits of knowledge related to his past cases and those individuals who were involved with them. Not to do so would have been foolish, and Holmes was not a fool.
But in The Canon, there is very little that tells us what happens next. A number of recurring personalities, such as Mrs. Hudson and Mycroft Holmes, are mentioned more than once, as are the Baker Street Irregulars, and Professor Moriarty and Colonel Moran, and certain police inspectors – some more than others. Holmes and Watson both frequently refer to various Untold Cases, such as the famed Giant Rat of Sumatra, or that of the Abergavenny Tragedy – but those are looking backwards. News about what happened to those involved in the Canonical stories is quite sparse.
By necessity, “The Empty House” (which occurred on April 5th, 1894, and was later published in September 1903) reveals how Holmes survived the battle with Professor Moriarty atop the Reichenbach Falls on May 4th, 1891, as related in “The Final Problem” (published in December 1893). But those are the only truly connected stories. (As an aside, I’ll mention that it both amazes and infuriates me to pick up various partial collections of the Holmes stories and see that the editors have included “The Final Problem”, wherein Holmes is believed to have died, without immediately following it with “The Empty House”. And almost as bad is when they do include both stories, but separate them by a number of others, so that a reader who doesn’t know any better is left hopelessly confused.)
A few times, Watson does give a hint as to what happens down the road. When “A Scandal in Bohemia” is published in mid-1891, he refers to Irene Norton née Adler as “the late Irene Adler”. However, as any student of narratives brought forth by later Literary Agents knows, this is incorrect, as Irene lived for a number of years past this point, and Watson clearly obfuscated the facts to conceal that she was quite important in the life of Sherlock Holmes.
