Review: Mystery Weekly Magazine: October 2019

The expanded issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine: October 2019 opens with

“The Adventure of the Abominable Inn” by Ralph E. Vaughan. The train on which Sherlock Holmes rides is roughly four hours out of Rome and thus deep in the mountainous countryside of Italy. Traveling as Mr. Sigurson, Sherlock Holmes is unknown to all. He soon learns that there has been an avalanche ahead and the passengers are to stay at the nearby inn in the area village. He also learns that nothing is as it seems and there could be an ancient evil to deal with before he and his fellow passengers can resume their journey.

  

“An Indian Nobody’s Affair with Mr. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street” by

S. Surbramanian follows where a 65 year old Economics Professor recounts his early love of the tales of Sherlock Holmes. Things were hard for the family when he was a child in the 1960s and Sherlock Holmes helped him cope. The stories still do today as he finds meaning to life far beyond the fictional world. This is one of three essays in this issue.

In the time of Sherlock Holmes, one could not hide behind a false front to spread nasty things and flat out lies across the internet. One had to actually spread gossip and innuendo from person to person and hope others would help spread your manure fabrications. Battlecruiser Barry is spreading stuff about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and is doing so just a few years after Holmes was killed in the fall in “Of Course He Pushed Him” by Chris Chan. He is doing it. The real question is why.

Renowned Explorer Sir James George Frazer is interrupted in his work by a visit by Thomas Eliot. The good friend has come over to enlist Frazer’s help in getting Robert Graves released from detention at Scotland Yard where he is in custody for murder in “The Murderous Wood” by Thomas J. Belton. Clearly a trip to Scotland Yard is in order.

Dr. Watson has a plan. Keeping the plan going is becoming increasingly problematic. A solution will hopefully present itself in “The Case of the Final Interview” by Teel James Glenn.

Jack Bates also offers a story from Dr. Watson’s perspective in “Casualty of the Bidding War.” Watson is in Manhattan planning to sell his second folio of Sherlock Holmes stories. Accompanied by Mrs. Martha Hudson, Watson has to meet three potential publishers and make a decision as to which party shall publish the manuscript. That decision could end up being the easiest part of the trip.

Jobs are limited in academia. That problem is compounded for couples who wish to be at the same college or university. She wants to know how he is going to solve it in “The Two-Body Problems” by Josh Pachter.

Inspiration can come to a writer in many ways. He had come to San Marco to people watch and write. He very possibly is going to get far more of both than he bargained for in “Hemingway’s Hat” by David Wiseman.

Next is a nonfiction piece titled “The Reigate Squires Scrutinized” by Bruce Harris. The piece goes into detail how others saw the story, “The Reigate Squires,” and the role graphology played in the tale. The piece has referenced footnotes for readers interested in perusing the subject.

Much like she did as a child, the grown woman brings a book into her grandmother’s bedroom. Every book in the home library has a deeply personal memory. In “Rousseau’s Children” by M. Bennardo, books and memories matter and work together in the tale that goes back decades.

There was a case that was never recorded because Sherlock Holmes did not want to see the light of day. In “The Adventure Of The Seven Nooses” by Michael Mallory, the case that occurred in the early months of 1984 is finally revealed.

Next is a parody pastiche of sorts titled “Counterpunch” by S. Subramanian. Captain Hugh Drummond, known to all as “Bull-dog” receives an emergency all from Alasdair Ferguson. A scientific researcher at the war office, he tells Bull-dog Drummond that he faces an imminent attack and needs help before being cutoff in mid-sentence. Naturally, a return call does not go through and Drummond and others head over to ascertain the situation.

“Words On A Page: Sherlock Holmes And The Variations Of Text” by Vincent W. Wright is an examination of how Sherlock Holmes noticed everything. That includes the random extra mark that a key on the certain typewriter may make.

Geoffrey is very much dead in “The Body Pillow” by J.R. Underdown. While he is dead, he also blends in with the sitting room floor. Good thing that the professional detective, Sterling Hawke, and his esteemed colleague, Dr. Juan Ortiz, were in attendance at the dinner party and can work the case.

Holmes and Watson, having fallen on hard times and now are a mere shadow of their former selves; reside in Canada in “Cater-Wail” by Laird Long. This tale is “A You-Solve-It” where somebody killed a cat to stop its late night screaming. Judith Bloom’s cat is a victim of foul play and Watson and Holmes are sniffing around the case.

The solution to the September “A You-Solve-It” case titled “Retirement Bash” brings the issue to a close. This short story is also by Laird Long.

  

Billed as a “Sherlock Holmes Double Issue,” the read of stories and nonfiction found in Mystery Weekly Magazine: October 2019 is an interesting one. Several stories have nothing at all to do with Holmes. The three essays, two of which are extremely academic in nature, did little to sway me as a reader one way or another.

Mystery Weekly Magazine is known for the fiction it publishes across the mystery spectrum. When that is done here in the Mystery Weekly Magazine: October 2019  issue, it is on target and done well.

For quite some time now I have been gifted a subscription by the publisher with no expectation at all of a review. I read and review each issue as I can. To date, I have never submitted anything to this market and will not do so as long as I review the publication.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020