Most people who know a little about Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series know that at one point Doyle got sick of the detective series and killed off his star character, only to be forced into "resurrecting" him after a two year absence. Here, in one of the many, many, many, modern takes on the Holmes series, eminent Tibetan author Norbu details Holmes adventures incognito in India and Tibet during those two years. The role of Dr. Watson (both as bumbling sidekick and chronicler) is here assumed by Hurree Chandar Mookerjee, a Bengali spy lifted from yet another work of fiction, Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" (and just to be totally clear, he was based on a real Indian who spied for the British!). The adventures initially consist of a plot by the henchmen of Holmes' now-dead nemesis, Moriarity, to avenge their leader's death. Holmes ends up hiding out and getting the notion to make a pilgrimage to Lhasa to meet the Dalai Lama-something strictly forbidden for Westerners. This leads to the second main adventure, which involves helping the young 13th Dalai Lama (a man critical to real-life modern Tibetan history) evade the deadly machinations of the powerful Manchu Imperial agents in Lhasa.

Norbu should first and foremost be commended for being able to almost perfectly capture the correct period speech for each character (there is a lengthy glossary at the back for all the Hinustani phrases and period slang). I say" almost" because I found Hurree's speech to be just a little too over the top, even for the type of educated servant of the Empire he is-it's just a shade too forced at times. Norbu has also captured the period perfectly and manages to seamlessly insert his own agenda by portraying early Chinese imperialism in Tibet. The portrayal of Holmes is excellent (enthusiastic, abrasive, arrogant, drug abuser) up to a point. That point is the final quarter of the book which starts melding the Holmesian world of deduction and reason with the Tibetan world of mysticism and occult powers. Up until then, I had been having great fun, but once people started throwing around hellfire and erecting mental shields and whatnot, I lost faith and interest in the whole exercise. It's not that I'm prejudiced against such things (I've played sword and sorcery role-playing games for 15 years), I just don't think they belong in the hyper-deductive world of Sherlock Holmes. It's well known that Conan Doyle had a strong belief in the occult and was fascinated with the spirit world, but to mix that in with Holmes just rubs me wrong.

In my opinion Jamyang Norbu has written a wonderful story on Sherlock Holmes' missing years. The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes was for me a great adventure. From the descriptions of India and Tibet to the Ice Temples, Norbu captivates the readers interest in the mystery and magic of writing. He is truly a literary master and this book deserves an award! Thank-you Jamyang Norbu!

This book is worth buying for anyone who is an avid reader of Sherlock Holmes which certainly applies to me. It seems to me that Jamyang Norbu can describe Sherlock better that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did himself. If you read this book, your view of Sherlock Holmes won't be the same again. Dr. John Watson has been replaced by Huree Chunder Mookherjee, a bengali spy, who is far more humorous than Watson. The character of Holmes remains the same, mysterious and intelligent. The book is filled with witty humour. The plot of the book revolves around Sherlock Holmes's stay in India and Tibet. To find out more about this book, read it and i'm sure you will not be disappointed.

In this unauthorized biography, Steven Holmes has done a meticulous job of reporting -- conducting countless interviews and citing numerous original source materials. This highly readable work conveys the essence of a man who rose to the highest ranks of American government and whose influence on the global economy is felt even today. Holmes delves into every aspect of Ron Brown's life -- from his childhood at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem, through his college and military days, his stint at the Urban League, and his meteoric ascension through Democratic party politics into the Clinton cabinet. Readers of "An Uncommon Life" get a thorough sense of Brown's charm, his analytical mind, his tenacious drive to succeed, his weakness for beautiful women. Holmes offers an unsparing but ultimately fair view of the nation's first black Commerce Secretary, whose all-too-human flaws can never overshadow his accomplishments.

Wow! This is a great book. The story of how one man, Ron Brown, emerges as the hidden hand behind the Democrat's re-taking of Washington is a gripping tale of power, politics and personality. Born into a middle-class black family, Ron Brown's life takes him from the halls of Harlem's fabled Hotel Theresa, where he grew up, to all-white Middlebury College, to the civil rights movement and, finally, to a position where he helps resurrect the fortunes of the Democratic Party. Ron Brown is presented in all his complexities - his life, his loves, and his ability to bridge racial divides with a silken, yet steely, determination. It's a tale well-told, smoothly-written, and filled with solid investigative reporting. This is a book to buy - and keep.

This is a great book especially if you're interested in what makes Washington tick. It is a true, honest, tough but fair portrait of a man who lived and breathed politics. He succeeded tremendously in his efforts on behalf of the Democratic party and his community of people, African Americans. Unfortunately, he made a few mistakes along the way but he should not be chastised. Are we not all human and do we not all show our frailty in different forms? The biography moves quickly as it evolves from childhood thru youth to mature adult and captures the essence of Brown's experiences to show us how he became the man we remember today.

"Chinese Box Mysteries" is a series of short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes (well after his retirement) and John S. Watson, son of his late chronicler. Dan Kilcup obviously tries to produce stories worth reading, but sadly doesn't succeed.

The problems, to me, are a poor portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, a failure to depict the Edwardian age in a believable fashion, and an attempt to use language beyond the author's grasp of vocabulary.

Kilcup's Holmes is an extraordinarily arbitrary character. I have no problems with the fact that Holmes is not infallible as this is consistent with Conan Doyle's portrayal. However, some of his actions are very strange, and do nothing to progress his investigations. I think his intention was to make Holmes likable, but I think he fails.

In setting stories in a particular time period, an author should portray the period believably. Mr Kilcup's characters use oddly harsh language - not necessarily for our time, but for that about which we are reading. Other things, details like Holmes' unlikely query of a London cabby as to when the next train to Brussels leaves, grate rather harshly.

With these factors distracting the reader, Mr Kilcup's use of words in the wrong context certainly makes the reading of this book a chore.

Sorry, Mr Kilcup, but not worth the time I spent reading it let alone the money I spent buying it.

I have had the priviledge of reading this book as well as Vol II which is now available. Not only is this one a must for fans, don't miss out on Volume II. I would recommend this book for any lover of a good mystery solved by the master!

Spellbinding! Keeps you entangled throughout!

Having read extensively about Arthur and his legendary exploits, Holmes presentation examines the British history of the period against comparisons with the old western Roman empire, and the results are well worth effort. I found his conclusions believable, his theories refreshing and very interesting. He has approached this presentation in the same manner as would be done in making an intelligence assessment using all the known facts, grading levels of confidence, and speculating about a reasonable outcome. He does this very well and I am impressed with his efforts. Worth reading again. It surpasses any other material I have read so far.

In this fascinating book, author Michael Holmes takes the historical references to fifth and sixth century Britain, and attempts to construct a chronology that fills in the details of this "Dark Age." Combining the information from a number of sources, often interpreted in new ways, he produces a thought-provoking history that helps to explain the different courses taken by Post-Roman Celtic Gaul (later France) and Post-Roman Celtic Britain (later England). Along the way, he finds that the legends passed on by the bards and storytellers ring true: that there was a great military leader named Arthur.

This is a fascinating book that I have already read twice. The author presents his argument in such a gripping manner, that reading it seems to pull the reader right into the story. It must be admitted that a good deal of what is presented in this book is deduction and assumption, but the author makes an excellent case for accepting his interpretation of the available (limited) data. If you are interested in the historic King Arthur, then I highly recommend that you get this book.

It is fascinating to read how Michael Holmes gathered evidence from many sources, minus the legendary stuff, to create a marvelous synthesis of the story of King Arthur and his military exploits. Holmes' study of history, archeology and British geography surely points out a plausible account of how Arthur influenced the future history of Britain in contrast to neighboring Gaul (France). After my reading the separate but conflicting histories, and my recent tour of Britain, I am persuaded by Holmes' account that his is most plausible. Any student of military history would also be intrigued and educated by the strategies utilized by Celts, Romans, and Anglo-Saxons in their military campaigns of the late Roman Empire and Dark Ages.

I liked Larry Millet's first two Sherlock Holmes mysteries and looked forward to this one. The subject matter seemed perfect for mystery and Minnesota history. Too bad. The book reads as though written in haste. Rafferty is superfluous and gets in the way. Mary Comstock's appearance on the scene is awkward, confusing, and difficult to believe. There is never any doubt about what Holmes will conclude as to the rune stone's authenticity, and the solution is far less interesting/mysterious than the real-life rune stone story. The murderer's identity is not a big deal and is not really solved by deduction. The historical details, which ordinarily are Millet's strong suit, are weaker here. Despite all that, it wasn't a bad read. The point is that Larry Millett has done and should do better.

Sending Holmes and Watson to Minnesota, especially for a third time, is a stretch, but the story is good enough to overcome that, if the reader allows.

Millett manages to tell his partly factual mystery through a narrative that's acceptably close to Watsonian style, and makes his character Shadwell Rafferty a believable and pleasant addition to the team.

He is guilty of some overkill with his addition of the character Mary Comstock, whom he paints as being some combination of Professor Moriarty and Irene Adler. As such she can be no more than an obvious contrivance--there's only one Moriarty, and only one Irene Adler (who, as any Sherlockian knows, will always be "The woman" to Holmes). I'd have much rather seen Millett try to use either Moriarty or Adler in their true forms than this strange Comstock composite, which is definitely a mark against the book.

Having said that, I admit I much prefer to see a pastiche author err by addition, as Millett does in this case, than to see one err by grossly reshaping a classic character. Millett avoids this, and we're left with a book that, although untraditonal in setting, can be enjoyed in most of its other features.

This is the third in the "Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota" saga and it follows the others in style and story. If you are a lover of the Holmes genre and gobble up what you can of the pastiches being offered by so many today, you are either gravely disappointed or surprisingly gratified. The story must capture the spirit of Holmes and Watson so brilliantly done by Doyle many years ago. The key to all such imitations is, of course, style of writing. Millett has suceeded in capturing Doyle's style. I find little fault in the way Watson or Holmes utter their dialogue. This is what makes me feel at home with a pastiche. It is the Holmes and Watson you recognize from the "canon". Millett has done his homework, has provided an acceptable story line and entertains us with this book.

Being interested in the epistolatory writing genre for several years now (e.g. Ovid's Heroides, the Heloise and Abelard letters), I thought this book might be an interesting read - shedding light on not only the emotions at the 'end of the affair', but on the lives of the many women - Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Elizabeth I to name a few - whose missives are included here. The chapters are divided according to the type of letter written - Refusal of Marriage letter, the Autopsy letter, the Divorce letter, etc. While many of the letters could fall into several catagories, it's an effective organizational device. Many of the letters by famous women were unfamiliar to me, so that was a nice bonus. I didn't realize when I purchased the book, however, that many of the letters included are from modern day, ordinary women. Now, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with this concept at all - mixing 'historical' letters with contemporary letters (and emails). Provided the emotional and literary quality is on par - which might be wishful thinking, but wish it I did. Unfortunately, I found that many of the contemporary letters are amateurish and immature, often ineffectively vulgar, and poorly written. I'm sure the emotions are sincere, but that is not a justification for publication. While reading some of these modern letters might cause the reader to think "I'm not alone, other women have gone through this too" - which I am sure is the aim of the book - I just ended up thinking that I could outwrite and better express myself and my emotions more than most of the contemporary women included in this book. Not to say that all the contemporary letters are horribly bad - the 63 year old administrative assistant in North Carolina wrote an interesting letter about the end of her affair with a man who appeared not to know what he wanted - she's no Sylvia Plath, but her letter was not filled with variations of the F word, and did not involved the immature, unclever put downs and vengeful-ness of some of the 20 year olds featured in this book. Perhaps that's the key -age brings with it maturity - or perhaps real talent does, as the letter from a 16 year old Anne Sexton or the letter from a 19-20 year old Sylvia Plath reads as more mature than some recent letters from women in their late 20's, 30's and older. Or perhaps the difference is that society has changed - it seems more acceptable today to express yourself like a foul mouthed harridan than in yesteryear. Please don't mistake my criticism of these letters for the notion that women should not express their anger and their feelings. They most certainly should. I would just prefer they express it in a mature, creative, clever way, if I am going to pay money to read about it. Since there seem to be more 'historical' letters than 'contemporary' letters, I still recommend this book to women who want to read how others coped with the end of their affairs. And I would caution readers that if they are reading this book for ideas to use in their own letters, they might want to follow better examples than Tanya of the Methadone Clinic.

This book is simply a lot of fun to flip through. It's a neat way to see a different side of famous figures, ranging from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to George Sand to Dorothy Sayers to Anne Boleyn, Mary Wollstonecraft, Charlotte Bronte... I was impressed with the sheer range of figures represented. It's an addictive read.

While some of the letters in this book are disturbing and intense, I disagree with the reviewer who says that the book is sickening. There are many loving letters as well as cruel ones, and the loving ones WAY outnumber the cruel ones. And the arrangement of the letters in the book is proof that we all react to breakups differently...some more maturely than others.

Here's yet another Sherlockian pastiche off the presses. I buy 'em all, hoping to come across another Sam Siciliano's Angel of the Opera or another Laurie R. King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Or at least a Jan Walker's Singular Case of the Duplicate Holmes, but my advice for you who've arrived to this page and are considering buying this book is "Keep on going. Nothing to see here."

As Holmes pastiches go, this particular book isn't too bad. But neither is it very gripping. It's just sort of...there. Out of the dozen or so installments that I've read in the continuing non-Doyle adventures of the Great Detective, this little outing does little to distinguish itself.

We get no real insight into the Holmesian character, and certainly none into the often-overlooked Watson. (In truth, a lot of the recent pastiches use this duo only as an excuse to introduce other historical or fictional characters that the author is far more interested in investigating.) The antagonists are singularly bland, and the supporting cast is not altogether memorable.

The key cryptographic puzzle is rather intricate, though, so much so that several diagrams are required in order for the reader to make any sense of the whole thing. It's fairly clever.

However, the denouement is just ludicrous and the fulfillment of Holmes' plan requires that everyone involved should unwittingly act out their part by undertaking the most irrational actions. The whole climax feels forced.

My biggest complaint? The villains are threatening Holmes' client from the moment he sets foot in England and wish to prevent him from going to a certain place, when, in fact, they have no evidence that he ever intends to go there, nor that anything he might do would in the slightest way be disadvantageous to them. In fact, as it all turns out, the bad guys have no way of solving a riddle without his assistance in the first place, so they would've been better advised to have duped him into acting on their behalf. But perhaps I quibble.

In any case, it's a quick read for those who absolutely must have a Holmes fix, and the notes at the end of the book are not without interest.

Right up until the end, this is one of the best Holmes pastiches I have read in years. Holmes and Watson are depicted pretty much bang on, there is plenty of authentic local 1895 color in various British Isle locales, and there are some interesting characters for Holmes and Watson to interact with, plus an ancient, secret message for Holmes to decode.

But at the end, things fall apart. First, Holmes' preposterous plan for dealing with the three villains would, in real life, have led to a mass grave covering the bodies of Holmes, Watson, their client, his son, and a number of Baker Street Irregulars! Second, the nature of the "Devil's Grail" itself is a huge, huge letdown. But right up to these final pages, things move along well, and the entertainment value of the proceedings is unquestionable.

I do have one other reservation about the novel, but it is a reservation I have about fully half of the hundred or so novel-length Holmes pastiches I have read over the years. Namely, the villains act exactly contrary to their revealed motivations. They want to find the secret hidden in the ruins of Glastonbury, but they spend half the novel preventing the one man who can find the secret for them from going there! All they have to do is wait until Col. Harden takes his photos, then steal them. But instead they are involved in a hundred pages of nonsensical foolishness to PREVENT Harden from getting the info they need. Then, with Holmes on the case, all they need to do is to wait until Holmes finds the Grail and take it, but insead they interfere constantly for another 70 pages. Of course, the answer to the paradox is that the author could not fill his pages with action unless the villains behaved this way! But I wish more authors would try to find another way to keep the reader's attention besides having the villains act like the Coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons throughout the book.

I was again reluctant to read this sequel of the "Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon," and the author disappointed me by writing a better novel (exactly as what happened when I read Meyer's "The West End Horror" after "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution").

But let me make this statement here: "The West End Horror" is by far much better than this "Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders."

Again the same rich guy from Minnesota invited Holmes to his home town to investigate some mysterious occurrences in the Ice Palace there ... As if there are no good detectives in America. As long as we are talking nonsense here, why did not he summon Ellery Queen, who is not less intelligent than Holmes, or maybe Colombo (hohohoho).

The story this time had some mystery elements. It was, as a matter of fact, a whodunit. I figured the murderer out from half of the mystery, not because I was abnormally cleaver, but because of a fallacy the murderer inserted. The strange thing is that Millett did not allude to this fallacy, maybe he did not even know that it was there, and maybe I was lucky!

A new character is introduced in this novel, and Irish clever guy by the name Shadwell Rafferty. I'm not so enthusiastic about him, because he does not enrich the world of Sherlock Holmes, and people are more used to one superior detective in the story. After all, this is a pastiche to praise Sherlock Holmes, and no one else.

We reach to the conclusion of the story and the villain who killed every body was apprehended, and then nothing much, the story does not give me the impression I get from Doyle's writings. And I am not going to recommend the book, because I could have done well without reading it.

Larry Millett combines his knowledge of the history of the Twin Cities with a mystery involving Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. So how does it come off? This is one of the better Sherlock Holmes pastiche I have read, and believe me, I've read a LOT of them.

The history lessons I received from reading the book are a definite treat since I visit the Twin Cities several times a year and know the areas talked about. But even if you are not familiar with the Minnesota cities, a map and Millett's detailed descriptions help the reader visualize the cities at the turn of the century.

The Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson characterizations are very good; there are not too many instances where the reader would say "Oh, come on. Holmes would never do that." That is how I judge pastiches.

I thought this story the best of the first three Larry Millett/Sherlock Holmes endeavors.

This book is the follow up to Millett's first Holmes book, Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon. I liked that book, but I like this one even better. There are more characters, including Shadwell Rafferty, who is such an interesting character that a spin off series involving just him would be great. There are two crimes committed in this book, and like I said before, with all of the very interesting characters, this book is quite the page turner. Holmes and Rafferty solve the case in expert fashion, although it a tough one. You'll probably give yourself a head-ache trying to figure it out yourself! It's just over 400 pages, so it's longer than the Red Demon, but just like the Red Demon, Millett writes intelligently and is easy to read. I'm looking forward to reading the Rune Stone book, the third Holmes book by Millett.

The author might have explored Holmes's skepticism more, but he oddly leaves many questions open that he could have addressed. What values should drive the law? We are left wondering.

In his own day, Holmes was revered as the greatest, wisest judge in the English-speaking world. Today, however, Holmes' significance is downplayed in law schools across America, or he is trashed as he is in this book. The dramatic decline in Holmes' popularity and influence has resulted from his opinion in a single case, Buck v. Bell (1927), in which Holmes advocated sterilization of "imbeciles." Since the Holocaust, sterilization is understandably unpopular, especially among Jews, who dominate the faculties at America's top law schools and write many widely-used casebooks. Holmes, who wrote his opinion in Buck v. Bell long before the Holocaust, has been lumped into the Nazi camp (the Nazis tried to use Buck v. Bell at Nuernberg to defend their practices) by modern liberals, and many so-called "legal scholars" now dismiss Holmes' ideas without consideration and do not include his opinions in their casebooks. One of the central tenets of historiography is that it is improper to judge historical figures by the moral standards of today. Alschuler violates this principle again and again--excoriating a great mind because of the way its ideas were used by others. Compare this book to THE ESSENTIAL HOLMES, which is both scholarly and readable. It is also written by Judge Posner, an influential modern jurist respected by liberals and conservatives. Do your own reasoning, draw your own conclusions, and be fooled by no one.

This book is extremely well written, thoroughly researched and possessing the profound perspective of a wise and intelligent writer exercising his science and art with a passion that can be felt just beneath the surface of cool academic analysis. This book is not only of interest to legal historians and philosophers of law, but to any reader wishing to take hold of the main threads which run through the cultural landscape of the modern world.

These last two books by Douglas have been diappointing, indeed. I borrowed Castle Rouge and skimmed through only to keep up on the relationship between Quentin and Nell. I hope the next book in this series is more in keeping with the first three.

Slow, confusing, not very believable, (and to top it off Pink is beyond irritating). I was very disappointed in this installment in the Irene Adler series. As a long time fan I have been quite disappointed in the last two books

Castle Rouge is a breathtaking work of depth and quality. Never has Irene been so fascinating or determined, and never has she found herself in a situation to match this one. This is a sumptuous read!