This provided a good overview of the causes and approaches to treating acne, but does not provide or recommend a particular solution, and is not written by someone who treats acne or has been sold on one approach. I learned a few random things from it but it did not help me much otherwise. On the other hand, with it I got a book on making skin care treatments at home, and it is fabulous! So if you have an idea of what kind of natural treatment you want, I'd seek out a book on that instead or as well.

I was very disappointed with the story The Speckled Band in this collection. It is so outlandish and its nothing like the original story. The rest of the stories were sensational but the production of The Speckled Band, I expected better.

This book has good exercises in it. Although I wish they were a little bit better organised, maybe according to muscle groups. I do like how it includes balance as part of the workout.

The thing about this book that I did NOT like is the "New Age" section in the back. Instead of a genuine look at nutrition, there is a description of a lifestyle called "Ayurveda"--which promotes vegetarianism, and is more astrological than scientific. It seems inappropriate to include it in this type of book. I would have prefered something mainstream.

I enjoyed the idea of Holmes taking on a former Irregular as an assistant though Porter seems somewhat narrow-minded when it comes to describing Watson and other charcters. But it is a good mysteries.

June Thomson has written a number of collections of Sherlock Holmes stories, of which this is the fourth. As with the others, she sets out to relate the otherwise untold investigations of the Great Detective, as mentioned in passing in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In choosing to write these "untold stories", there is a problem: there are so many people telling them! I have, in the last two weeks, read three different versions of the story of the repulsive red leech, of which the world was not ready to hear. In many respects, authors who write completely new stories are (perhaps!) Doing the readers a favour.

Having said that, many of the attempts can be patchy, and so it is often good to relax with an author of known quality and see what she has to say on these.

The stories presented here don't particularly push the boundaries of the Holmesian experience, but are certainly on par with many of the works of Doyle, so readers seeking a "true" recreation of Sherlock Holmes will be satisfied. But, with those boundaries unpushed, and with the sheer quantity of Sherlock Holmes stories to read, I'm afraid that this book doesn't rise above three stars for me.

Basic synopsis: Holmes & Watson find a drunken Stamford and suspect there's more to it than just alcohol. Some research gets both attacked and Holmes hynotized and in the power of an evil Baroness. Watson asks another hypnotist to cure him before the split ways to kill the Giant Rat of Sumatra. (Plague involved.) It's OK, but for this price I expected more horror and stuff. The Rat isn't all that scary. Try borrowing before buying.

This is more about the victorian age than about mr Holmes, but it is very informative and amusing to read. It do adress the relationship between mr Holmes and dr Watson, and do so in a very ubspeculative way. Overall a good book.

John Hall has now published seven Holmes-Watson pastiches, counting this one, and all have been entirely enjoyable, with the possible exception of the very first, THE TRAVELS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, about which I "ha' me doots." He has also been "guilty of several monographs" of Holmesian scholarship, again seven. And he has written mysteries set in modern times.

He gets Watson's style and personality down quite well, and is enough of a Holmes scholar to have some real fun with byways of the Canon. In this novel it is 1903, Holmes and Watson don't see much of one another, and there are nasty doings at the little-known but ultra-prestigious Abbey School, where the most powerful men of the British Empire send their sons. A wealthy student has been expelled for a petty theft he obviously did not commit, and his expulsion is immediately followed by the mysterious death of a schoolmaster who has been previously overheard, by students, muttering about a "shocking situation." When Holmes is asked to take the case, the faculty stonewall him totally, so he is forced to send Watson in disguise to fill in temporarily for the dead teacher of english, and to cast about for clues and information.

There are some deliberate echoes of "The Priory School," a case said to have taken place just a few years earlier. The goals of the three revealed villains sound plausible to me, as deduced by Holmes, but they conveniently come to nasty ends before any confession, leaving certain plot points unresolved.

As usual in Breese books, misprints are very few. In fact, I noticed only one. On p. 19 the character named Watson Minor is called Watson Major. [There is a Major, but he is not in that scene.]

Here are 160 pages of Holmes and Watson that won't insult your intelligence, your literary standards, or your love of the characters. [Take particular note of the new career Watson is contemplating on pages 25!] Recommended.

Holmesians are well aware that the ending of "A Scandal in Bohemia" is highly unsatisfactory for both Holmes and the King of Bohemia, whom Irene Adler, his former lover, is in an excellent position to blackmail. In his latest Holmes pastiche, John Hall takes this situation up again about a year after the events of "Scandal." Irene Norton says she needs to consult Holmes, but vanishes on the way to 221B Baker Street. Apparently kidnapped and left to die, Norton is rescued by Holmes and Watson... but her account of the new situation that threatens the King and herself is highly unsatisfactory and probably pretty close to an outright lie. Instead of refusing to take the case, as Conan Doyle's consulting detective always did when faced with a client who refused to explain the real situation, Holmes and Watson wind up in Bohemia in what is pretty certain to be a wild-goose chase, and both Holmes and Watson bumble in some pretty inexplicable ways, with Watson coming perilously close to being a comical sidekick more than once. The quest to recover the famous letters and photo supposedly stolen from Irene Norton succeeds with ridiculous ease, considering the planless, gormless, painfully unintelligent approaches adopted by Holmes. And then the fact that Mrs. Norton lied suddenly assumes deadly importance.

With the situation treated rather lightly by the author throughout, it was a jarring and unwelcome twist for this elderly and jaded reader when the adventure ended with the very abrupt deaths of five characters (two offstage), over only two pages, with one of the deceased certainly an innocent bystander!

Not one of Hall's better efforts, this goes on the bottom of the stack with TRAVELS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. It gets three stars only because of the fine period writing style in which the improbable adventure is recounted.

Following an outrageous crime in Paris, where a criminal claiming to be Sherlock Holmes plays an pivotal role, the real Great Detective and his trusty biographer head off to the continent where things are far more complex than they first appear...

John Hall writes a reasonable Holmes book, relying upon the known plans of Professor Moriarty and featuring the French thief, Arsene Jupin, in a strong supporting role.

His writing plays to a desirable strength: Holmes and Watson are truly portrayed as detectives, accumulating clues and investigating leads, as they try to uncover exactly who is behind the plot and where to find him. In this quest they utilise both the services of the French Surete and the contacts they develop in the underworld. However, the relative ease with which they move through the organisation of the French master criminal makes him seem a little less formidable than would be desirable.

There is nothing wrong with the portrayal of Holmes and Watson, but be the same token they are not very exciting or notable.

Arsene Jupin (as Arsene Lupin is called here) is a bit bland. Lupin, as originally portrayed, had a bit of a hard edge that reduced as his stories went along. The portrayal here is Lupin at his most boring.

A reasonable read for Holmes fans, not so interesting for those who want to read Lupin.