Sherlock Holmes and the Rosetta Stone Mystery (The Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes 1)

If, like me, you are a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Baker Street consulting detective, you've probably read the entire canon of stories at least four or five times. Desperate for something new, you turn to “Doyle-alike” authors and find some are passable and some are just downright wrong. Vampires? Steam punk? Irretrievably wrong.Ms Stratmann's work goes well beyond simply “passable”. I think her Holmes is one of the best, possibly the best. She starts her tales in 1876 when the young Holmes is a student at Bart's Hospital. Watson's role as chronicler of events is given to Mr , later Dr, Stamford – a fellow student at Bart's.Stamford's different style and approach bring a keen edge to events, as does the more impulsive, youthful Holmes. We also meet the ambitious young Sgt Lestrade and I'm sure that later stories will present a young Mycroft and others. She handles the characters really well - intriguing, engaging and perfectly in their time.Stratmann also has a marvellous, vivid sense of place. Victorian London really come alive. Moreover, it is all startlingly accurate. You can really imagine yourself in the sometime elegant, sometime decaying streets of the Victorian capital.So, if you do want some more Holmes which is faithful to, and as engaging as, Sir Arthur's creation, read this book. It is simply excellent. I've already read the second in the series (."..the Explorer's Club)" and it is just as good. Now eagerly awaiting the third ("...Ebony Idol").

This intriguing mystery is a slow burner, partly because the prologue is used to explain the relationship between Holmes as a twenty two year old chemistry and anatomy student working at Barts and this narrator, A Stamford, also a student but of medicine and the precursor of Conon Doyle’s Dr Watson. Do stick with the book, however, as it becomes fascinating both in its plotting and its historical detail as Holmes uses his fast developing detection skills to delve into the disappearance of the Rosetta Stone. This has been stolen unobserved from the British Museum within a 20 minute gap late one spring afternoon in 1876, no mean feat.This author has certainly mastered the atmosphere and attitudes which drive Victorian life; the mind sets and motivations around criminal activities become clear in her descriptions of places and small historical events and especially the characters she has brought to life with occasionally painful reality as the drama unfolds. Lestrade appears as an underling to a particularly blinkered and opinionated Inspector, which creates an interesting dynamic between Holmes and Lestrade, especially for readers familiar with Conon Doyle’s tales. No spoilers allowed, but at this early stage in his self selected career Holmes heads up a few blind alleys, entertaining in their own right, but he looks on these blunders as learning experiences, every step and stumble adding to the bank of knowledge that he is building up for future use, and for the moment the errors are tempering his monumental self assurance.One small quibble is that Stamford claims to be writing this story as an old man in 1924 but the language in which the mystery is written is that of the Victorian age, more appropriate for a contemporary telling – and ideal for the telling of this tale - but it is not quite right coming from someone talking fifty years after the event by which time the English language has changed considerably. A scholar might have retained much of the Victorian cadences but Stamford is a doctor and would have been working all his life among people of all classes on a daily basis and his speech would surely have reflected that.To compensate, the author has added excellent notes to explain how and where she did her research, including, for those with Internet, links to very informative websites. Overall this book is well worth reading with many twists in the plot and interesting observations on Holmes’s development as a young ambitious maverick who does not quite fit in, but who nevertheless catches people’s attention.

This author was recommended to me at dinner by her husband and I was not disappointed. An excellent story, unwrapping a complex mystery that hung true to the unique Holmes style originated by Doyle. A read well spent. Thank you Mrs Linda Stratmann.

Very good read. It feels 'Holmesian'.👍Thank you for your epilogue.very informative. Look forward of more of the same, thank you 😀

It's difficult to reproduce Conan Doyle's deceptively simple style of storytelling. Many Sherlockian pastiches hit false notes and weaken the suspension of disbelief required to enjoy supposed "lost" documents from Dr Watson's tin dispatch box.Linda Strattman avoids such pitfalls and keeps a spellbinding story rolling along at pace by using Stamford - the medical colleague who introduced Watson and Holmes - as the narrator of this excellent novel. He encounters Holmes during the future Great Detective's studies at Bart's. We painlessly learn about the early days of the British Museum, Egyptology and even the chemistry of saltpetre as a callow, unpolished Holmes unravels an intriguing mystery with several unexpected twists.Thoroughly recommended (as are Ms Strattman's other novels set in the Victorian period). I look forward to reading the other entries in this new series.

Usually disappointed with Sherlock Holmes continuation novels, I only tried this as I’m a fan of the author’s other books. I’m so glad I took a chance as this is an absolute treat. I loved reading about the young Holmes, instantly recognisable with all the traits we love, yet still perfecting his craft. Linda Stratmann includes some lovely touches of Doyle-style humour. Stamford, the narrator, is every bit as engaging as Dr. Watson, adding much to the story. The world of Holmes and Victorian London springs off the page, full of authentic atmosphere. It was easy to forget I wasn’t reading Conan Doyle – and there can be no greater compliment than that.

There are a lot of books that make use of Conan-Doyle's characters, and this is one of the better ones. An interesting plot, even though at least part of the solution should be apparent to an astute reader from an early stage. Good characterisation. I look forward to reading the next.But to be picky, one serious technical flaw, steel scaffolding poles weren't developed until the early 1900s.