A Very Engaging Holmes Mystery!

The Merchant Of Menace: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure by Richard T. Ryan

Informational Note: I am reviewing the following audiobook completely of my own free will however I have been contacted by the author of this book in the past and he is aware of my reviews through a book themed social media equivalent

Hello again to you all! I hope you are all as well as could be expected. Now at the end of my last review I didn’t indicate to you what my next review would be. Although it is now time to reveal it.

My frequent readers will be familiar with the fact that among my many other favourite topics I have a fondness for Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and their various adventures. So I thought why not listen to a modern Sherlock Holmes pastiche or investigation? There is one company of which I am aware and in some cases helped back some releases who specialise in Sherlock Holmes adventures. MX Publishing who acted as the publishers for today’s manuscript. For the curious they also publish a multiple volume series of Sherlock Holmes anthologies named The MX Book Of Sherlock Holmes designed to raise funds to restore Conan Doyle’s home of Undershaw which is now a school for children with learning difficulties.

The plot in simple terms of The Merchant Of Menace is as follows: Inspector Lestrade is at his wit’s end. He is being pestered night and day by a particularly obnoxious nobleman who demands the police force hunt down the thief of his extremely luxurious and valuable knife. Holmes displays minimal interest in the case however what is initially assumed to be a standard theft soon turns into a game of cat and mouse with a knowledgeable criminal Watson names The Merchant. The Merchant will steal anything providing a price can be negotiated and has very few limits to what he will and won’t do to attain his target. How will Holmes and Watson catch their clever thief?

The story of The Merchant Of Menace is a very entertaining one. When I listened to it it practically flew by! This story contains a set up of a journalist who had obtained Watson’s famous tin dispatch box at an estate sale in Scotland discovering the tale under a false bottom. The story itself is told to us by Watson who sounds very much like the Conan Doyle original. Some mentions throughout the narrative are made to previous canonical adventures as well as a few mentions to characters I believe may have originated in Ryan’s previous Holmes stories as Merchant is the most recent of four to date. Ryan’s Holmes is also convincingly written with both the closeness expected between Holmes and Watson as well as his usual enthusiasm for all things investigation. He also makes vivid use of Holmes’s intelligence with regards to certain plans involving museums and palaces. As such the pair shine off the page as does the Merchant.

The mystery is an intriguing one and a good example of multiple authors attempting a similar concept in other Holmes stories but requiring a undefinable mix of talent, luck and skill to successfully pull it off which Ryan certainly does here! I look forward to his next Holmes adventure!

Throughout the narrative several genuine and important historical figures and items become matters of interest such as a janbiya knife belonging to the aforementioned nobleman, the Irish Stone of Tara or Lia Fáil and the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough among others. To some readers this may seem distracting or at least unusual but it is actually a common theme in modern Sherlock Holmes fiction. It even showed up in The Adventure Of The Peculiar Protocols which I reviewed last year. Other examples of famous individuals Holmes has met in other stories include H.G. Welles, Conan Doyle himself and some rather famous American politicians from the post Civil War Reconstructionist period.

With regards to the audiobook of this particular adventure I was pleasantly surprised! The narrator is a Nigel Peever who has the ability to draw you even further in. His Watson is probably my personal favourite of all the characters in the book he performs as he seems very much in the spirit of that Edwardian era. Peever also succeeds admirably at his version of Holmes – one with a surprisingly deep voice! Certainly deeper than most performances I’ve seen or heard but in Peever’s case I think he makes it work. His version of The Merchant when he makes his entrance is suitably arrogant and somewhat grandiose as befits someone with that level of talent. Even criminal talent.

One small criticism I have for the audiobook is for its accents. It becomes clear that his non English accents can come across a little over the top or ever so slightly arch. His Mrs Hudson in particular seems like he’s overegging the pudding a little. Another example would be the Irish and French museum characters who have strong accents. And yet despite my understanding why certain people would have an issue with this I can’t bring myself to dislike it. It is exactly the right level for me to see it as artistic license for the sake of the narration or to imagine those specific characters as though this entire Holmes narrative is being acted out in a play complete with the occasional sound effect.

In conclusion I think this is a very entertaining Holmes story. Although I personally have not yet read or listened to Ryan’s previous efforts I can certainly say I fully intend to. The Merchant of Menace is a very enjoyable story and one I heartily recommend. I’m curious to see what his version of Holmes has to pit his mind against next. I’ll see you all soon.
Sayonara to you all!

Nephrite

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☺

This set of audio books are very good 5 out of 5 100% 😊 😀

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1 person found this helpful

ANOTHER GREAT STORY

THIS ONE WAS GREAT BUT FELT THAT THE STORY ITSELF JUST WENT ON TOO LONG IT SEEM TO JUST REPEAT THE SAME THING OVER SEVERAL CHAPTERS BEFORE THE FINALE

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A Fair story and oddly good natration

A Fair story and oddly good natration, really enjoy sherlock holmes character's voice by Nigel Peever

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Not hugely exciting but held my attention

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review.

I like Sherlock, always have and that is a strange thing as I generally don't like crime thrillers but there is just something about the way Holme's login bombs happen that always caught my imagination.
Many tales of Sherlock's adventures have been written since Arthur Conan Doyle but rarely do they succeed in matching his works and, while the story is interesting, this book also sadly falls somewhat short.
The mystery itself is more one of theft than anything more dark and, while death does occur, the danger never really feels real and Holmes himself often feels neutered and reduced to waiting for clues to appear which is uncharacteristic of him in my experience.
The saving grace is the narration, which is fantastic and fits all the cast exceptionally well (although Holme's laugh sometimes sounds more manical than expected) and really helps to instill emotion in the story.
Overall, it is a mixed bag with a good story, somewhat lacking in gravitas but brought to life extremely well by exceptional narrating and, if you're seeking a Holmes-Hit, you could certainly do a lot worse.

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A new lease of Holmes & Watson

A good story with excellent narration from Nigel Peever. I assume Nigel has based this interpretation of Sherlock Holmes on Tom Baker's portrayal in the 1980s due to the voice he adopts.
A wonderful listen which had me sitting in the van outside my destination wanting to know what was happening next.

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Difficult narration

I’m struggling to concentrate because of the narration. His Sherlock does sound like an exaggerated Tom Baker and he uses similar drawn out phrasing and intonation for Doctor Watson. What made it even more difficult was that a third character was introduced who then sounded identical to homes. I’m having a break from it, don’t know if I’ll come back to it.

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reading fail

narrator was awful and probably ruined a good story not being able to read sentences properly. also not sure why he turned Holmes into a child's comic dracula. sorry, but I couldn't even tell if the story was any good.

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Repetitive and cliched

At 4 hours and 31 minutes Ryan has Holmes use the appalling modern cliche “going forward”. At the point I stopped listening.

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