No one story is outstanding—but what does that matter in a saga clearly destined to go on forever?
Hasn’t everybody in the Holmes canon, from Irene Adler to Inspector Lestrade, already been heard from? Hardly, according to this collection of twelve and a half new stories most notable for their cool audacity in fleshing out the Master’s legend with hitherto-unsuspected episodes (Richard A. Lupoff’s account of his tutelage under the Chevalier Auguste Dupin, Peter Tremayne’s manful attempt to present the true story of his duel with Colonel Sebastian Moran, Cara Black’s romantic idyll with Irene Adler, and Gerard Dole’s boldly superfluous collaboration of Holmes with his page boy Billy, graduated to detective status himself) and their ingenuity in manipulating the unexpected narrator’s point of view (from Gary Lovisi’s Mycroft Holmes, who is running Professor Moriarty as a counterspy, to Linda Robertson’s Mrs. Hudson, who tells her slight story to English Fireside Magazine). Michael Mallory and editor Kurland continue their series, respectively, starring the second Mrs. Watson and Moriarty himself (The Great Game, 2001), and C.D. Ewing, in a charming half-sized tailpiece, collects bite-sized reminiscences from the King of Bohemia and other unheard voices. Though George Alec Effinger’s mysterious East intrigue is more Fu Manchu than Sherlock Holmes, and Mel Gilden’s take on James Phillimore’s umbrella and Norman Schreiber’s portrait of Billy, of the Baker Street Irregulars, are perfunctory, Barbara Hambly (the first Mrs. Watson) and Kurland provide clever mysteries that could easily pull their weight outside the canon.
No one story is outstanding—but what does that matter in a saga clearly destined to go on forever?Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-312-28093-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002
A steamy, glitzy, and tender tale of college intrigue.
In this opener to Kennedy’s (Hot & Bothered, 2017, etc.) Briar U romance series, two likable students keep getting their signals crossed.
Twenty-one-year-old Summer Heyward-Di Laurentis is expelled from Brown University in the middle of her junior year because she was responsible for a fire at the Kappa Beta Nu sorority house. Fortunately, her father has connections, so she’s now enrolled in Briar University, a prestigious institution about an hour outside Boston. But as she’s about to move into Briar’s Kappa Beta Nu house, she’s asked to leave by the sisters, who don’t want her besmirching their reputation. Her older brother Dean, who’s a former Briar hockey star, comes to her rescue; his buddies, who are still on the hockey team, need a fourth roommate for their townhouse. Three good-looking hockey jocks and a very rich, gorgeous fashion major under the same roof—what could go wrong? Summer becomes quickly infatuated with one of her housemates: Dean’s best friend Colin “Fitzy” Fitzgerald. There’s a definite spark between them, and they exchange smoldering looks, but the tattooed Fitzy, who’s also a video game reviewer and designer, is an introvert who prefers no “drama” in his life. Summer, however, is a charming extrovert, although she has an inferiority complex about her flagging scholastic acumen. As the story goes on, the pair seem to misinterpret each other’s every move. Meanwhile, another roommate and potential suitor, Hunter Davenport, is waiting in the wings. Kennedy’s novel is full of sex, alcohol, and college-level profanity, but it never becomes formulaic. The author adroitly employs snappy dialogue, steady pacing, and humor, as in a scene at a runway fashion show featuring Briar jocks parading in Summer-designed swimwear. The book also manages to touch on some serious subjects, including learning disabilities and abusive behavior by faculty members. Summer and Fitzy’s repeated stumbles propel the plot through engaging twists and turns; the characters trade off narrating the story, which gives each of them a chance to reveal some substance.
A steamy, glitzy, and tender tale of college intrigue.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72482-199-7
Page Count: 372
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Chicana writer Castillo (whose reputation until now has been mostly regional) brings a warm, sometimes biting but not bitter feminist consciousness to the wondrous, tragic, and engaging lives of a New Mexico mother and her four fated daughters. Poor Sofi! Abandoned by her gambler husband to raise four unusual girls who tend to rise from adversity only to find disaster. ``La Loca,'' dead at age three, comes back to life—but is unable to bear the smell of human beings; Esperanza succeeds as a TV anchorwoman—but is less successful with her exploitative lover and disappears during the Gulf War; promiscuous, barhopping Caridad—mutilated and left for dead—makes a miraculous recovery, but her life on earth will still be cut short by passion; and the seemingly self-controlled Fe is so efficient that ``even when she lost her mind [upon being jilted]...she did it without a second's hesitation.'' Sofi's life-solution is to found an organization M.O.M.A.S. (Mothers of Martyrs and Saints), while Castillo tries to solve the question of minority-writer aesthetics: Should a work of literature provide a mirror for marginalized identity? Should it celebrate and preserve threatened culture? Should it be politically progressive? Should the writer aim for art, social improvement, or simple entertainment? Castillo tries to do it all—and for the most part succeeds. Storytelling skills and humor allow Castillo to integrate essaylike folklore sections (herbal curing, saint carving, cooking)—while political material (community organizing, toxic chemicals, feminism, the Gulf War) is delivered with unabashed directness and usually disarming charm.
Pub Date: April 17, 1993
ISBN: 0-393-03490-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993
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