The Adventures of Moriarty - edited by Maxim Jakubowski

Tomorrow sees the publication of a new, nicely packaged, and very substantial collection of stories edited by Maxim Jakubowski. Its full title is The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty, and its tag line "The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes' Nemesis". The book is published by Robinson, whose Mammoth series has proved so popular over the years.

As a lifelong fan of Conan Doyle, Sherlock and Moriarty, I'm pleased to say that I have a story in this book, and in a way, it brings my ventures into Sherlockiana full circle. Back in 1997, Robinson published a collection edited by Mike Ashley, who is, like Maxim, a real expert as well as an industrious compiler of first-rate anthologies. The Mammoth Book of the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes included my very first Sherlockian pastiche, "The Case of the Suicidal Lawyer".

Writing that first story gave me a taste for further occasional ventures into Sherlockiana, and led ultimately to my producing  The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes,
an ebook collection of six Sherlock stories with various bonus items which is available on various Amazon sites, in the UK, US, and elsewhere. I've been gratified that this collection has sold well since it came out last year, and continues to do so.

Writing a story focusing on Moriarty represented a slight change of tack, of course. I had a lot of fun writing "The Case of the Choleric Cotton Broker", and it touches on two famous real life criminal cases. I rather feel that it's the best of my pastiches to date, and I'll be interested to see the reaction to it. In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to diving into Maxim's anthology. Fellow contributors include Len Tyler, Michael Gregoriou, Alison Joseph, Jurgen Ehlers, Barbara Nadel, Cilla Masters, Christine Poulson and...well, the list goes on. Some great reading lies ahead.

Fingerprints

When Fiona commented on my blog post about Colin Evans’ biography of Sir Bernard Spilsbury about the fascination of forensics, she suggested that I write a blog post about fingerprints. And in the spirit of interactivity and responding positively and enthusiastically to comments, I thought – good idea, I shall do just that!

Fiona mentioned a personal connection with the history of fingerprints – she knew, in her youth, the daughter of Sir Edward Henry, who developed a classification system for fingerprints. What Fiona won’t have known is that, quite a few years ago, I mentioned Sir Edward in a story of mine. In fact, it was the very first Sherlock Holmes pastiche that I had published – ‘The Case of the Suicidal Lawyer’, which appeared in an anthology edited by Mike Ashley. Fingerprints only play a minor part in the story, but it’s a tale that I enjoyed writing so much that I’ve subsequently written several further Sherlockian pastiches. And I’ve been asked to write one or two more recently, but to my regret, work commitments have prevented me from doing so. I hope to get back to Sherlock, and perhaps the early days of forensics, before too long.

There are plenty of good books that deal with fingerprint evidence. One to which I refer from time to time is by Ian K. Pepper, Crime Scene Investigation: Methods and Procedures. The book covers a wide range of topics, and the chapter on fingerprints is especially useful. Ian, who lectures on the subject, is married to Helen Pepper, who also has great experience in forensics, and who has helped me on technical issues when writing a couple of my Lake District Mysteries.

One of the pleasures of attending CWA conferences, incidentally, is the opportunity to learn more about forensics and crime investigation. Over the years, we have had many interesting sessions, including one about fingerprints. And the photo was taken a few years back, at a conference at Appleby in Cumbria (lovely town, by the way). Ian Pepper is in the picture, explaining things to Russell James and me. That was the day I bought Ian’s book, and I’m glad I did.