Product review

-- Product Review -- 

While I rarely do book reviews anymore (I was a professional book reviewer for 7-8 years, reviewing an average of 500 books a year in many genres from young children to novels and non-fiction), I could not resist MX Publishing’s invitation to review 5 different books in the Sherlock Holmes genre.

I received:

Sherlock Homes – Tangled Skeins – Stories From The Notebooks

Sherlock Holmes And The Sword of Osman

Ms. Hudson in New York

No Better Place: Arthur Conan Doyle, Windlesham and Communication with the Other Side

The Final Problem – a Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel

These books were delivered to my doorstep August 11^th or so in an appropriate sized cardboard shipping box, with no additional or unnecessary packaging -which is great for the environment.

I have been reviewing each book separately, one at a time, and you will find that I hyperlink the titles of the books I’ve already done in the list above. The next book I will review in the list is: The Final Problem – a Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel.  The book won the Fabula Rasa Czech award for the best screenplay, the best artwork and the best comic book of 2013… and deservedly so. The book was translated to English by P&J Simpson.

I truly enjoyed reading this book – the art is really quite striking and yet humorous without taking away from the story-line… which I won’t tell you about as I don’t want to spoil it for you! I will tell you, however, that this book is part of a series of 8 graphic novels in the author’s Victora Regina series.

This artistic book was created by Petr Kopl – a caring author and accomplished artist who ended the book with a brief explanation of the reasons behind his creation of the book, a bit of history of the famous story the book (and original author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) is based on and some interesting data that readers new to Petr Kopl would certainly find interesting. Petr enticed his regular listeners to search for a few characters he had created in other publications in the scenes created for this book. He also poses a few mysteries for the readers to solve for themselves – which had me going back and reading the book a second time just to solve the mysteries. I feel comfortable stating this book will find a secure resting spot on our book shelves for the near future.

Learn more about this accomplished artist/author at: www.PetrKopl.cz, in fact if you visit the site you’ll find more features about this book, and learn how you might become a character in one of his upcoming projects!

This paperback is about 200 pages, weighs roughly 8.6 oz. and measures approximately 5.8 x .4 x 8.3 inches. You can find it on Amazon.com for $16.95 (US); alternatively visit Amazon.ca where you can purchase the book for $22.48 (CDN)

The publisher - MXPublishing - is the world’s largest specialist Sherlock Holmes publisher, with over a hundred and fifty titles and eighty authors creating the latest in Sherlock Holmes fiction and non-fiction. MX Publishing also has one of the largest communities of Holmes fans on Facebook with regular contributions from dozens of authors. Interestingly, MX titles are licensed around the world including Japan, China, India, Russia, Italy, Spain, and Poland – and many of their books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. The company itself is based in London, UK. Sadly, I could not find any information about the publishing company regarding environmental responsibility, in-house purchasing, or printing policies (i.e. SFI certified paper, veggie inks, acid/bleach free paper, etc.). However they do support social causes – for instance they have a group of authors who are donating the royalties to the restoration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw. The building was in terrible disrepair and was saved from destruction by the Undershaw Preservation Trust (patron Mark Gatiss; http://www.saveundershaw.com). Today the building has been bought by Stepping Stones (a school for children with learning difficulties) and is being lovingly restored to its former glory. Steve Emez, MX’x Managing Director, also is very involved with charitable causes and has done many awareness campaigns via his skills with swimming. Find out more about this company via:
https://www.facebook.com/MXPublishing

Award-winning authors Dave and Lillian Brummet:

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http://www.facebook.com/lillian.brummet 

http://www.linkedin.com/in/ldbrummet http://www.consciousdiscussions.blogspot.com

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