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 will be reviewing each book separately, one at a time and hyperlink the titles of the books I’ve already done in the list above. The next book I will review in the list is: Sherlock Homes – Tangled Skeins – Stories From The Notebooks. Prolific author of 18 or more books David Marcum became captivated by the world of Sherlock Holmes as a boy, which carried on into adulthood. He’s an avid collector of Holmes paraphernalia and has traveled to England and Scotland to visit sites related to Holmes. David is also involved in teaching / speaking on a corporate level and holds several degrees in management and psychology.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of 5 stories. The word skeins in the title, by the way, means a tangle or coil often used in describing things like yarn and hair, but it has also been used to describe lies and tales. The book starts out with the author describing his real life passion for Sherlock, how he became associated with the famous Sherlock cap and then trickles into the realm of fantasy where he mentions his real-life pilgrimage but then meets with a stranger who passes on notes taken by John Watson and then decides to honor these notes by editing and publishing them in this collection. It was a fantastic opening for the book. My favorite of the 5 was the last one –The Gower Street Murder.

This paperback is about 252 pages and measures approximately 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches. You can find it on Amazon.com in Kindle ($7.64 – US) and in paperback ($14.95 US).

Alternatively visit Amazon.ca where you can purchase the Kindle version for 9.99 (CDN) or the print version for $18.86 (CDN)

The publisher - MX Publishing - 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

http://www.mxpublishing.com

Award-winning authors Dave and Lillian Brummet:

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

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

https://plus.google.com/u/0/110939008901230737529