Sherlock Holmes and the Menacing Moors

By: Allan Mitchell

Narrated by: Steve White

A call from an old comrade has Holmes chasing a reported agent of Satan between the towering tors and bottomless bogs of Dartmoor only to find the limits of his own confidence and his public's esteem. Only Watson stands his friend, but even his patience is stretched. Sherlock's retreat to the bees of Sussex serves only to show him that his skills are unique and are desperately needed elsewhere. On returning to London, Holmes finds malign forces have been bringing ridicule to his doorstep. In this tale, the great sleuth is brought to life, uniquely, in expressive verse, a favorite form of the author who loves the language of Sherlock Holmes and the Menacing Moors.

©2015 Allan Mitchell (P)2016 MX Publishing

Greek theater

a rather surprising Homesian tale, rather in the
Homeric tradition,I loved it and was surprised by it's depth.

Warning !

Warning - this type of book may not be for everyone, it is done in rhyme. It was a delightful change for me and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. My hat goes off to the author as turning a Sherlock story into an epic poem is a feat I cannot fathom. I loved the narrator's accent and reading.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Outstanding!

I enjoyed this book very much. The story is great and the entire book is written in verse! It’s amazing to hear the narrator perform the story with different voices etc, and maintain the rhythm of the verse! I received a free audiobook code for my honest review.

Can I give this negative stars?

Okay, the conceit of telling the story in poetry is an interesting one. For an example of it done exceedingly well, check out Ian Doetscher's "William Shakespeare's Star Wars." Beyond brilliant.

This, however, is not. To paraphrase Yoda, "Rhythm? Heh! Meter? Heh! A bad poet craves not these things." And it's a good thing, because rhythm, meter, even consistent scansion are completely missing. Some lines have too many extra syllables crammed in, some too few. Many of the rhymes are dreadful, and often repeat themselves. The author contorts the story in ridiculous ways to fit in the rhymes, and there are several bits that don't feel like they belong.

This is made an order of magnitude worse by the narrator. I have long said that this person should give up being a narrator, as he lacks the talent for it. But this makes things even worse. He hits the end of every line hard, and pauses before the next line, which makes the problems with the poetry far more obvious to the ear. I will admit that his mispronunciations are less frequent, but that is only because the author rarely uses any Victorian words, so the narrator's lack of knowledge of them doesn't get exposed too often.

So to sum up: Run, don't walk, away from this! If I had not promised an honest review of this in exchange for a free copy, I would never have bothered to finish. Instead, I am slogging my way through the sequel, of which more anon.