Art, books, Media, Movies, Stories, Uncategorized, Words

Sherlock Bones

60 Comments

You all know I’m a little obsessed with all things Sherlock Holmes. I don’t usually go looking for Sherlock but occasionally Sherlock comes to me when I’m not paying attention.

Last week I was looking for something else and stumbled across Sherlock Bones and the Missing Cheese, a children’s picture book.  In that same foray I discovered that there is a video out there also named Sherlock Bones with a terrier starring as the illustrious detective.  I also discovered that there is a series of books pairing Sherlock with Elizabeth Bennet, another character who has lived on past her initial publication.  All of this took about 5 minutes!

The Missing Cheese book was at the local library, the Sherlock Holmes and Elizabeth Bennett is in paperback for a price I’m willing to pay on Amazon.  Unfortunately the video is more than I’m willing to pay.  I’m working to find it on some other library.  Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, the children’s book has great illustrations and the story line is fun, however, the poetry itself leaves a little to be desired. But in the category of new ways to portray Sherlock Holmes, it gets an “A”.

Tell me about a favorite character, or an author you follow loyally or a series you can’t get enough of.

60 thoughts on “Sherlock Bones”

  1. The first series I discovered as a kid was the Holmes stories, and I’ll never forget my astonishment when I realized how many stories I could look forward to reading. Oddly enough, my enthusiasm was in spite of my response to Sherlock Holmes himself. He has always struck me as an crime geek who solves mysteries as a way of showing off. He is famously addicted to cocaine and often seems oblivious to social signals.

    What a contrast there is between Holmes and my daughter’s favorite mystery solver: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. I’m just beginning this series by Louise Penny. Gamache is reflective, urbane and as likable as Holmes is not.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I agree completely Steve. In fact it’s very amusing to me when you see Holmes stories in which they’ve cleaned Holmes up. For example Laurie King’s series about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes has completely left Holmes’ disagreeable parts behind. And Basil Rathbone never got anywhere near the kind of self-centeredness that Conan Doyle wrote about.

      And of course I completely agree about Armand Gamache, who I think goes beyond likable to lovable.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    2. I like the complexity of his character. His flaws, such his self indulgence and prickly ego. His cocaine habit did not carry the stigma it would today. But I have been disappointed about the lack of crime solving itself. Benedict Cumberbatch is my ideal Holmes. Not true to the stories,but I like the dynamic of the tv series, which is too dark for me. Like Freeman as Watson. Was he aware when he named Holmes Holmes that Holmes means islands?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I agree about the Benedict Cumberbatch series being pretty dark, but fascinating. I watched them all but it was a little uncomfortable. I also have quit watching Elementary and I quit watching House, which I always considered a Sherlock Holmes based story. Elementary has gotten a little dark and twisted and House just turned into a nighttime soap opera.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  2. I have followed many authors over my life, some mysteries. Sandy and I are working our way through Midsomer Mysteries on Netflix. Hillerman was my favorite of all time for crime series.
    I like Hamish Macbeth series, despite huge flaws. It feels written by a woman in the best of ways. I want to write a blog on that topic. TV series is so much better than the books. TV series was in large part created by man who helped create Doc Martin. Both set in rural small town full of fun quirky characters.
    I follow travel writers or writers who take me into a place. I wish I had a series to read now. My eyes are allowing me to read more. I have learned how to use book light to help my eyes see through floaters. Sandy was a dedicated reader of romances. Suddenly not as much. I think she cannot follow stories, forgets what she read. She loves Twins games but she leaves the room all the time. I think she gets confused about baseball. She does follow Midsomer Mysteries and nature and house construction shows. Grand Design on Netflix is fun. Fascinating people in Britain and Australia building very unusual homes in unusual ways.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Clyde, have you read A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani? It’s not a series, but I think you’d like it. Also, there’s the series set in Spain by Chris Stewart, starting with Driving Over Lemons. Then there are the Redmond O’Hanlon books like Into the Heart of Borneo…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. Typed that lying in traction. I have read 3 or 4 books by Stewart. Loved them all. Funniest was about sinking a boat. I will check out the fortune teller book

          Like

  3. I love the Laurie King novels and the Louse Penny novels. I also like the French mystery I am reading-Bruno, Chief of Police, by Martin Walker.

    Like

    Reply

  4. My favorite mystery series was the Henning Mankell Wallander books, although I disliked Wallander as a character. He was broody, cold and clumsy with women.

    A really appealing detective is Mma Precious Ramotswe of the Alexander McCall Smith novels.

    Like Clyde, I loved Hillerman’s books. But Chee and Leaphorn, sprang from a culture I don’t know.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  5. I love anything Star Trek and martial arts. Just watched “Ip Man 2” over the weekend with one of my boys, so that was fun. He’s also a 2nd degree black belt so we had fun watching the great fight choreography together. I guess there is an actual Ip Man who was Bruce Lee’s teacher/mentor.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I am not as much of a fan since Gene Roddenberry passed away. The series kept getting darker with more multiple-episode plots and ongoing wars. One of the things I like best about the earlier Star Trek was how it was more or less optimistic.

      Clearly I have an issue with dark.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I am still catching up from the weekend—I must go back and read. I was teaching this weekend, so was not online much at all, except for the material I was teaching.

    My favorite author and series over the years has been James Lee Burke and his Dave Robicheaux series which Steve and I have discussed and raved about through the year on the blog. I also like the Walt Longmire series (Craig Johnson) and Kevin Kearney series (Michael McGarrity, a social worker) from New Mexico. I dip in and out of Tami Hoag and Minnesota’s own William Kent Krueger, who writes female characters with more skill than most. Jennifer Weiner is another favorite author, and there are many more, especially women, who I am blanking on at the moment. There is an author I love, whose name (I think) is Maria Doria Russell. October 3 I am taking my sister to Talking Volumes to hear her author ideal, Leif Enger.

    One of the enduring debates in the community of female authors, is how their work is categorized. Often it is considered “Romance” just because female authors make relationships of some kind a central part of the action. Male editors consider all of it “romance,” therefore not somehow of as much literary note as, say a Western, often the male version of romance. Some of these authors write very well about women’s lives and the dilemmas they face and they deserve more credit than they get.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. If by Western you mean authors like Louis L’amour and Zane Grey, I’d be surprised if any editors consider their work of literary note. If, on the other hand, by western you are talking about authors like Ivan Doig, Wallace Stegner, Cormac McCarthy, and even Larry McMurtrey, I disagree with the premise that their work is unworthy of its respect by editors.
      On the other hand, some work that gets categorized, rightly or wrongly, as Romance, like the Outlander series, is pretty highly regarded, I’d say.

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      1. Read one L’amour to see about it. Simply ridiculous facts. History, human biology, geography are impossible. But yet the story stuck with me for a while.

        Like

        Reply

        1. I read one for the same reason and also because I was traveling in the four corners region and on vacation, so it seemed appropriate. The story could have been interesting if I could have gotten past how awful the writing was.

          Like

        2. the last lamore book was my first
          my dad hunkered down with louie and zane toward the end and was always frustrated by the many different paperback book covers. he would get a new louis lamore and get 100 pages into it before he realized he read it last week

          i really enjoyed hillerman too
          good folks

          vonnegut had a couple guys kilgore trout and ravi karabikian that were fun to follow

          my favorite was the lake woebegone saga. garrison is going on the road this fall and will be doing a night at crooners. i was hoping to go but the $50 price tag scared me off. i’ve never seen him give a bad performance.

          dick francis was fun with horses

          i guess the guy i follow no matter what he does is that pulitzer prize winning minnesota boy bob dylan

          i enjoy everything i’ve ever seen him do
          every genre. every band combination, every variation on a theme. today he’s a crooner more like bing and tony than like mick or bono.

          rogers and hammerstien rogers and hart learner and lowe,

          nice job coming up with anotherdays topic
          i am impressed how you keep coming up with a teaser
          thanks

          Liked by 2 people

      2. My Dad read a lot of Louis L’amour books. I would skim through them sometimes and couldn’t stand them. I thought maybe he was reading them for the racy bits… never asked him. 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. My father also read all of the Louie Lamours, all the Zane Greys, all the Edgar Rice Burroughs. But he also read books on astrophysics and every month’s Scientific American magazine. He always said that the pulp was enjoyable and escapist and that every now and then he came across a really good idea in them.

          Like

      3. i enjoy ivan doug and cormac mccarthy too
        i think any genre can be done well. just gotta find an author whose brain is a match
        louise enrich, barbara kingsolver, pat conroy, shel silverstine, ee cummings . aa milne, tolkien and most recently jk rowling. i just read she the first person in recent memory to fall from the ranks of being a billionaire just by giving it away. she said i have more than enough. it’s my job to give it away

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

      4. My comment about westerns meant the Louis L’AMour/Zane Grey type of western. DItto to the comments about their poor writing.

        I am a big fan of Ivan Doig and Larry McMurtrey’s work. With the weather change today I have a migraine which affects my word and name recall. There are several male authors who are highly touted as “literary” but I think they are just depressing and boring. They get all taken up with their prose and forget any story at all. Nothing happens, and then everyone dies. Give me a break. Lack of joy, and literary are not synonymous, no matter how fine their vocabulary and lyrical prose.. Just because female authors find interest and joy in relationships, does not mean they are not literary. So that is what I mean with the comment above. It really grates on me that they are written off as “romance” because women write them.

        Like

        Reply

    3. Mary Doria Russell. Her book The Sparrow was something I read many years ago but I would have to put it in the top 20 of the books I’ve read in my lifetime that really made me think. Fascinating and disturbing all at the same time.

      Like

      Reply

      1. V S – It is also in my top 20 books that made me think. Have you read the sequel – “Chlldren of God”, I think is the title – ?

        I have read most of Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, and still follow the adventures of the delightful Mma Precious Ramotswe. Currently I an enamored with the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal.

        Like

        Reply

  7. I had a long detailed reply that got lost (not WP’s fault this time)…
    The one that calls to me after a few months away is Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache, and I’m about ready for her most recent, Glass Houses (I think).

    I also either follow or used to follow:
    Laurie King (Mary Russell and Kate Martinelli)
    Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee
    Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawsky,
    Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone,
    Smith’s Mme. Romatswe,
    Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti
    Elizabeth George’s Inspector Linley/Barbara Havers
    and for laughing out loud: Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum.

    There are a lot more that I’ve read a few of and enjoyed, as I look through my jottings… didn’t realize how many mysteries I read! Thanks, VS, fun topic.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. Not long ago I read and enjoyed a novel that I later learned was considered a “romance novel.” I had always assumed those were silly and badly written. Now I know that at least writer of romances–Jojo Moyes–writes smoothly and with clarity. I’m ready to read more of her books.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Agreed. After I read my first Jojo Moyes I was surprised to find her in that category. In fact, I enjoyed her You Before Me so much that I won’t go see the movie, because I can’t believe that Hollywood can really be loyal enough to the story.

      Like

      Reply

  10. I am willing to read romance in books. If not I would not be an admirer of Jane Austen. Or Shakespeare. Or Hemingway, who I am no longer willing to read.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I understand the Murphy Brown TV series is coming back. I am looking forward to that. It was a sitcom with a good ensemble cast. Much has happened in the news since the last go-round, so the scriptwriters should have a lot of ground to cover.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. In response to the prompt question, you all have been talking about fictional characters you like and especially the detective protagonists in mystery series. I don’t read mysteries much, though I read most of the Hillerman books and many of the Ellis Peters Father Cadfael series.

    On the other hand, I just counted and I have 20 books, both fictional and factual about John Brown and his raid in 1859 on the Federal Arsenal in Harper’s Ferry. Not a fictional character but fascinating nonetheless.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    4. I’ve read a couple of books about John Brown – can’t remember the names of either one. He is so so problematic for me.

      Like

      Reply

      1. His problematic quality is what makes him so interesting. The historian Truman Nelson called John Brown “the stone in the historian’s shoe.”
        Depending who is telling the story, Brown is either a madman or a martyr. One of the books I have is Robert Penn Warren’s first book. As a southerner, he was in the madman camp. Another is by Franklin B.
        Sanborn, one of the Massachusetts conspiritors that helped finance his raid. Another is by W.E.B. Dubois. Modern historians have different opinions of his significance. That’s the way it is with all history, but with John Brown, the divergence of interpretations is especially marked. Here is something that may add perspective to your John Brown problem:
        https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/resources/robert-shetterly-18-ways-to-consider-john-brown

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

    5. I often find myself down the rabbit hole, not content with just one view of a historical person. My current obsession is with Alice Liddell, the girl that was supposedly the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. Such an interesting life!

      Like

      Reply

  13. Ooh, has anyone read “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova? It is engrossing and hair raising. It is about Dracula and scholars

    Like

    Reply

    1. I realize that I have read several books, since returning from our France sojourn 3 years ago, about anything connected with the French resistance in WWII (or watched various BBC series on TV). One book was a translation from the French, Resistance by Agnes Humbert – found a reference in it to the mission my uncle had been on at St. Nazaire, which made it seem more REAL to me.

      Like

      Reply

    2. I had to write a bunch of these down for later because as of yesterday, I’ve reached the limit of 50 books on hold at library. I think I need a 12-step program for books.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  16. OK… my list:
    Jasper Fforde
    Naomi Novik
    Michael Pollan
    Laurie R King
    Michael Chabon
    Alexandra Fuller
    Penny Louise
    Sarah Vowell
    Barbara Kingsolver

    Like

    Reply

  17. Should I read the Louise Penny books in order or doesn’t it matter?

    I’ve had a lot of time for reading lately but nothing really deep or dark. I’ve re-read quite a few books lately – the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books because the holds at the library worked out well; also trying the Maisie Dobbs books but the wait for the ebooks seem awfully long; I re-read the middle-grade series The Penderwicks right before I checked the newest (and last in the series) one out – those are a totally satisfactory batch of books. I love them and even reading the last one, knowing there would be no more, I was completely happy when I finished.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes, read them in order. The characters build over the series and there is a plot device that runs through three of the books so it’s helpful to have those in particular in order as well.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.