Between the Thames and the Tiber
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Britain and the Italian peninsula
Tedd Riccardi

Pegasus Books
June 2011/ ISBN 1605981877
Mystery / Detective
Amazon

Reviewed byCarmen Ferreiro

In this, his second volume about the famous detective, Ted Riccardi includes stories set both in Great Britain and Italy, thus the title.

As always, the stories are told by Watson, the dear doctor, who follows our hero as he uncovers clues where others see only ordinary objects or inexplicable events. Watson sees but does not process these clues and, at the end, always bows in admiration to Holmes's brilliant deductions.

Mr. Riccardi does a great job recreating the times (turn of the twentieth century Europe). It was a time of horse driven carriages, landowner gentlemen and overdressed ladies, a time when the class barriers where insurmountable, and Great Britain was at the peak of its power under the long reign of Queen Victoria.

He also keeps the idiosyncrasy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters. Holmes may have a brilliant mind, but lacks social skills. Watson is self-effacing and loyal. And the villains are smart and evil, especially Dr. Moriarty, Holmes's nemesis, who is believed to be dead while the events gathered in this volume take place.

Mr. Ricardi's respect for the characters and their time is his greatest achievement; it also happens to be, in my opinion, the weakness of the stories. British aristocrats at the time considered themselves superior to other countries' natives, especially if these countries happened to be one of Great Britain's colonies. They also looked down on the rest of the population. This attitude, while inevitable, I guess, if the writer wants to respect the reality of the times, does not translate well in the, I hope, more enlightened present times.

But that is a small complaint for a great effort to bring more adventures of the enduring characters of Sherlock Holmes and his loyal sidekick Dr. Watson to the modern reader.

Not to be missed for Sherlock Holmes's fans.