Rating: 
Summary: The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
Review: To say that I was very disappointed is an understatement. As an advid reader of mysteries and a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work, this book was a waste of my time and money. There have been other authors who have created additional works of ledgendary characters such as Robert Parker writing Philip Marlowe stories and actually pulling it off. But at no point in this book did Riccardi show true knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes character. The author is a professor of Middle East cultures and if he was writing a history or fact book on the subject that would have been fine. Instead, what we have is a historical/cultural textbook with a sprinkle of the Holmes and Watson characters and simplistic mysteries that are so obvious that any mystery lover could solve them without Holmes' genius. [...] These are short stories that drone on and on, giving you enormous background which is simply filler for those subpar "cases" that Holmes painstakingly solves. Though some of the short stories were better then others, this book does not intrigue a true Sherlock Holmes lover to keep on reading. Riccardi gives a wealth of information (and it would be great if we were going to be tested on it), but his lack of understanding Holmes and Watson is clearly present from beginning to end. It disheartens me to read a book about one of the greatest detectives that ever graced the pages of literature to be reduced to a cheap dime-store character in mediocore storylines and boring premises. Riccardi's desperate attempts to captivate the reader was unsuccessful. Even Holmes and Watson would consider this book criminal.
Rating: 
Summary: Sherlock Holmes' "missing years"
Review: Writing pastiches of Conan Doyle's famous detective has become something of a cottage industry for many years. Some good stories are written, and some bad ones. This book belongs to the former category: a well written series of nine stories purporting to give some insight into what Holmes was doing after his "death" fighting Professor Moriarity. In these stories he travels throughout Asia, encountering various historically correct characters and many fictional ones, and solving several intriguing mysteries. There are beautiful women, dastardly villans, and helpful assistants, not to mention a unique travelogue of intriguing places in the Orient. The writing reminds one of Doyle, which is good, and Holmes appears to stay very close to his creator's character. I assume that there will be more stories "found" about Holmes by this author, and I look forward to reading them very much.
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