THE LOST YEARS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES BY TED RICCARDI

TITLE : THE LOST YEARS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
AUTHOR : TED RICCARDI
PUBLISHER: JAICO PUBLISHING HOUSE

The author Ted Riccardi is a professor emeritus in the Department of Middle East and Asian languages at Columbia University. He has served as the counselor of cultural affairs at the United States embassy in New Delhi.

The Lost Years of Sherlock Holmes comprises of nine stories and a preface and an afterword written by Dr. John Watson. The stories majorly set in the Indian subcontinent, can be read independently though they have a common thread in form of some characters.

 The world thinks that Sherlock Holmes is dead but unbeknownst he has escaped alive to Asia. This is where the action begins in the book. Sherlock Holmes learns yoga in India with help of which he is able to change disguises very easily, thus adding on to his arsenal of tricks. Sherlock Holmes travels take him to different places in India, Nepal, Ceylon, Java and Tibet, where he comes across some of his old enemies and some new criminals. The adventures that Sherlock Holmes has in Asia have been presented to the world in form of this book.

While in Asia he solves the mystery of, death of his friend, Sir Maxwell as well as that of Hodgson’s ghost and helps find the famous pearl, Moonstar of Mannar, he comes across the secret of Mandor and he unravels the story of how an English seaman’s son became the Regent of Tibet among others.

It’s a mixed bag of stories some interesting some average. I liked, An Envoy to Lhasa, the most.

The Lost Years of Sherlock Holmes by Ted Riccardi makes a decent average read.