The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 5 by Liese Sherwood-Fabre

The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes Volume Five by Liese Sherwood-Fabre ISBN-13: 9781952408366 ebook Publisher: Little Elm Press, LLC Released: December 15, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from NetGalley:
Volume V of The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes explores the cultural, scientific, and historical allusions found throughout Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective stories. This collection of essays unpacks twenty-four topics mentioned in the original mysteries, from everyday details like hats and plumbing to complex issues such as international spying, the binomial theorem, and relations with Russia. Through such insights, readers gain a deeper understanding of the Victorian world in which Holmes operated.

Other essays explore both the familiar and the obscure, touching on subjects like the KKK’s presence in England, the significance of whaling, and legal concepts like insanity and blackmail. Unique cultural topics—such as the role of curry in the British Empire, the rise of bohemianism, and the Victorian obsession with rejuvenation through animal hormones—reveal the rich complexity of the era. The collection also features a bonus essay on Sarah Cushing from The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, offering fresh insight into one of the most sinister characters in the Canon.

The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes provides a compelling lens through which readers gain a deeper understanding of the historical and social backdrop of the Holmes mysteries.


My Review:
The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 24 short essays on the historical context of things mentioned in Sherlock Holmes stories. Each essay was inspired by a comment or incident in a Sherlock Holmes story, and we're told where the essay topic is mentioned. We're given a brief history or background information on the topic. The footnotes show that most of the information was found online, so you could look up much of this information for yourself if so motivated. Overall, this is an interesting and informative read.

Topics covered include types of hats, the binomial theorem, astronomy, plumber's smoke rockets and indoor plumbing, Ku Klux Klan, makeup, whaling industry, insurance policies, Bohemia, lunatic asylums, Russia, spices, hormone therapy (specifically with testosterone), suicide, crowns, spies, wax figures, Australia, counterfeiting, newspapers, domestic violence, Vaseline, blackmail, automata. Also included is an essay reprinted from 2028 on the character Sarah Cushing.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge

The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective
by Sara Lodge

ISBN-13: 9780300277883
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press
Released: November 5, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
From Wilkie Collins to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the traditional image of the Victorian detective is male. Few people realise that women detectives successfully investigated Victorian Britain, working both with the police and for private agencies, which they sometimes managed themselves.

Sara Lodge recovers these forgotten women’s lives. She also reveals the sensational role played by the fantasy female detective in Victorian melodrama and popular fiction, enthralling a public who relished the spectacle of a cross-dressing, fist-swinging heroine who got the better of love rats, burglars, and murderers alike.

How did the morally ambiguous work of real women detectives, sometimes paid to betray their fellow women, compare with the exploits of their fictional counterparts, who always save the day? Lodge’s book takes us into the murky underworld of Victorian society on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing the female detective as both an unacknowledged labourer and a feminist icon.


My Review:
The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective looks at both real and fictional female detectives in Victorian Britain. The author looked at specific examples of the female detective in fiction (both writing and theater) and commented on how these women reflected on the time period they were written in and how they were a commentary on their times, too. The author also examined real life examples of women who solved crimes or worked for private inquiry agencies or the official police force and how the reality contrasted with the fictional depictions.

While the book covered some details about the type of work these women really did, a lot of the book (especially near the end) was more commentary on the social context. This was interesting, but I was hoping for more information on what they really did--which, apparently, was often obscured by a tendency to glamorize the job to fit the fictional action heroine stereotype. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those who want to know more about women detectives in the mid- to late-1800s in Britain.