With the wide range of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, a few have given him adventures in America. But as far as I know, the only extensive series of Sherlock Holmes stories in America are by Larry Millett, all set in Millett’s home state of Minnesota.
Millet is a now retired journalist and architecture critic, and makes use of this background in crafting his Holmes stories, which heavily uses the local history.
The series includes:
- Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon (1996)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders (1998)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery (1999)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance (2001)
- The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes (2002)
- “The Mystery of the Jeweled Cross” (2002, available from Amazon)
- “The Brewer’s Son” (2006, in Twin Cities Noir)
- The Magic Bullet (2011)
- Strongwood: A Crime Dossier (2014)
I had read the original five as they appeared in bookstores and enjoyed them. I’ve not read the two short stories or the more recent novels. It appears that the earlier novels have all be reprinted, so should be easy to obtain them.
In addition to setting them in Minnesota, Millett also adds in the character of Shadwell Rafferty, a St. Paul saloon keeper and part-time detective, who started as a somewhat rival to Sherlock Holmes, then ally, and later a larger part of the stories.
As noted, all the stories make use of Minnesota history. Red Demon deals with an arsonist who is operating in the logging forests and is threatening James J. Hill‘s Great Northern Railroad. The Ice Palace is set in an ice palace being built in St. Paul, something that has been done there since around 1886. Holmes is there to solve a murder tied to the palace. This story introduces Rafferty, who is also investigating the murder.
The Rune Stone takes its inspiration from the Kensington Runestone, claimed to have been made and left by Vikings who had visited Minnesota in the 14th century. Here another stone is found. But is it real or a fake? The Secret Alliance has Rafferty in his first solo story dealing with terrorists who threaten President McKinley on his visit to Minnesota in 1899. Later he is joined by Holmes and Dr. Watson. Disappearance has Holmes dealing with an old adversary (from “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”), which takes him and Watson from London to New York to Minnesota, where they are joined by Rafferty.
Now, I have not read the two short stories. I believe “The Brewers’ Son” may only have Rafferty. And I haven’t read the 2 more recent novels. Magic Bullet is a “locked room” mystery that again more focuses on Rafferty than Holmes; and Strongwood is setup as a realistic casebook of a crime with Rafferty and Holmes taking a look at things. Some readers thought it was based on a real Minnesota crime, but apparently not so.
But as I said, the original five I enjoyed. I found that I had kept all of them in my collection of Holmes books, and am glad to see they are still available.
Millett changes somewhat the dynamics of the usual Holmes story by adding in Rafferty. I think in some ways Rafferty is enough of a strong character to carry the story himself, which he does in some works, but am sure tying in Holmes makes the stories a better sell.
