I loved this book so much! I loved the characters and the world! I would and have recommended this book to all my friends! I love Sherlock Holmes books!

The latest Larry Millett Holmes novel (University of Minnesota Press) is now officially available for purchase. For purists, seeing a fan of Holmes give 4 or 5 stars to this novel may seem odd. The story doesn't use Watson as Doyle had done. So that's different. Regardless, the lack of Watson is only a little over half of the book. Ok, that does sound like a lot when typing it out, but honestly, I didn't feel anything lacking from his absence and he did eventually come into the story towards the end. So it wasn't totally devoid of our favorite doctor.

The story covers a post-war, aging Holmes now in America. Suffering from dyspnea (among other symptoms), he seeks out medical advice at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, only to receive the diagnosis of emphysema along with the recommendation to quit smoking altogether. Amid this, Holmes finds a message specifically address to him in his room. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, except that Holmes came to Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic under a fake name in order to maintain his anonymity. Immediately he begins to link this with a murderer he'd nearly caught years ago. Has this same individual tracked him down? Will Holmes, despite his failing health, be able to solve the mystery? As he tries to follow doctor's orders, Holmes battles his addiction, one that the murderer is all too aware of as he so "kindly" leaves a pack of cigarettes for the detective.

I grew up with Holmes and Watson. Yes, it was odd being without the doctor, but I didn't miss him terribly at the beginning and he did eventually show up. This was a fun read for all Sherlock Holmes fans.

Fun and charming mystery.

An aging Sherlock Holmes is in Minnesota to visit the Mayo Clinic to deal with his Emphysema, the result of years of heavy smoking. Just as he’s about to leave, he receives a taunting note under his hotel room door purporting to be from a ruthless killer who had escaped him in Munich. The missive claims that the Munich Monster is now in Eisendorf, a small town near Rochester and offers him another chance to capture him – a challenge Holmes cannot pass up despite his health and self-doubts. When Holmes arrives in Eisendorf, he discovers a once thriving community of German immigrants, full of secrets the townsfolk won’t give up easily, several suspicious deaths as well as a recent murder and more than a few possible candidates for his quarry. Soon he finds himself matching wits with a vicious killer who seems able to guess Holmes’ every move.

I always enjoy a good Sherlock Holmes tale and Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma by author Larry Millett is certainly good. This is a somewhat different Holmes, older, less confident, and more seemingly open to human contact but still as capable if a little slower than the original. The story was occasionally draggy in parts but, overall, it kept me interested and guessing right until the explosive ending.

Thanks to Netgalley and University of Minnesota Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

“Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Larry Millett (https://www.larrymillett.com/). Mr. Millett has published more than a dozen books.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set mostly in the small town of Eisendorf, Minnesota, but some is spent in Munich, Germany as well.

As expected Sherlock Holmes is the primary character. It is 1920 and the 66 year old Holmes has mostly retired. He travels to Minnesota to visit the Mayo clinic seeking treatment of his growing breathing problems. While there he receives a cryptic message from a former foe, the “Monster of Munich”. The message invites Holmes to the small, remote town of Eisendorf.

Holmes had been unable to catch the Monster back in Munich of 1892. Now he both sees an opportunity to conclude that case as well as solve some unusual deaths in Eisendorf. Eisendorf proves to be a challenge. The town is tight lipped and the town and its inhabitants seem to harbor many secrets.

Holmes faces challenges as well as threats. Will he be able to identify the killer? Will he survive the encounter and his failing health?

I enjoyed the 7 hours I spent reading this 240 page Mystery. This Holmes is very much like Doyle's original, though much older, I thought that the plot was well played out and the solution was not obvious. I would certainly consider reading other of Millett's Holmes novels. The cover art is OK, giving the impression of the dark, forested location of Eisendorf. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

I'm a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes (and a follower of the series Sherlock) so I'm not as much of a fan of this older version of my favorite detective. For those who love mysteries, this might fit the bill, especially if they have never followed Mr. Holmes in the past.

Larry Millett's Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma (University of Minnesota Press 2017) is one of the many spin-offs of the original Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this one, Holmes is older and calmer, maybe retired. He suffers from typical old age maladies and goes to the Mayo Clinic to find out if what is wrong is more than just getting old. While there, an old nemesis tracks him down and subtlely persuades him to re-engage. The clues lead Holmes to a tiny Minnesota German community with few people and little to recommend it except for the quiet. Since this man--called the Monster--is a rare Holmes failure, Holmes can't stop himself from following the trail that might finally put this man in jail.

The story is good enough especially if you're a Holmes fan though this older Holmes lacks the craziness that often made his younger self so enigmatic and addicting.

--to be published on my blog, WordDreams, March 31st.

Thanks to Netgalley for the preview.

In this new adventure Sherlock is involved in solving a case that has begun 30 years before in Monaco. In an American town founded by German immigrants, the Eisendorf monster starts to hit again. Sherlock, old and sick from emphysema, takes up the challenge and decides to solve the mystery. Because of his health he must do it without his pipe. It looks strange to see Sherlock not yielding to tobacco, but perhaps being 60 years old he would have done it without cocaine too.
Almost at the end of the adventure, Watson makes its appearance too, and as a faithful biographer he narrates this case.
The character that I liked the most is the young Willy, an Eisendorf inhabitant in America, who is a bit 'dazed.

In questa nuova avventura Sherlock si trova a dover risolvere un caso iniziato 30 anni prima a Monaco. In un paesino americano fondato da immigrati tedeschi, il mostro di Eisendorf ricomincia a colpire. Sherlock, anziano e malato di enfisema polmonare, raccoglie la sfida e decide di risolvere il mistero. A causa del suo stato di salute deve fare a meno della sua pipa. Sembra strano vedere Sherlock non cedere al tabacco, ma forse a 60 anni avrebbe fatto a meno anche della cocaina.
Quasi a conclusione dell'avventura fa la sua comparsa anche Watson, che da fedele biografo racconta anche questo caso.
Il personaggio che ho apprezzato di più è la giovane Willy, abitante di Eisendorf in America, e un po' stralunata.

Sherlock Holmes at 66 years old is depressed and diagnosed with emphysema. Sherlock goes to America to be diagnosed, and before he leaves he receives a note from the Monster of Munich, the killer that Sherlock tried to catch in 1892 in Munich. He follows the Monster to Eisendorf, a strange, gothic town that is slowly dying. It is here that the Monster toys with Sherlock, and Sherlock doubts himself in his age and health.

I hate to say it, but I did not really like Sherlock in this story. I did not connect with him at all and didn't care what happened to him. I felt even more disconnected towards the end of the book when Watson becomes the narrator. I struggled in finishing the book but pushed myself to the end just to be revealed the Monster. I remember thinking that I wanted to stop reading within 10% of the book. I was not pulled into the story and felt disconnected from all of the characters. I just kept wishing for it all to be over.

I rated this 2/5 stars.

I received this free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Larry's books!!! I think it is great the Sherlock Holmes is in Minnesota. Larry always brings me into the story and keeps me interested until the very end. I love trying to figure out the area that Sherlock is investigating the mysterious murders in southern Minnesota. I was still trying to figure out the murderer until the very end. I love that Watson does show up towards the end of the story. Great book. Would recommend to my friends.

What can I say about this book. It is a brilliant twist on the sherlock holmes stories, which I have loved since I was little. The story follows an old sherlock holmes on a mystery and adventure which he wasn't expecting. The story follows brilliantly and I was hooked from the very beginning. Loved it and look forward to reading more of the author's work

Actually 3.5 stars but I have rounded up.
Firstly I will start with the disclaimer that I haven't actually read many of the original Holmes books. I am very familiar with the characters but this is mostly from the old TV shows (not the new one, that's a whole other entity in itself) so I read this with that in mind rather than comparing with Conan Doyle's original books and, on that basis, I did enjoy it.
So Holmes is ill, and in America seeking treatment in a hospital in Minnesota under an alias. He is shocked when he receives a note under his door allegedly from an old adversary, the Monster of Munich, one that he let slip from his grasp many years ago in Germany. Apparently he's back and not too far from where Holmes is now. A small village called Eisendorf and it is to here that Holmes ventures after being discharged from the hospital. It's a bizarre old place. Owned and populated entirely by German immigrants who came over in several waves. To say they are a bit of a closed shop would be an understatement and they are very reluctant to outside interference. But the town is on the decline and to add turmoil has recently been hit by two deaths. Are these deaths linked to the Monster's reappearance? Will Holmes manage this time where he failed last?
To link to the original books, this author starts the book after the Reichenback Falls incident and mentions both this incident along with Moriarty, adding another element of danger to the story here as Moriarty's henchmen are still out for revenge on Holmes. This sets a familiarity to the story that, in my limited experience, continues throughout the book.
The mystery that Holmes investigates here kept my attention very well. The American-German village setting with its eclectic mix of characters intrigued me as I, along with Holmes, learned more about it from the Archivist. Holmes himself was, to my limited experience, well represented. We were privy to his inner monologue as expected throughout the book and that felt very familiar. It had to suffice as his usual sounding board, Watson, was absent for the majority of the book. But he did play his part, eventually!
With the story of the Monster being told both in the present and the past, in flashback, there could have been a danger of it getting a bit complicated and convoluted but, here the author manages to inject the right amount of past at the right time to complement the present so it didn't become confusing. At times, we also delve back into the history of the village How it began, its founder families and how they began their journeys and this too is inserted at the right time and place. All three threads intersecting and diverging along the way, all the time leading to a perfectly satisfactory conclusion.
All in all this was a solid satisfying read. I am not sure how the Holmes purists will take it as I am not in that camp but, for me, it fit with my idea of Holmes, his personality, manners and methods, and at the end of the day it was an intriguing case indeed; the climax of which left me satisfied.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Millett always does a great way of blending Minnesota locations and history with the Holmes character. In this particular book, I was missing Dr. Watson but otherwise it is a solid piece of storytelling that is a complimentary to the canon.

I guess as a fan of Conan Doyle, I am a little bit of a snob (purist) when it comes to other authors tackling a well known character, especially that of Sherlock Holmes. I have read a couple of Holmes in the US adventures, and can't really say that I'm a fan. And so it was with trepidation that I began this journey with Holmes, set after the Reichenbach Falls, in which Holmes is hotly pursued by the henchmen of the fallen Moriarty. For those wanting to keep Holmes alive and active in crime-solving, give this ago - having said that, Millett is one of the better authors who do justice to Conan Doyle.

In 1920 Holmes is visiting the Mayo Clinic in the States for confirmation of his illness. While staying at a local hotel under an assumed name he receives a note,which brings back memories of his failure to capture 28 years earlier The Monster of Munich. The note leads him to the nearby town of Eisendorf. Can Holmes finally catch The Monster.
The story kept my interest with all these strange people living in the small town. Though Watson doesn't make an appearance until near the end. He was missed.

Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma by Larry Millett

Publisher’s Summary

Dogged by depression, doubt, and—as a trip to the Mayo Clinic has revealed—emphysema, 66-year-old Sherlock Holmes is preparing to return to England when he receives a shock: a note slipped under his hotel room door, from a vicious murderer he’d nearly captured in Munich in 1892. The murderer, known as the Monster of Munich, announces that he has relocated to Eisendorf, a tiny village near the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
If Holmes is not what he once was, the same can be said for Eisendorf: once a thriving community founded by German idealists but now a dying town with only forty residents—two of whom have, indeed, died recently under highly mysterious circumstances. Replete with all the gothic richness of Larry Millett’s earlier Holmes novels, Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma links events in 1892 Germany with those in small-town Minnesota in 1920 in a double mystery that tests the aging detective’s mettle—and the reader’s nerve—as never before.
Guided by Eisendorf’s peculiar archivist and taunted by the Monster, Holmes finds himself drawn into the town’s dark history of violence and secrecy, and into the strange tunnels that underscore the old flour mill where answers, and grievous danger, lie in wait. No longer the cool, flawless logician of times past, Holmes must nonetheless match wits with a fiendish opponent who taunts him right up to a final, explosive confrontation.

General Review

Taking place during the Retirement Years, even past World War I, Eisendorf Enigma is a fun, fast-paced mystery. I was very excited when NetGalley sent me an ARC of Millett’s latest Sherlock Holmes novel- growing up, his novels were some of the first pastiches I encountered- and I’m deeply grateful to them for the opportunity to read this book in advance and comment on it.

The story begins quickly, almost abruptly, with the reader being introduced to several things at once, including Holmes’ illness and his history in Munich, before we find ourselves in Eisendorf itself, meeting our cast of suspects. Eisendorf is a miniscule German village in Minnesota, and it’s layered in secrets. It is fascinating to see Holmes attempt to tease out information from people when literally everyone he meets lies to him or misdirects him, and the only records he can consult are written by the same people who are lying to him. Although the book starts very quickly, it soon adjusts to a slower, more measured pace that absolutely suits the very Southern Gothic atmosphere of this book. We spend a great deal of time meeting the inhabitants of the town, few as they are, and learning the history and the founding of Eisendorf. In between these moments, we flash back to 1892 Munich, when Holmes first encountered the serial killer known as the Monster. The two stories are woven together well, each contributing new insights to the other.

Millett has always been phenomenal at writing eccentrics (many familiar with the series will well remember Shadwell Rafferty, who dominated Millett’s later books; while Rafferty appears in this book, he is not a main character), and it shines through here. Eisendorf is full of strange people. There’s the archivist, who notes down every detail of the town and whom Holmes cannot unravel; the young woman with a childish spirit who wears angel wings and claims to know secrets; the recluse who threatens Holmes whenever they meet; the outcast whose actions during World War I endangered much of the town; the town leader and his wife, who make for an odd pair; and the widow, that Holmes finds captivating. The secondary characters are delightful, and it is enjoyable trying to sort out which among them may have a motive and committed the crimes Holmes is investigating.

Millett’s descriptions are lush and rich, and anyone who likes to craft a good visual in their head will appreciate his attention to detail with the setting. Minnesota is a beautiful place, and the author’s descriptions create a written picture that will match any photos you pull up on the Internet or in a book.

The first two-thirds of the book are from a third-person perspective, following Holmes, which could be disconcerting for readers used to Watson’s first-person perspective. Thankfully, in the last third of the book, we return to what we are used to. The first part of the book is still well done, however, if occasionally too willing to repeat internal thoughts of Holmes’ that don’t need to be stated with such frequency.

It’s a charming, quick book, and I enjoyed it immensely. I hope Millett will consider writing more works in this timeline, one rarely explored by pastiche writers. It would be lovely to have a set of books that focus on the cases of Holmes and Watson, well past retirement and post-World War I.

What About Our Watson?

For a while, I feared I would have little to report on the Watson front. The first two-thirds of the book feature Holmes by himself, without any of his usual allies or friends, in Eisendorf. I was fully prepared to write about the occasional affectionate thoughts that Holmes has for Watson, and to note that his brief appearance at the beginning is pleasant, if unsatisfying for the dedicated Watsonian.

Thankfully, however, Watson makes a heroic entrance towards the end, and while he doesn’t get to contribute much in the solving of the mystery, his personality comes through in spades. Watson rushes off to America, leaving his irate second wife behind (the second Mrs. Watson is not well liked by Holmes, or the author it would seem) in order to get to Holmes’ side. He is shown to be an excellent doctor, whose medical opinion Holmes trusts above all others, and is quick to follow through on Holmes’ strange requests. His sarcastic humor comes out at the most unexpected times, much to my amusement.

While there isn’t as much Watson content as I would like, when Watson is there, he is very recognizably Watson.

You Might Like This Book If You Like: Minnesota; small town histories; Southern Gothic mysteries; ruminations on age and illness

(Review to be published on website indicated on 19 January 2017.)

I have read most of Mr. Millett's Holmes books and love every single one. This one was no exception. Mr. Millett's books are a must read for anyone that loves Sherlock Holmes. They are all exceptional. And I am sure that during Arthur Conan Doyle's days, the fans looked forward to reading his next installment, just as I look forward to reading Mr. Millett's.