We’re delighted to have author pal Thomas A. Burns Jr. visiting with the Chicks today. It’s nice to have a fella on deck, since we have more authors of the female variety that hang out with us on the blog. Tom writes the Natalie McMasters Mystery and also writes stories about one of the most beloved detectives of all time —Sherlock Holmes. Today he will give us a peek into writing about Sherlock Holmes as historical fiction. And one lucky commenter on the blog today will receive a to receive a free paperback copy of Tom’s A Peek into Watson’s Dispatch Box (U.S. addresses only, please).
Certainly Holmes is even more popular now than when Doyle first published the stories. He is known worldwide,and hundreds, if not thousands of individual Holmes titles are available on Amazon. In addition, he is easily the most prolific character ever portrayed in the movies and on television.
Writing Sherlock Holmes Stories as Historical Fiction
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, he wrote him as a contemporary character. He described his world as he saw it every day, so he likely had to do very little, if any,research to complete a story. However, Doyle likely had no idea that he had created a cultural icon whose stories would be read by millions and far outlive him and his era.
Writing about Holmes now is a much more formidable task than the one Doyle faced. Not only does an author have to create interesting and appropriate plots and plan for the deductions that Holmes is so famous for, but also must do meticulous research to ensure historical accuracy. It goes without saying that a precise knowledge of the Canon (to the sixty-two original Holmes stories) is essential. Since this is fiction, sometimes people, places and things must becreated, but they should be plausible and reflect the reality of Victorian and Georgian England, or other locations where Holmes’s adventures might take him.
I have written two volumes of Holmes pastiches which I have chosen to make canonical; that is,to conform and closely as possible. To achieve this, I had to do extensive research on Victorian England. I want my stories to have accurate historical context and details of the settings. I use both primary (e.g. contemporary newspapers and police reports) and secondary sources (history books and articles), then integrate those historical details to enrich the story I’m writing. I must also create historically plausible characters that reflect the beliefs and values of the time. This can be challenging, as those beliefs are often at odds with those of today and could offend modern readers. Each of my stories highlights some facet of Victorian times that my readers may not be familiar with. I often use actual people in stories, but when I do, their actions must be true to their actual deeds and character.
My latest book is Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson: A Peek into Watson’s Dispatch Box, published on May 24 of this year. It contains nine new stories—I want to tell you about some of them and illustrate how they conform to the points discussed above.
The first tale in the book is The Wizard Goes A’mudlarkin’. It’s a story of Holmes early days in Montague Street, before he met Dr. Watson. He became involved with a gang of street urchins known as the Montague Mews boys, who would later form the core of his Baker Street Irregulars. When introducing himself to this rough lot, Holmes baffled and entertained them with a dazzling show of prestidigitation, impressing them so much that they began calling himthe Wizard. In the story, the brother of one of the boys is a mudlark who is killed. The mudlarks of London were the poorest of the poor, having no marketable skills whatsoever, so they were forced to root in the mudflats of the Thames exposed at low tide, trying to dig up anything saleable for a meal or a bed. The story also features London’s body dealers—grotesque professionals who scour the streets for the corpses of people with no families to see to them, in order to sell the bodies to those who had need of them—a perfectly legal activity at the time. In disguise, Holmes joins a group of mudlarks and discovers a heinous crime perpetrated against one of London’s wealthiest families.
The Picture of Oscar Wilde features both fictional and actual persons. It begins with a visit by a heavily dressed and masked man to Baker Street, who soon proves to be Holmes’s old college acquaintance Oscar Wilde. Something has been stolen from his home—he won’t say what, buthe wants Holmes to recover it. The resulting investigation causes Holmes and Watson to plunge into the midst of London’s community of Bohemian artistes where they meet other famous people including the vitriolic painter James NcNeil Whistler and the shipping tycoon Frederick Leyland.
Death in the Workhouse focuses on another reprehensible Victorian institution. The workhouses, made infamous in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, were established by the so-called Poor Laws to alleviate the worst consequences of abject poverty. However, since the Victorians believed that poverty was a vice resulting from laziness, conditions in the workhouse were made deliberately harsh to discourage people from entering one except as a last resort. In the story, Holmes infiltrates a workhouse in disguise to investigate the death of Henry Pepler at the behest of Pepler’s brother. St. Luke’s Workhouse actually existed in London at the time of the story and the descriptions of the building, the floor plan, the daily routines and the conditions nside are as accurate as I could make them, and may be disturbing to some.
There are six more tales in the book, following Holmes from the early days in Montague Street to his retirement to the Sussex Downs during World War I. You can find more of my Holmesstories in the earlier volume, Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson: Ten Steps from Baker Street. I hope you will have a much fun reading them as I did writing them, as well as learning some fascinating things about another very different time and place.
If all this sounds interesting, you can find copies of my Holmes books on Amazon, in Kindle or in paperback.
Thomas A. Burns Jr. writes from the small town of Wendell, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife Terri, four cats and a Cardigan Welsh Corgi. An active member of the Mystery Writers of America, Tom has written fiction as a hobby all of his life. Now a full-time novelist, he’s excited to publish the Natalie McMasters Mysteries as well as writing stories about his second-most favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes. Tom’s Holmes story, The Camberwell Poisoner, appeared in the March–June issue of The Strand Magazine in 2021. The sixth book in the Natalie McMasters Mysteries, Killers, won a Silver Falchion award at the Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference, and the seventh volume, Sister!, was a finalist for the same award. Tom’s latest book, published in May 2024, is a second volume of Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson: A Peek into Watson’s Dispatch Box.
Do you have a favorite Sherlock Holmes story? Share in comments. One lucky commenter will be drawn by Tom to receive a copy of A Peek into Watson”s Dispatch Box.
Chicks on the Case 
I love all Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stories. I have even watched them all on TV.
I haven’t a favorite. Thanks for letting me TRY to win!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a random draw, Kathleen, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a fave. Good luck!
LikeLike
Tom, I’m in awe of your ability to write Sherlock Holmes stories that are true to the character and true to the canon! Thanks for hanging out today with the Chicks!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for giving me the opportunity, Vickie. COTC is my fave mystery blog.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Aw, thanks, Tom! And we are big fans of YOU.
LikeLike
There are so many reasons Sherlock Holmes continues to fascinate readers today, and it’s great to see writers like Tom continue the rich tradition of Doyle’s writing. The way Tom describes his stories makes it almost imperative to read them! Great post.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, it is imperative to read them, Amy. You don’t want FOMO. 🙂 You can get them as an e-file or in paperback.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a great collection. I admire people who can take on such esteemed and popular characters and do it well.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We all have our own talents, Liz. That’s why the cozies are so varied and satisfying.
LikeLiked by 2 people
There is so much reason for loving Sherlock Holmes today. There is mysteries and suspense for the ages.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I wish I knew why those characters are so appealing to so many, Darlene. Only a few writers have created cultural icons of such magnitude. I think of Superman, Tarzan of the Apes, and Spider-man. All are heroes, larger than life. That’s part of the secret, I’m sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very impressive, Tom, all that research and work you do for these stories! And as a fan of Oscar Wilde, I’m particularly taken with the idea for that one.
Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, and for the peek into your writing and research process!
LikeLiked by 3 people
The Wilde story was a lot of fun to write, Leslie, and gave me the opportunity to learn about some other fascinating characters as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tom, these all sound wonderful!! I love historical mysteries and am in awe of writers like you who go to such lengths to make it both of its time and appealing to contemporary readers.
I don’t have a favorite Holmes story, but after reading this blog post, think it would be one of yours!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks, Ellen. However, to truly appreciate my stories, read ACD’s first. They are the standard by which all others should be judged.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great stuff — and on a meta level, the painstaking research is very Holmes-like!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Kate. Sorry that WordPress has chosen to anonymize you. (Is that a word? It must be, because I wrote it!)
LikeLike
Bravo to you, Tom! Taking on the dual challenges of an accurate Holmes and accurate historical setting is quite the accomplishment.
i don’t think I have a favorite Holmes short story, though Hound of the Baskervilles is probably my overall fave. Cheers!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We don’t differentiate between the short stories and the novels in the Canon, J.C. Hound is many people’s fave, and probably the most-filmed story.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I, too, vote for Hounds!!! Read as a very young kid and the images of those creatures are still so vivid in my mind…
LikeLike
Thanks so much for visiting, Tom! I think it’s amazing that you do so much research. I can’t imagine what it’d take to get access to contemporary documents. And populating your stories with real historical figures requires its own kind of wizardry.
As for my fave story, I’ve enjoyed many of them, but I think I remember “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” fondly for being one of the first I read–and for having such a surprising twist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many people are fascinated with Victoriana, so there’s a ton of material on line. Just google Victorian web to see what I mean. And newspapers.com has hundreds of London papers.
The Speckled Band was the first Holmes story I read, and the one that got me hooked!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m in awe of anyone who can do all that research and use just the right amount of it in their books.
I don’t remember my first Holmes story, but I know the Speckled Band was my youngest son’s. We took a long road trip—back when books really were on tape—and we listened to a Holmes collection. Great fun and we sat in many a parking lot to finish one!
Congrats to you, Tom, for all your Sherlock success!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Becky, it’s not as hard as you think. I’m a pantser, and as I make up the story, I do only the research I need for what I am writing. It’s a focused approach that keeps me from going down rabbit holes, mostly. I must confess that I do see the whiskers of a cottontail once in a while.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Having read both of Tom Burns’ Holmesian anthologies, I am truly impressed by the level of research that shows through in the writing. The stories are engaging and truly fun to read. Well done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Skip, as one of my betareaders, you get a lot of credit for the finished product too.
LikeLike
Aw, thank you, Tom! And we are fans of YOU.
LikeLike
I’d like that Lisa, but WordPress won’t let me like anymore… 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
And they put my comment here at the bottom–but still true!
LikeLike
What fun! I haven’t read any of the Holmes stories, so this opens up a whole new world for me. I read every day and I’m excited to add to my tbr list.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I so envy you, Rebecca, to be able to read those wonderful stories for the first time!
LikeLike
Tom, I am so sorry to be late to the party here…I was able to “like” and add a few replies above yesterday, but our internet’s been going crazy here in NH with the intense heat dome. But great post–very cool stories–and like everyone else, I’m in awe of your detailed research. I know I agreed with JC re: Hounds of the Baskervilles (brr), but I also loved The Red-Headed League as a kid. I know it isn’t considered one of ACD’s best, but I thought it was a cool idea.
LikeLike
You are mistaken. The Red-Headed League is a very popular Holmes story I know a guy in London who gives RHL tours, taking you to the actual sites mentioned in the story. It’s also got some classic Holmes moments, among them, Holmes and Watson waiting the dark for the bad guys to surface.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I would love to go on that tour! And I do remember the duo waiting in the dark. I think I probably got the idea that critics didn’t care for the RHL as much from some Reddit thread, lol.
LikeLike
Fascinating and IMPRESSIVE, Tom! What a fantastic series! Thank you so much for this peek behind the pages and into your process. I’m not a Holmsian(??) expert by any means and just learned so much. Congrats on all your success!
LikeLiked by 1 person
In America, it’s Sherlockian. In the UK, it’s Holmesian. And thanks for the kind words, Kathleen.
LikeLike