Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years; The Adventures of the Great Detective in India and Tibet - Hardcover

Norbu, Jamyang

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 158234132X ISBN 13: 9781582341323

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 1999

Synopsis

A new Sherlock Holmes mystery worthy of the master Sir Conan Doyle himself.
In 1891, a horrified public learned that Sherlock Holmes-in a last deadly struggle with the archcriminal Professor Moriarty-had perished at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Two years later, popular demand made Sir Conan Doyle resurrect the great detective. Holmes informed a stunned Dr. Watson, "I traveled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Llasa."

Nothing has been known of those missing years until Jamyang Norbu's discovery of the Mandala, a carefully wrapped package in a rusting tin box. When opened, the package reveals a Bengali scholar's own account of his travels with Holmes. The Mandala holds the key to a mystery and tells the story of Holmes in a landscape so fascinating, a game so intriguing, that it is impossible to resist. An exciting, often richly humorous detective story, Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years also evokes the romance of Kipling's India. Jamyang Norbu has written a mystical, playful, and witty page-turner.

About this title

About the Author:

Jamyang Norbu, one of Tibet's foremost writers at work today, is a director of the Amnye Machen Institute, Tibetan Center for Advanced Studies, Dharamsala. He is the author of several books, five plays, and a traditional opera libretto. He lectures frequently on Tibetan culture and the Tibetan Freedom Struggle in the US, Canada, and Europe.

From Publishers Weekly:

"I travelled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhasa and spending some days with the head Lama." So says Holmes to Watson in Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Empty House," which resurrected the detective after his apparent death at the hands of Moriarity at Reichenbach Falls. Ever since, Holmes enthusiasts have speculated as to what, exactly, the detective did in Tibet; this entertaining novel offers one scenario. In Norbu's vision, Holmes travels east to escape homicidal attacks by Moriarity's henchman. In India, he hooks up with Norbu's Watson figure (and narrator), Huree Chunder Mookherjee, a Bengali scholar and spy assigned to accompany Holmes, disguised as the Norwegian explorer Sigerson, to Tibet. The narrative features numerous neoclassic (Norbu is a Baker Street Irregular so perforce a Holmes expert) deductions by Holmes as he and Mookherjee travel to Lhasa, meet the young Dalai Lama and take on a Chinese-backed evil magician whose secret identity will surprise few. Norbu, who's a prominent supporter of today's Dalai Lama, uses the novel as a platform to castigate the current occupation of Tibet by China, but that political message is woven artfully into the story line, as are breathtaking descriptions of Indian and Tibetan life and landscape in 1891. The plot strains toward the end, resorting to bombast and magical fireworks, but, overall, this is an unusual and worthy addition to Holmesiana. (Jan. ) Forecast: The publisher promises national advertising and online promotion for this title. That's good, because this book has break-out potential via numerous markets: the mystery crowd, of course, but also general fiction readers and, not incidentally, the ever-growing mass of those interested in Buddhist-oriented literature.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 158234132X
• ISBN 13: 9781582341323
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 387