English Summary/英文概要： These are the despairing words of Dr John Watson as he attempts to set down the adventures of the famous master detective Sherlock Holmes. Not only does his editor at The Strand magazine require stories of strictly no more than 9000 words and Holmes insist on complicating matters further by censoring his friend, but Watson’s adoring wife, Mary, has her own opinions about the project in hand. And so it is at her instigation that Watson begins his secret journal.

Within these pages you will find the answers to many questions surrounding the most famous sleuthing pair in the history of fiction. What were the real circumstances behind the mystery of ‘The Blue Carbuncle’? What actually happened on Dartmoor as they tracked ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’? How many adventures never made it into print? But most intriguing of all, how did Holmes die in his final duel with Moriarty - and then come back to life?

Charting the course of the two men`s friendship, this ingenious pastiche draws on the entire canon and is a delight from beginning to end. Rich in scholarship, wit and period detail, this remarkable novel will delight fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Awards/获奖情况： In this episodic first novel, purportedly derived from Dr. Watson’s diary, Janda provides a mildly diverting revisionist view of the early years of the good doctor’s association with Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, the author’s survey approach generates little tension or drama. Taking center stage, Watson details such unknown and less than exciting matters as his relations with his publishers and with his wife, the former Mary Morstan. One of the more amusing revelations concerns Mary’s doomed matchmaking efforts on behalf of Holmes, who turns out to have been even more of a misogynist than the canonical adventures suggest. In "A Scandal in Bohemia" Watson apparently invented the business about the detective’s attraction to Irene Adler purely to add to the story’s appeal. A not particularly likable Holmes remains a shadowy figure, glimpsed mainly through retellings of familiar tales. A lengthy paraphrase of The Hound of the Baskervilles varies in no significant way from the original, while the true story behind Professor Moriarty and the struggle above the Reichenbach Falls is scarcely more interesting. A light, rambling narrative takes a decidedly darker turn when we learn of Mary’s sad fate and of Watson’s real feelings about his friend’s unexpected resurrection. These late developments might have been more affecting had we come to care more about Janda’s self-centered Watson, whose great failing, in contrast to Conan Doyle’s Watson, is his inability to tell a gripping yarn. (Aug. 1) Forecast: Elementary. Only Holmes pastiche completists will pick up this one. ---From Publishers Weekly