The Sherlock Holmes Pharmacopoeia

Review: It’s a pleasure to welcome a new booklet by the almost legendary Kelvin I Jones. The Sherlock Holmes Pharmacopoeia gives us 44 pages on drugs and poisons in the Canon, setting the references in their historical context. There are diversions into other aspects of the stories, always interesting and often enlightening (though my reading of ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ is that Kate Whitney was Mary Watson’s friend; Watson nowhere indicates that he and Isa Whitney were at all close), and the notes occupy a further eight pages. It’s a very useful addition to the Sherlockian’s reference shelf. I just can’t help thinking that the appearance of Oakmagic’s booklets suffers by comparison with Kelvin Jones’s earlier monographs, published by Magico and his own Sir Hugo Books. With all the sophisticated computer programs available, the presentation of Oakmagic’s publications could be drastically improved.

Reviewed by: Roger Johnson, [District Messenger 221A, 2002]