Sherlock Holmes and Me: Vicki Delany

Vicki Delany

JENN: When I was asked to read Elementary, She Read for a possible endorsement, I was delighted. Why? Because it's penned by a terrific author, Vicki Delany, and also it's centered around one of my favorite detectives in mystery fiction Sherlock Holmes. It was a wonderful read, and now here is the brilliant author to tell you more about it.

VICKI: There is, as we are always being told in creative writing classes, no such thing as a new idea. It’s all been done before. Take the story of an orphaned boy: a lowly (and lonely) childhood; a hidden, ever-watchful guardian; dangerous times; an eternal enemy; the big reveal of the boy’s true identity; then, armed with knowledge of his destiny, boy saves world.

It’s been written a hundred times, from the tales of King Arthur to Star Wars to Harry Potter.  (Why it’s always a boy, is a post for another day.)

The trick is not to come up with an original idea, because you probably can’t, but to make it your own.

Enter Sherlock Holmes. I don’t have to tell you how popular Sherlock is right now, from movies to TV (two series!) to more books than you can count. Colouring books, puzzles, mugs.  Old books reissued and re-illustrated, new ones being written.

Favourite characters reimagined.

Make it your own, they say.

And so I created Gemma Doyle and the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium.

I’m a cozy writer and I’m also a keen mystery reader. When I was looking for inspiration for a new series, I thought a bookstore would be fun.  The idea popped into my head: A bookstore dedicated to all things Sherlock Holmes.

When I started to do some research on that, I quickly discovered it’s not such an unfeasible idea.  You could easily stock a store with nothing but Sherlock.  Not only things I mentioned above but all the stuff that goes with it: playing card sets, tea towels, games, puzzles, action figures, cardboard cut-out figures. The list is just about endless. Throw in all the modern pastiche novels, nonfiction works on Sir Arthur and his contemporaries, maybe a few books set in the “gaslight” era. And, presto, a fully operational bookstore. What would a bookstore be without a cat?  In this case, one Moriarty, who has a strange antipathy to Gemma.

I’ve enjoyed stocking my bookstore, and as befits a book about a bookshop, I drop a lot of names of real books.  Many I have read, some I haven’t, but I enjoy fitting the book to the imaginary character buying it.

Because cozy lovers (and me) love food to go with their reading, I put Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room next door, run by Gemma’s best friend Jayne Wilson.

My original intent was that the main character would be a normal cozy character. A nice young woman who owns an interesting bookshop, lives in a pleasant community (in this case, on Cape Cod), and has a circle of friends.

But, by the time I got to page two, Gemma Doyle had become “Sherlockian”.

And that’s been enormous fun to write. Gemma has an amazing memory (for things she wants to remember), incredible observational skills, and a lightning fast mind. She is also, shall we say, somewhat lacking on occasion in the finer points of social skills. Jayne is ever-confused, but always loyal.

Like any modern Sherlock, such as Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation, Gemma deciphers cell phone signals and finds clues on the Internet. Like any Sherlock, her relationship with the local police is complicated, but in her case it’s because she’s in love with Ryan Ashburton, the town’s lead detective, and he with her, but they broke up because he couldn’t be with a woman who sometimes seems to be able to read his mind. 

Detective Louise Estrada (Estrada/Lestrade. Get it?) doesn’t trust her one bit. But Gemma Doyle investigates nonetheless, because:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

But sometimes, as Gemma learns, people don’t like having the obvious pointed out to them:

                                      

     “It was perfectly obvious,” I said. “I smelled flour, tea, and sugar the moment we came in. Those are normal scents in anyone’s house, but tonight they’re of a strength that indicates they’ve been recently dumped from their containers. Overlaid with the odor of rotting vegetables, by which I assume the fridge door has been left open. I keep meaning to eat that kale because it’s supposed to be healthy, but I really don’t care for it.

     “We can also assume that our intruder is a nonsmoker and doesn’t apply perfume or aftershave regularly. Unfortunately, it hasn’t rained for several days, although the forecast did call for some, so they didn’t track mud into the house. The flour! An unforgivable oversight on my part. You will, of course, want to take casts of footprints that have tracked through the spilled flour and sugar.”

     “It didn’t get on the floor,” Estrada said. “But it’s all over the counter."

     “As the front door appears to be untampered with, and I don’t hand spare keys for my house to all and sundry, I’ll assume our intruder came in through the back door. Therefore the kitchen would be the logical first place to search.”

     “Enough, Gemma,” Jayne whispered to me.

     “I only want to point out the obvious facts.” I’ve been told on more than one occasion that some people don’t understand my attention to detail and thus misunderstand the conclusions I draw from it. I have tried to stop, but I might as well stop thinking. And this didn’t seem like a suitable time in which to stop thinking."

     “The back door’s been forced open, yes,” Estrada said. “I’ll admit, that was a good guess.”

     I was about to inform her that I never guess, but Jayne elbowed me in the ribs.

                                                                                                            

Elementary, She Read by Vicki Delany

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, reimagined as modern young women just trying to get on with life. And solve mysteries. Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than twenty-five books: everything from clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. Her latest is Elementary She Read, the first in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series from Crooked Lane Books.  The second, Body on Baker Street, will be released in September.  

Vicki is the past-president of Crime Writers of Canada. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, and the Arthur Ellis Awards.

Tell us, Reds: What’s your favourite screen or novel interpretation of the Great Detective? If you don’t have one, because you can’t stand Sherlock or never got into it, tell us that too. 

Let’s let Vicki go first: Jeremy Brett for TV and the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King for books. My favourite Holmes movie is Murder By Decree with Christopher Plumber as Holmes and James Mason as Dr. Watson. It came out in 1979, and is worth searching for.