Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press 2012 - Red Circle of ...

Jun 12 #6 Daniel Stashower's THE HOUDINI SPECTER (2000) has been reissued
by Titan Books ($12.95), completing his trio of "The Harry Hou-
dini Mysteries"; as in THE DIME MUSEUM MURDERS and THE FLOATING LADY MURDER
(Feb 12 #6), Houdini, beginning his career as an escapologist, succeeds in
solving a well-written mystery. The books have passing mentions of Sher-
lock Holmes, and it's a pity there are only three in the series. The pub-
lisher's web-site is at .
Christopher Challis died on May 31. He was a newsreel camera assistant as
a teenager, and began his film career as a cinematographer in 1947 and went
on to have a long association with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger,
and became best known for his spectacular color work. He was director of
photography for "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes".
An interesting photograph of Conan Doyle will be available
at International Autograph Auctions on July 14-15; it's lot
529, estimated at £250-£350 .
It shows a younger Conan Doyle, and is signed, and is par-
ticularly interesting because it was taken by Elliott & Fry
of Baker Street (the photograph studio was at 56 & 56 Baker
until 1919, when it moved to another location), and it is
interesting because it shows that Conan Doyle was forgetful
when he once told an interviewer that he did not recall ev-
call ever having been in Baker Street in his life.
Anthony Horowitz is keeping busy: he's writing new episodes
for "Foyle's War" and working on a sequel to his pastiche
THE HOUSE OF SILK that will not feature Sherlock Holmes. "The recent Rob-
ert Downey films are great," Horowitz said to the Yorkshire Post (June 12),
but they're what I call Indiana Holmes and, what I really want to do is ex-
plore the world in which he lives. So it's set in 1890 and the main char-
acter is Watson. By that time he and Holmes were already working together,
but I want to look at Watson's partnership with another younger detective."
Thanks to Randall Stock for the report.
The Société Sherlock Holmes de France's Ironmongers Daily News has reported
an amusing Russian parody of the Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch
versions of Sherlock Holmes at , and
with English subtitles at .
Michael Kurland's VICTORIAN VILLAINY (Rockville: Wildside Press, 2011) is a
collection of reprints of four short stories about Professor Moriarty, and
they are written with style, imagination, and humor; $4.19 as a eBook, or
$15.99 with Kurland's THE TRIALS OF QUINTILIAN in a trade-paperback reprise
of the old Ace Double format (Quintilian was an early crime-solver, in the
time of the Emperor Vespasian). Wildside specializes in mystery, fantasy,
and adventure, and their web-site's at . Kurland's
own web-site's at ; THE INFERNAL DEVICE, his first
Moriarty novel, has been dramatized by James Geisel as a one-act play, and
had its world premiere this month in South Bend, Ind.
The Spermaceti Press: Peter E. Blau, 7103 Endicott Court, Bethesda, MD
20817-4401 (301-229-5669)