Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9781582341323
ISBN number: 158234132X
Label: Bloomsbury USA
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: March 07, 2001
Publishing house: Bloomsbury USA
Sale Popularity Level: 1183920
Studio: Bloomsbury USA
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
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.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I read several reviews praising this book, but realized too late that I did not agree. It has a promising start, but later becomes absurd and tries to convince the reader that Moriarty not only survived The Final Problem, but now has supernatural powers, and is trying to kill the Dalai Lama, while Holmes is really a reincarnated Lama who Moriarty killed in a past life, and the book ends with a tedious and laughable magical dual between Holmes and Moriarty. Stay away at all costs!
Rated by buyers -
If one takes the time to read the back of the paperback edition of The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, you will not help but notice the lines "Published as Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years in hardcover." What often happens is that the book is released under one title in Britian and Europe and another in the USA. A previous example was "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Running Noose" which I unfortunately fell for like a brick. Take heed, Sherlockians! There's a GAME afoot! Quoth the Raven...
Rated by buyers 
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Most people who know a little about Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series know that at one point Doyle got sick of the detective series and killed off his star character, only to be forced into "resurrecting" him after a two year absence. Here, in one of the many, many, many, modern takes on the Holmes series, eminent Tibetan author Norbu details Holmes adventures incognito in India and Tibet during those two years. The role of Dr. Watson (both as bumbling sidekick and chronicler) is here assumed by Hurree Chandar Mookerjee, a Bengali spy lifted from yet another work of fiction, Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" (and just to be totally clear, he was based on a real Indian who spied for the British!). The adventures initially consist of a plot by the henchmen of Holmes' now-dead nemesis, Moriarity, to avenge their leader's death. Holmes ends up hiding out and getting the notion to make a pilgrimage to Lhasa to meet the Dalai Lama�something strictly forbidden for Westerners. This leads to the second main adventure, which involves helping the young 13th Dalai Lama (a man critical to real-life modern Tibetan history) evade the deadly machinations of the powerful Manchu Imperial agents in Lhasa.
Norbu should very first and foremost be commended for being able to almost perfectly capture the correct period speech for each character (there is a lengthy glossary at the back for all the Hinustani phrases and period slang). I say" almost" because I found Hurree's speech to be just a little too over the top, even for the type of educated servant of the Empire he is�it's just a shade too forced at times. Norbu has also captured the period perfectly and manages to seamlessly insert his own agenda by portraying early Chinese imperialism in Tibet. The portrayal of Holmes is excellent (enthusiastic, abrasive, arrogant, drug abuser) up to a point. That point is the final quarter of the book which starts melding the Holmesian world of deduction and reason with the Tibetan world of mysticism and occult powers. Up until then, I had been having great fun, but once people started throwing around hellfire and erecting mental shields and whatnot, I lost faith and interest in the whole exercise. It's not that I'm prejudiced against such things (I've played sword and sorcery role-playing games for 15 years), I just don't think they belong in the hyper-deductive world of Sherlock Holmes. It's well known that Conan Doyle had a strong belief in the occult and was fascinated with the spirit world, but to mix that in with Holmes just rubs me wrong.
Rated by buyers 
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Surely something happened in the years when Sherlock Holmes travelled through India and Tibet. According to author Jamyang Norbu, what happened was a fabulous adventure that challenged Holmes to the full, gave him a new sidekick (an Indian spy out of Rudyard Kipling). Holmes comes to India fleeing Mortiarty's henchmen who seek revenge for their fallen master. Unfortunately, they arrive in India before him and his life is in constant danger. Holmes shows his traditional detective skills, solving an apparently impossible crime, but then develops a fascination for Tibet. Travelling to forbidden, mysterious, and beset Tibet, Holmes seeks to help the High Lama escape from the influence of Imperial China and a mysterious and arcane dark power. The battle becomes a bit more physical than usual in Holmes stories, but retains a true Holmes feel. I especially enjoyed Norbu's descriptions of British India, with both its positives and the incredible British arrogance both on full display. Norbu's political objective (the end to Chinese oppression in Tibet) is clear but does not overwhelm the novel. Whether Doyle would approve of this story is certainly open to question. Given that we know that Holmes travelled to Tibet and met with the High Lama, I think a more mystical approach to these years is certainly appropriate. Go ahead and enjoy this fine novel.
Rated by buyers -
A WELL WRITTEN PASTICHE THAT COVERS A SUBJECT LONG NEGLECTED,THOSE FABLED MISSING YEARS.I SAY ALA SAX ROHMER BECAUSE OF THE ATTEMPT ON HOLMES WITH A POISINOUS LEECH.(THE KISS OF ZYAT ON SIR DENNIS NAYLAND SMITH)AND MEMBERS OF THE MANCHU CLAN POLICING TIBET. VERY MUCH ENJOYED THIS ONE,DON'T PASS IY BY. RICHARD S. DAVIS
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