Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers' Club is the second Early Sherlock Holmes historical mystery by Linda Stratmann. Released 12th Jan 2022, it's 239 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a well written and succinct mystery true to its roots. The clues are laid out tantalizingly and (as always) woven together into a whole cloth by young Mr. Holmes. The details are just as outlandish as we could wish, the apparent accidental death of a young man with seven toes his foot leads Holmes to secret society and more "accidental" deaths.

I recommend it to fans of the canon who are yearning for more Holmes and Watson adventures. Stratmann is a capable writer with a sure voice who captures the period very well. In the uncorrected proof provided for review, there were a few grammatical and typesetting errors. These have presumably been corrected in the release version. That being said, they weren't egregious even in the pre-release copy.

Four stars. Well done and entertaining.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I really enjoyed this story. This is the second offering about a young, just beginning Sherlock Holmes, with Stamford along for the ride instead of friend Watson. I think the mystery was very well done, and the major strength of the story. Holmes was rather true to character, and Stamford as the sidekick instead of Watson was handled well. The pace was quick and the solution not obvious. My only real gripes are the grammatical and wording errors, as they did take away from the reading enjoyment.

Sherlock Homes and the Explorers Club is a great read and worthy of being added to early cannon of the Holmes Novels. An interesting read with lots of twists and turns. Its the second of a series but can be read as a stand alone.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sapere Books for the ARC. This review is my own opinion.

Holmes is ask to identify a man from his foot alone as a test of his skills. As he works out who the man was another man is murdered and another. This puts the pressure on Holmes to discover what is behind the whole series of deaths. As he slowly unravels the problem he discovers a much large plot with treasure at the center. This was a fast paced read. The characters were believable. Holmes is slowly changing into the Doyle Holmes and clues and hints to his evolution are placed in the story. This was a fun read.

Holmes is faced with an unidentified body, a coded message, and multiple murders… The story is so unpredictable and tense full of suspense and mystery, I loved it.
I found myself second guessing all the way through. Extraordinary. Outstanding… absolutely amazing… just wow!… this book is exquisite.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Sapere Books, in return for an honest review. While the second book in this series, it is easily read as a standalone. This story of the university-age Sherlock Holmes and his friend, medical student Stamford. A great addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon, as this showcases Sherlock as a college student before the world recognizes his brilliance and his eccentricities. You’ll encounter Sergeant Lestrade, also before his glory days. Together, Sherlock and Stamford investigate the death of a seven toed man. From that, they discover a unique gentlemen’s club, based on a collegiate rowing team’s shared experience and the possibility of treasure. Hmmm, is there a tontine in this mix? What links these disparate situations? Well, you’ll have to read this excellent story to find out! Ms. Startmann has written an enjoyable tale and I look forward to the next in this series.

Another book by Linda Stratmann full of adventure and mystery. The plot portrays a young Sherlock investigating some intriguing cases. A perfect page turner for Sherlock Holmes' lovers. The book can be referred to as new age adventures of Sherlock. The story hooks you up from the beginning and you cannot put it down until you reach the end. And as you begin to think that you have guessed the climax it takes a thrilling turn. I really liked the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I would, definitely, give the book 5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and Sapere Books for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club, it’s full of unexpected twists and turns. I love the original Sherlock Holmes series and this is a worthy addition to the canon.

This second addition to Linda Startmann's new series is an absolute delight from start to finish with its well crafted plot filled with enough twists and turns to keep the you on the edge of your seat and its magnificent cast of exquisitely drawn characters.
I must confess that I have always found Sherlock Holmes a bit of a bore but with Ms Startmann's I have been able to acquire a different opinion of one of the most celebrated sleuth in English crime fiction!
Highly recommended and to be really whitout any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sapere Books for this terrific ARC

Medical student Mr Stamford brings a new mystery to young Sherlock Holmes. A man has been killed in what appears to be an accident. He has no identification and the only distinguishing mark is seven toes on one foot. Soon they are led to a group called the Explorers’ Club who have been searching for years for a hidden treasure. Only it turns out that recently,the seven-toed man isn’t the only member to die in what appear to be random accidents and Holmes is determined to discover whether they are exactly how they appear or is something more sinister at play.

Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club s the second book in The Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series by Linda Stratmann and it is just as entertaining as the first. Sherlock and Stamford make an interesting team and the mystery kept me guessing right til the big reveal at the end. The story did start out a little slowly but quickly picked up steam and kept me glued to the pages. Definitely another fun addition to the Holmes canon.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

Holmes is faced with an unidentified body, a coded message, and multiple murders. But this is Holmes before he became HOLMES and he approaches things a little differently at this point in his life. The book reads a bit slow at the start and I was worried that would continue but it picked up suddenly and was a thrilling ride until the end. I enjoy this version of a younger, less experienced Holmes and his assistant, Stamford who obviously later in life is replaced by Watson. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

These books are such a delight for an Sherlock lover or even if you're just a beginner. It helps to have read the first book in the series, Sherlock Holmes and the Rosetta Stone, but it is not necessary to enjoy this book.

Sherlock is now intrigued by the death of a seven-toed man who cannot be identified. His "enquires" lead him to another puzzling mystery about long lost treasure and an "Explorer's Club" where the members are being picked off one by one in circumstances to appear as unfortunate accidents. However, nothing gets past the master soon to be detective. This story takes place pre-John Watson with a young surgeon in training, Mr. Stamford. Holmes is a "student" at university who is studying anatomy and chemistry but really more on his own terms.

I found this book to be captivating towards the middle, although the beginning was a bit slower than the last book. However, once it picked up I was reluctant to put it down. The whodunit in this story is intriguing but if one reads enough mysteries and detective stories it is not too difficult to figure out. This did not detract from my enjoyment of the story in the slightest. I love that Holmes has such a cavalier attitude and trivial things matter not to him, it is the game of solving the mystery.

As I mentioned, this is a great book to read if you're already a fan of Sherlock or just starting to pick up his many tales. I loved it and I do hope there will be more books in the series.

I’m a big fan of Sherlock Holmes as well as a few authors who have followed admirably in Doyle’s footsteps, like Anthony Horowitz and Laurie R King. I was excited to read Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club, especially with Stamford standing in the role usually assigned to Watson.

The original Holmes stories were succinct and I appreciate that this kept strictly to the mystery. Stamford is observant and amusing at times, and he’s the only way to humanize Holmes for us readers. I smiled to see Sergeant Lestrade’s name, but we never got to hear from him directly. I did get a kick out of the Easter eggs for future Holmes mysteries, like the Musgrave Ritual and hints at his future Irregulars.

After a slow start, things picked up dramatically. After the mention of a seven-toed foot, we follow the story of college friends on the rowing team, their chance discovery of a paper promising riches, the formation of the Explorers’ Club, and their determination to find a treasure trove. As you’d expect, the real mystery is hidden underneath.

It is longer compared to something like A Study in Scarlet, although Holmes was as quick at putting the clues together as you’d want him to be. It has all the twists and dangling hints just out of our reach but not out of Holmes’s, which is what you’d expect from a Holmes tale.

I found a grammatical error in the first sentence. A ‘which’ instead of ‘that’. This misuse continues throughout and others like it make me wonder if this passed through an editor’s hands. There were instances where a comma was missing where it was needed to signal that the adverb modifies the whole sentence and not just the word that follows. Other sentences like ‘I know your powers of observation will have enlightened you more than I was.’ and typos with dates had me reading twice and pulled me out of the story.

3.5/4 I received a complimentary review copy from NetGalley

Book 2 of the early casebook of Sherlock Holmes, when he was a young man, starts with an unidentified man, who' has died. It is wonderful that the author imagines Holmes before he became a famous detective, his skills are not inferior for all that. He gets a series of clues, through a headmaster's subsequent accident, that does not appear to be an accident. Could it be murder? Homes gathers more clues, and there I must stop, or I will spoil the book for the reader. This is a great read and thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Sapere Books for a review copy of Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club, the second novel in a series featuring an early version of Sherlock Holmes.

Medical student Stamford enlists the help of another student, Sherlock Holmes, to identify a man with seven toes who died in an accident. The discovery of a coded letter in the man’s wallet leads them to the secretive Explorers’ Club and more accidental deaths.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club, which is a ripping yarn, full of unexpected twists and turns. I have not read the first novel in the series and dread to think how many years it is since I read the original stories, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I am a fan of Ms Stratmann’s writing and expected good things. I was amply rewarded for my faith.

In keeping with the spirit of Conan Doyle’s writing the novel is narrated by Stamford and in keeping with setting he is a medical student, rather than a qualified doctor. He too has no idea about Holmes’s thought processes and stands as the foil to Holmes’s deductive reasoning. He has a very readable style with keen observations on Holmes’s character and his own lack of observation.

The plot is great. It starts with a small mystery, an unidentified corpse and soon blossoms into something much wider and darker. Of course what they end up investigating is fairly silly, but the emotions and actions involved are far from that. It makes for a delightful mixture of the absurd and the serious. It’s not a long novel so nothing is superfluous and it moves along at a fast clip. I was glued to the pages, wanting to know what would come next. I have found a new series to follow.

Sherlock Holmes and the Explorers’ Club is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.