Why Sherlock Holmes?

You don't want to miss M. Pepper Langlinais' newest Sherlock Holmes story!

It comes out tomorrow, but you can pre-order it for just 99 cents!

Blurb: When Elise Clayworth disappears from a hotel room in Paris, Holmes and Watson work against a seeming dearth of clues: no ransom has been demanded, no one has seen or heard anything, and there appears to be no way out of the hotel without being seen. Only a small bit of masonry in Miss Clayworth's room can shed light on what happened to her. Can Holmes deduce the lady's whereabouts before it is too late?

To celebrate this new release, Sherlock Holmes & The Mystery of the Last Line is FREE through Wednesday! M writes fantastic mysteries and her Sherlock stories are told in the traditional style. Here's a little about why she writes these tales.

Why Sherlock Holmes?

My History with Holmes

So the one question I get asked most often is why I write Sherlock Holmes stories. Or, really, what I get told most often is that I must write them because they sell. Right?

I’ll admit I’m fortunate that Holmes has a readership. But I’d write these stories even if he didn’t. I’ve loved Sherlock Holmes since I was a girl and was always just a little sorry there weren’t more of Doyle’s stories. Of course, where Doyle left off many took up the slack.

But I didn’t start with Doyle. Even though my dad is a great lover of Holmes himself and his library extensive, my first real introduction with the Great Detective was through the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes. I was nine, and the adventure spoke to me. Plus, I fell hopelessly in love with Nicholas Rowe. To this day my ideal man is tall and thin, with messy hair and a British accent.

I would come home from school every day and pop Young Sherlock Holmes into the VCR, letting it run while I sat at the coffee table and did my homework. And I’m not exaggerating. I mean every day. My best friend and I would play Holmes and Watson, too. (Today we have matching bracelets; mine says “Sherlock” and hers says “Watson.”)

Around the same time, my dad capitalized on my interest and introduced me to the Jeremy Brett series, and I got absorbed enough to finally go and read the big collected works Dad kept on his bookshelf. I used to flip through his Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook, too. Then I moved on to Nicholas Meyers’ novels and eventually would browse the second-hand bookstore for any odd Sherlockiana. The result has been an eclectic collection.

Finally, in 1999 I began applying to grad school, which meant having to send writing samples. One was a research paper on the portrayal of villains in television via their bad habits (think Cigarette Man from X-Files as a premium example), and the other was a Sherlock Holmes story titled “The Mystery of the Last Line.” That story is now available on Amazon (free today through Wednesday!) along with another Holmes story I’ve written called “The Adventure of Ichabod Reed.”

And now, after many emails from readers asking for more, I’ve written another Holmes story titled “The Monumental Horror.” It can be pre-ordered and releases on Tuesday, July 14^th.

By the way, I did get into grad school. Though I’ll never know if “Last Line” is what won them over. Maybe it was the Cigarette Man thing.

Keep up with M Pepper Langlinais at http://pepperwords.com or @sh8kspeare on Twitter.