A.S. Croyle
MYSTERY NOVELS
Before Watson Series of Sherlock Holmes Novels Books 1-4
Starting in 1874, the Before Watson novels cover the adventures of Sherlock Holmes before he meets Dr. Watson.
It is Spring, 1874, and twenty-year-old Sherlock Holmes is a lonely, mopey, friendless Oxford student. He attends classes and spends countless solitary hours conducting chemical experiments, reading, and playing his violin. Suddenly, his life changes because of a serendipitous moment on campus. While walking on the grounds of the university and practicing fencing moves with his foil, he encounters Victor Trevor and his sweetheart, Poppy Stamford, younger sister of the man who will one day introduce Sherlock to Dr. John Watson. Having just attended the final rowing contest of Eights Week, Victor and Poppy are also walking with her bull terrier. When the dog decides he doesn't like the looks of Sherlock, he sinks his teeth into Sherlock's ankle. This dog bite incident becomes a life-changing event for all of them. Through his new friendship with Victor Trevor and encouraged by Victor's father to use his genius for detective work, Sherlock discovers his uncanny abilities and a constellation of unfamiliar emotions as he and Poppy are thrust not only into a dangerous investigation into England's notorious baby-farming industry but into the perilous realm of young romance. Be an eyewitness to the emergence of how Sherlock became the man and the legend we know today….
It is 1878, and Dr. Poppy Stamford has reluctantly rekindled her relationship with Sherlock Holmes. Though it has been almost four years since they parted on uneasy terms and he continues to suppress his feelings for her, they are still intrigued and inspired—and frustrated—by each other. When her beloved uncle is arrested in relation to a series of murders near the British Museum, Poppy and the burgeoning detective set out to find the evidence to set him free. Can they track down the real killer in time to save Uncle Ormond from the rope? In the latest adventure of Poppy Stamford and Sherlock Holmes, the two not only uncover secret societies, but find themselves soul-searching to clarify their beliefs about an array of moral issues including euthanasia and the death penalty . . . as well as their feelings toward one another.
Dr. Poppy Stamford, sister of the man who would introduce John Watson to Sherlock Holmes, teams up once again with Sherlock in a new adventure. One of Sherlock's Baker Street Irregulars, Wiggins, uncovers a dismembered body in a shallow grave. Poppy and Sherlock set out to solve the murder and suddenly discover that it may be linked to the mysterious mutilation of Her Majesty's swans.
Working under the eerie cloak of one of the most devastating fogs in London's history, the case takes Poppy and Sherlock from the most sordid neighborhoods of dirty, old Victorian London to the lofty halls of the Privy Council.
In the fourth and final book in the Before Watson series, Sherlock Holmes and his companion and assistant, Dr. Poppy Stamford, embark on their greatest adventure yet. They are charged with solving not one case but three. One involves bogus charges against Poppy's former stable boy. The second is their attempt to stop a wave of crime perpetrated by the Elephant Gang, the famous and ruthless girls' gang that terrorized London in the nineteenth century, The third is an investigation into who burglarized the brothel owned by Maggie May, a mysterious woman with a keen mind and a treasure trove of secrets. During this time, Poppy also faces great losses and the promise of a new life--if she can bring herself to give up her quest to capture Sherlock's intransigent heart.
When the Song of the Angels is Stilled
2015 KIRKUS REVIEW:
Before Sherlock Holmes meets John Watson, the young detective solves crimes with a bright lady friend in this delectable “before Watson” novel.
In Croyle’s (The Caretaker, 2009) new series, Holmes is a loner college student at Oxford in 1874 when he’s bitten by a dog visiting the campus with its owner, Priscilla “Poppy” Stamford. Guilt over the dog bite forces Poppy and her suitor, Victor Trevor, to take an interest in Sherlock’s welfare, and a friendship forms between the three. Though studying nursing, Poppy is keen to become a doctor, but England’s medical schools aren’t yet open to females. Medical training, Poppy says, is “a door still closed to me. Universities like Oxford and Cambridge, and medical schools were largely bastions of male privilege.” Her feminist sensibilities are conveyed in language appropriate to the era, and Poppy makes quite a fine narrator—and heroine. Her sharp mind draws Sherlock’s attention, and soon they and a few friends are sleuthing together. A serial killer known as the Angel Maker is somehow acquiring and murdering illegitimate babies, their tiny bodies thrown into the River Thames like trash. While Poppy’s compassion has her yearning to solve the case, Sherlock’s intellect and curiosity compel him—and perhaps his affection for Poppy. Croyle doesn’t try to re-create the style of Arthur Conan Doyle’s John Watson; instead, he conjures a fresh, new narrator in Poppy, sister of the man who eventually introduces Sherlock and Watson. The book needs better editing, though, to catch omitted words and spotty punctuation of dialogue. Holmes fans will find much to enjoy here, including Sherlock and Poppy’s friendship with her friend Effie’s cousin, writer Oscar Wilde. Also, Trevor is the son of Mr. Trevor from Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott,” and that story gets a retelling here. This fast-paced tale will appeal to those who like to ponder what made Sherlock Holmes the great detective he was, and hearing his story from a female perspective is particularly enjoyable.
An engaging addition to Sherlock Holmes legendry.
Amazon Customer Review - 5.0 out of 5 stars
More than a fine pastiche--a wonderful novel
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2015
It would be faint praise to call this novel merely a fine Sherlock Holmes pastiche. What A.S. Croyle has written is a complex, moving novel with memorable characters of her own creation (including the most appealing heroine since Irene Adler), besides a fascinating portrait of young Sherlock Holmes. Here is a callow, more vulnerable Sherlock than we are used to seeing, yet unmistakably the youth who will become the man. The case that he and Poppy Stamford undertake to solve incorporates the oldest Canon mystery, “The Gloria Scott,” and centers on an “Angel Maker.” Rooted in historical events, it reminds those who would romanticize Victorian London that its underworld was, in fact, a truly awful place. The novel’s most important revelation is that Sherlock Holmes was being less than honest when he told Dr. Watson: “I have never loved.” Disproving that claim may seem like heresy to some Sherlockians, but our lovelorn young hero loses Poppy Stamford precisely because he is already trapped inside the man that Conan Doyle created. We mourn their fate, even though it was inevitable, for love might have made the great detective (if nothing else) a far less lonely man. Happily, the author devises an ending that reconciles us to his loss. After finishing When the Song of the Angels is Stilled, I felt I fully understood, for the first time, why Sherlock Holmes became the man he was. That is the measure of Ms. Croyle’s achievement, and it took a fine novelist—not merely a fine writer of pastiches—to accomplish it.
The Bird and the Buddha
Amazon Customer Review - 5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2019
Absolutely love this book!
Love her perspective on the stories!
Poppy really is an outstanding character! She is strong and independent!
Can’t wait to read the next book!
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2016
This novel is a stand alone but is the second Before Watson Novel by this author. The writer deftly weaves historical events and figures, classic Holmes elements, and original characters and plots. Poppy continues to intrigue and delight and is an excellent foil to Holmes, matching him in intellect, but able to strive for a balance in her life that he cannot seem to grasp. The mystery itself is well crafted and the suspense builds to a great finish. I'll continue to follow this series.
The Case of the Swan in the Fog
Book Reviewer: Suzanne - 5.0 out of 5 stars
Croyle's work also exposes the challenges faced by intelligent and courageous women in a society that relegates them ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2017
This is the third in a series of before Watson novels featuring the young Sherlock Holmes and his friend/romantic interest Dr. Poppy Stamford. Croyle once again crafts a story with rich historical details and a fast moving plot. I really appreciate Croyle's ability to dig deep into the details of the period to bring life and interest to the story. Croyle's work also exposes the challenges faced by intelligent and courageous women in a society that relegates them to more traditional roles. Fortunately for the reader, Dr. Stamford is never overshadowed by Mr. Holmes.
The details regarding Her Majesty's swans tie together the murder plot, but also provide a fascinating insight on the importance of swans and the old tradition of swan-upping. Croyle always surprises me with new and nuanced historical perspectives as well as solid and multidimensional characters exhibiting humor and intelligence.
The Case of the Three Species
Book Reviewer: Thomas A. Turley - 5.0 out of 5 stars
A well-written, satisfying ending to Sherlock and Poppy's detective partnership
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2020
With this “fourth and final” installment, A.S. Croyle brings to a close her saga of the brief romance, and longer detective partnership, of the youthful Sherlock Holmes and Dr. “Poppy” Stamford, a brilliant, assertive, but vulnerable young women seeking entry into the exclusively male, misogynistic world of Victorian medicine. Along the way (as recounted in When the Song of the Angels is Stilled), she met and fell in love with the budding detective, who has often been accounted a notable misogynist in his own right. Ms. Coyle’s achievement was not only to create in Poppy Stamford a convincing “first love” for Sherlock Holmes, but to reveal a side of Holmes himself that few of us (and certainly not Conan Doyle) realized was there. Yet, Croyle was wise enough not to go too far, for Sherlock quickly abandoned the emotional distraction of romance in order to devote himself exclusively to The Science of Deduction. Equally wisely, if not happily, Poppy accepted his decision; and they continued their crime-solving partnership in The Bird and the Buddha and The Case of the Swan in the Fog. This final case (for the “three species” in the title are connected) has its origins in the American Civil War and anticipates several events and characters Holmes will encounter later on in his career. It is a pleasure to report that the last “Before Watson” novel is the best-written and most tightly plotted of the four. Croyle does well by the memorable characters she created (Poppy has an important, moving scene with Uncle Ormond), and she handles the novel’s ending flawlessly. Holmes’s “one friend” and Poppy’s rejected suitor, Victor Trevor, returns to resolve the book’s underlying issues in a satisfying way. It was with regret that I turned the last page of The Case of the Three Species, knowing that Sherlock and Poppy had solved their final case together, but fully understanding the young man whom Poppy’s brother introduces to a former army surgeon at the novel’s end. Their detective partnership, we know, went on to literary immortality. As for Sherlock Holmes’ first love, there are hints in Croyle’s epilogue that Dr. Stamford retained an interest in deduction during her long medical career in India. If so, at least one reader will await with hope an entire new series of “After Watson” novels!