posted on 27 Sep 2018

Sherlock and the Baskerville Beast by Corrine Gosling, illustrated by Andrea Alemanno

In this new picture story book from the US/Italian team of Corrine Gosling and Andrea Alemanno, the pair have plenty of fun with the whole Sherlock Holmes heritage. Here Sherlock is a big, bouncing, shaggy sheep-dog with his human counterpart’s instinct for solving mysteries that bamboozle everyone else.

Sherlock lives in a house that is owned by Mrs Hudson, on the Baker Estates in a cul-de-sac called Holmes. When, one day, a police constable ( called L. Strade – get it?) turns up at the front door with a warning about sightings of a terrible black beast roaming loose in the area, it’s a mystery our doggy-detective can’t resist.

Using his canine instincts and super-sensitive nose, Sherlock starts to collect some clues about what this beast might be and soon rumbles what’s going on. Laying his trap in the back garden one night, he snares the terrible beast. But, of course, there’s nothing at all terrifying – it’s just another big, shaggy black dog that’s lost its owner and just needs some food and love.

Mrs Hudson takes the ‘beast’ into the house and feeds and grooms him – discovering in the process a tag that tells her that he belonged to Mr H. Baskerville ( got that one too?). But, the mysterious Baskerville can’t be found at his last known address and so it’s inevitable that he’s going to have to stay with Sherlock and the ever tolerant Mrs Hudson. Of course, there’s the perfect ending too when Sherlock draws Mrs Hudson’s attention to the reverse side of the address tag where the stray’s name is printed.

Have you guessed it yet?

Yes, it’s Watson!

None of this is a spoiler really because knowing this won’t mar your enjoyment and even some of the younger readers will guess the outcome if they’ve got even a passing knowledge of Sherlock Holmes – and let’s face it, if you haven’t, then quite a lot of the puns will fly past you. It’s a big shaggy dog story that I’m guessing has now set up some sequels that will see the two working together in the best traditions of Conan Doyle’s originals.

Praise too is due to Andrea Alemanno’s illustrations that are a fabulous addition to the story. I was initially concerned that, for a picture book, this story might be a bit wordy but actually the way the words work with the pictures offsets some of those concerns. The drawings have been cleverly worked around the words to both showcase the text and give a great frame to the drawings. So we get pictures in frames not unlike a storyboard strip and others which fill a double page spread and bleed right off the edges of the book.

The book is published by Tiny Tree Children’s Books and is now available to buy on line from them or you could order a copy from your local independent bookshop.

Terry Potter

September 2018

(Click on any of the images below to view them in a slide show format)