Kieran McMullen

Review of Amateur Executioner by Sherlock Holmes Society

Kieran — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:13:12 +0000

Sherlock Holmes Society of London Reviews The Amateur Executioner by Dan Andriacco and Kieran McMullen

08May

„There is the possibility of a Fenian attack also in The Amateur Executioner: Enoch Hale Meets Sherlock Holmes, the first collaboration between Dan Andriacco and Kieran McMullen (MX; £7.99). Hale, a native Bostonian, is a reporter for London’s Central News Syndicate – where, in 1920, Horace Harker is still a familiar figure, though far from revered. It becomes evident that the apparent suicide of a Music Hall artiste was only the first of a series of murders by hanging. Hale’s determination to find the link between the victims is variously helped and hindered by a cast of remarkable characters that includes his friend TS Eliot, WB Yeats, Bernard Shaw, Ezra Pound, Alfred Hitchcock and Winston Churchill – not to mention Chief Inspector Wiggins and Sherlock Holmes. In contrast to most tales involving Holmes, The Amateur Executioner takes us into an ambiguous and murky world where right and wrong aren’t always distinguishable. I look forward to reading more about Enoch Hale.”

The Amateur Executioner is available from all good bookstores including in the USA Amazon, Barnes and Noble, in the UK Amazon, Waterstones, and for everywhere else Book Depository who offer free worldwide delivery. In ebook format there is Kindle, iPad and Kobo.

All Three Wartime Adventures of Holmes and Watson!

Kieran — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:55:47 +0000

Here is where to go to get the hardback edition of all three of Holmes’ and Watson’s wartime adventures. Follow their courageous actions and mystery solving as they fight through the great wars of their time: The Second Afghan War, the Second Boer War and the Irish Rebellion of 1916. http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-Watson-The-War-Years/dp/1780923155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367595198&sr=8-1&keywords=holmes+ahttp://kieranmcmullen.wordpress.com/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=792&type=image&TB_iframe=1nd+Watson%3A+The+War+Years

Early Review of The Amateur Executioner

Kieran — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:59:47 +0000

“I’m up to chapter 18 and enjoying it immensely. I like the way that the real-life characters have been introduced into the plot. It seems natural and not forced.” That’s what a prominent member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London says about THE AMATEUR EXECUTIONER at more than halfway through the book.

Discussion of Dr Watson

Kieran — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:20:59 +0000

Speaking on my favorite character, Dr. Watson, at the Darien, GA Library on 14 May at 1730. Just in case someone is in the area and wants to stop by!

Kieran — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:20:12 +0000

Out now in hardback in the UK and soon in the US – Holmes and Watson: The War Years. Get all three of Watson’s and Holmes’s wartime adventure; Watson’s Afghan Adventure (How did Watson survive the 2d Afghan War?), Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Boer Wagon (What brought two middle aged men to the battlefields of the Second Boer War?) and Sherlock Holmes and the Irish Rebels (Can two old men stop war and chaos in the Empires own back yard?) find out now at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holmes-Watson-The-War-Years/dp/1780923155 soon at Amazon.com and mxpublishing.com.

A Review of Irish Rebels

Kieran — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:18:14 +0000

Philip K Jones reviews Sherlock Holmes and the Irish Rebels

“This is Mr. McMullen’s second book of Sherlockian fiction and his gift for catching the reality of time and place is undiminished. Since this book is about Irish History, it is a sad book. It tells of the Easter Uprising of 1916 as experienced by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson at the request of Mycroft Holmes. The characters are mostly historic and are presented much as they were, flawed human beings trying to live up to their own ideals.

My knowledge of 20th Century Irish History is spotty at best, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of Mr. McMullen’s portrayals, but I suspect they are fairly true to life. Many of the participants in this tale died during or within a short time after the events narrated. Most of the prominent survivors died within the next few years, so our knowledge of these times relies mostly on the memories of a very few survivors and on those of friends of the participants. Paper evidence, outside of court records, is in short supply and the courts were mostly English, with little regard for the truth of events in Ireland in the face of the urgency of The Great War.

The History between England and Ireland begins shortly after the Norman Conquest. From the traditional English point of view, Ireland was a land of feuding tribes and pirate raiders. The period of anarchy that followed the death of Brian Boru, who turned back the Vikings and their allies at the Battle of Clontarf, offered all the excuse that the Norman overlords needed to extend their conquest to the island. Unlike England, the Irish were never integrated into the Kingdom. They retained their own language, customs and religious leadership.

When Henry split the English Church from Rome, the Irish remained in communion with Rome. The Church of Ireland made little impact on the Irish. Most members were those whose loyalties were to England such as the descendants of Scottish and English emigrants brought into Ireland as part of Royal policies. The Glorious Revolution of the Seventeenth Century completed the entire subjection of Ireland to English control as Cromwell invaded and devastated Ireland. Revolution festered and generations of Irish patriots carried out an uprising roughly every forty years from the late Eighteenth Century into the Twentieth.

This story is typical of Irish tragedies. Poets, teachers and madmen persuade and trick others into a hopeless revolution and the English act in their chosen character. After the battle is won, they decide to wash out all traces of revolution with blood after being unable to mount any effective prevention. Stupidity, venality and complete misunderstanding of the other side mark the normal course of English-Irish relations.

Obviously, this tale is fiction, but it could have been true. Most of the characters are real and they acted much as described. Holmes and Watson provide us with insights and a point of view of events that echo Greek Tragedies with their view that character is destiny. As I said, this is a sad story, but it is gripping, emotionally involving and impressive.”

Sherlock Holmes and The Irish Rebels is available from all good bookstores worldwide including in the USA Amazon and Barnes and Noble, in the UK Amazon and Waterstones – and in all electronic formats including Amazon Kindle, Nook, Kobo and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).

The Amateur Executioner

Kieran — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:22:40 +0000

It’s 1920 and Holmes is still an active player on the stage of life but this time he has competition. Enoch Hale, a Great War veteran and reporter for an American news syndicate lives and works in London. Hale is on the track of a killer and a mix of the nobility and the dregs of society are involved. Will Holmes help or hinder Hale as he tries to sort out fact from fiction? Will Hale be able to resist the tugs of a beautiful woman who may be involved in the mystery more than he wants to admit to himself? Will another Holmes stand in the way of both Sherlock and Enoch?

Book Signing

Kieran — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:00:59 +0000

When: Saturday, December 1st 2:00 – 5:00 pm

Where: American Legion Post #137, Darien GA

Interview of me done by fellow author Dan Andriacco

Kieran — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 23:12:09 +0000

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Mystery of the Irish Author

In writing my mystery novels, I often tap into the police and firearms knowledge of my Kieran McMullan. He is simply amazing. Once when I asked him a question about bullets, he fired the weapon in question in his basement shooting range so he could give me an accurate answer! I think it was for the same book but a different questions that he once sent me a photograph of a bullet via Facebook.
That kind of knowledge and attention to detail is on display in Kieran’s own fiction. He is the author of Watson’s Afghan Adventure and Sherlock Holmes and the Irish Rebels.Now comes Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Boer Wagon. I asked him questions about it — and got some enlightening answers.

What’s a nice Irishman like you doing writing about a couple of English guys?

Good question. Curious, isn’t it? But the answer is the same as for all the folks that follow the Great Detective and the Good Doctor. It is the appeal of the rational man tempered by the feeling man. Doyle’s (an Irishman by heritage) creations are the men we want to be, what we strive to be, their appeal is universal. They lend themselves to action, mystery, adventure and romance. Who could ask for more?

Your first book was Watson’s Afghan Adventure. Your blog is The Many Watsons. What’s the attraction of Dr. Watson for you?

Watson is the everyman, he is the one that I can identify with most closely. Who can really think themselves to be Holmes? Who really thinks they are the rational man? I know I’m not. But I do identify with taking action in a crisis or seeking the help of others. I could be Watson. Holmes, never!

Have you finally exhausted all the Watsons on your blog?

No, I haven’t. While there are 50-some currently at the blog http://kieranmcmullen.com/ there are more to be reviewed. You might like to know that there will be a book version of the blog from MXPublishing this Fall. All proceeds from the book are being donated to the effort to save Undershaw, Sir Arthur’s home.

When did you become a Sherlockian?

I became a Holmes fan at the age of eight. My Dad taught English and Russian literature at St. John’s University in New York. One summer he handed me the complete stories of the canon and said “Here, read this over the summer.” I was hooked from then on.

How did you come to write and sell your first book?

Actually, my first book was about how to care for artillery team horses in the field during Civil War reenactments. It sold fairly well but is a very specialized topic. But Watson’s Afghan Adventure had been something that was brewing for years. Who was Watson? Where was he from? Aside from his parents and brother being dead, what did we know about him, his childhood and his decision to join the army. What really made me curious was his claim to be with the 5^th Northumberland Fusiliers (who were in the 2^nd Afghan War) but he was wounded in Maiwand. Maiwand is hundreds of miles from where the 5^th Northumberland served. And where was Watson wounded? Leg, shoulder, both? All these questions needed answers.

Your books all have a solid grounding in history, more than just being set in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Is history a particular interest of yours?

I’ve always been a history buff. I’m of the considered opinion that I don’t have to make all my own mistakes, I can learn from those that have already been made by others. I like to know more than just events. I like to know how things worked and why things were done in certain ways. Why do the cannons go to the right of a line of infantry? Why did Custer split his force into four parts? Why did the leader of the Irish Citizen Army agree to an uprising with the Irish Volunteers? Why don’t people know the difference between a hansom cab and a growler? If every car in the city today was once a horse and carriage, where were they all kept and fed and cared for? Every day I realize how much I don’t know and want to know more.

What kind of research do you do?

After I determine the location, time frame and general outline of the story I start to work on the particulars. Not just of a particular event, but of the surroundings. If I were in Dublin in 1916 what would I see, how would I travel, how would I eat? I try to make the surroundings as real as possible. Who is there? In all three of my Holmes and Watson books the majority of characters are real and were in those places at those times and Holmes and Watson could well have interacted with them. One difficult part is limiting the surroundings. For example, we know a tremendous amount about the Battle of Maiwand, but what would Watson have known? He was there yes, but his knowledge was limited by hillsides, smoke and the fog of war. I try to rely almost entirely on contemporary accounts. My bookshelves are filled with late 19^th century, early 20^th century books. If I write a description of Cecil’s Hotel in London in 1900 for Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Boer Wagon, I have used references like Beavan’s Imperial London written in 1901. I know there are lots of people who like to knit-pick.

You have a varied background as a retired army officer and a retired peace officer. Does that come in handy in your writing?

It really does. It gives me a good basis for understanding how people interact, how people react in stressful situations, and how the best plan never survives the first bullet.

What’s next from the computer of Kieran McMullan?

Another excellent question! My wife is convinced that Holmes and Watson were somehow involved in the Boxer Rebellion. But since they were in South Africa at the time I haven’t quite worked that out. Besides, Charlton Heston and David Niven had that particular problem under control. Perhaps, as old men, Holmes and Watson worked with a young Constable Chan? Could be.

What haven’t I asked you that I should?

When will Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Boer Wagonbe out? Glad you asked! 24 October.

Enter to Win!

Kieran — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:09:39 +0000

All of you know what a great cause Save Undershaw Preservation Trust is. Here is a chance to win a copy of The Many Watsons and support the cause. If you don’t win, feel free to buy a copy of this or one of the other fine MXPublishing books that have donated their profits to the Trust in order to make possible the continued existence of the home built by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Just click the link below to enter.

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/34750-the-many-watsons

Oh, and if you find you have some reading time on your hands clicking on one of the book illustrations on the right would be okay too!