I had a very good Christmas, and received many nice things, including these books:
The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon [Penguin 2013 paperback] – mystery. Originally published in France in 1931, translated in 1987 as Maigret and the Yellow Dog (Harcourt Brace), first published by Penguin with minor revisions in 2003, this edition, with further minor revisions, published in 2013. Penguin is re-publishing the entire Maigret series. I have 34 of the Harcourt Brace paperbacks and haven’t read even half of them, so I’ve had no thoughts of buying the new set, as tempting as that is. Still, I wanted to try one, and this is it, selected off my Wish List by my spouse. I can’t say I’m overwhelmed by the covers on this, though.
Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Volume Three by Davod Petersen et al [Archania Press 2015 hardcover] – graphic novel, short tales. This is the latest of the Mouse Guard books. I have them all and love them.
The Papers of Sherlock Holmes by David Marcum [MX Publishing 2013 trade paper] – mystery short story collection, Holmes pastiches. Marcum has written quite a lot of Holmes stories and is also the editor of the three volume collection published last Fall.
Sherlock Holmes in Montague Street by David Marcum [MX Publishing 2011 trade paper] – mystery short story collection, Holmes pastiches. I’m not sure what to think of this and it’s two following volumes, all of which I received. Marcum writes good Holmes pastiche stories, but these are something else. He has taken the Martin Hewitt stories of Arthur Morrison and “edited” them into Sherlock Holmes stories.He makes his case (or tries to) in the introduction that he is convinced Hewitt is really Holmes, which justifies this rewriting. Though unconvinced, I read two of the stories from my copy of Best Martin Hewitt Stories by Morrison, and then the same stories as revised by Marcum, and there is, other than the name change, hardly a difference. So I’ll read these as Hewitt stories, ignoring the name change. This at least gives me a complete set of those stories.
Silver Chief, Dog of the North (1933) and Silver Chief To the Rescue (1937 both by Jack O’Brien, illustrated by Kurt Wiese [John C. Winston Company, hardcover] – adventure, dog story. After I enjoyed the author’s Spike of Swift River so much, Barbara found these and got them for me. Cool, I look forward to reading them.
Superman the War Years 1938-1945 and Bat Man the War Years 1939-1945 by Roy Thomas [Chartwell Books 2015 oversized hardcover] – graphic novel, comics. We spotted these at Costco for a pittance, and they wound up under the tree. fun.
Tip the Wink 
Nice haul, Richard. I was hoping to see KENNETH GRAHAME’S MR. TOAD: THE WART YEARS 1914-1918 under our tree. Alas, no luck.
That’s the one illustrated by James Thurber, right? It’s very rare.
Any thoughts on the Superman and Bat Man collections?
I think your SHERLOCK HOLMES collection is starting to rival Art Scott’s and Bill Crider’s collections. Even though I had the “old” Maigret’s, I’ve been buying the new Penguins. I think the new translations are better.
Not nearly, George, mine is a slapdash mishmash of things I pick up here and there, but I do have twenty or thirty.
Nice list! Someone must have been a good boy this year.
I’m interested in that Morrison thing, why he felt compelled to do it. I recently got an ebook (for 99 cents, I believe) of the COMPLETE MARTIN HEWITT STORIES. I have read THE BEST…collection before but will read all of them again as I did recently with the huge Thinking Machine collection (In checking for the title, I was tempted by the Arthur Train Megapack and bought that for 99 cents too. Those Megapack editions are a great bargain.)
Perhaps I should have returned the books and bought the Hewitt ebook instead. Bob Byrne, who has been posting Solar Pons w and Holmes articles on Black Gate, says he thinks the Hewitt stories are dull, and after reading two of them and then the corresponding two in this first volume, I have to agree, at least in comparison to the Holmes canon.
No, Hewitt is no Holmes. But it’s been so long since I read one I’ll have to see.
I spent half of the day looking for two books I bought right before Christmas and stashed away. Choosing what books to take to CA is always stressful. And then I get there and go to the library sale room and buy more.
Ah, Patti, don’t stress out! If you don’t find them it will be a nice surprise when you get back.
The Claus did all right by you. I’m particular to the Holmes pastiches. Happy New Year reading!