Joe Gentile

The “Sherlock Holmes & Kolchak” tagline is misleading; the small (several chapters out of 23) Sherlock subplot could be removed without affecting the Kolchak story line. They are not trying "to untangle the same mystery" but different mysteries tangentially related.
The book starts with an intriguing mystery: a hundred year old manuscript has equally old instructions to deliver it to Kolchak. How did his name get attached decades before he was born? Very intriguing, but NEVER ACTUALLY EXPLAINED.
There isn’t much of a mystery to solve, just a MacGuffin to locate (which ends up being simply handed to Carl along the way) and I’m still not sure why there was any fuss over it to begin with (I understand what it is and shows; but not the fuss over it - what importance it has was imparted by the fuss itself).
The minor supernatural element seems tacked on.
Once the adventure is over, the book takes a long time (and two extended epilogues) to end.

Joe Gentile doesn’t do well recreating the characters from Kolchak and Sherlock Holmes. Scattered pieces of their dialog sounded authentic (the best was when Kolchak tried acting guiltless and Vincenzo said “Innocence suits you like that hat”), but in both worlds the author attempted to “fix” things between characters that weren’t broken:
* Holmes’ feelings toward Watson is implied in the original stories; here, Holmes’ compassion is discussed openly and Sherlock tells Watson at some length how important he is to him. Even Lestrade gets “fixed” with an aside to Watson that makes the doctor completely re-evaluate his opinion of the inspector. Not only was this unnecessary, but it took up a significant amount of the brief Sherlock section of the story.
* While Kolchak and Vincenzo swap a few barbs, they’re usually more sophomoric than we've seen in the original works. Their relationship gets “fixed” also; Vincenzo is given a dead son and Kolchak a dead wife for them to commiserate over. Although Vincenzo has no idea what story Kolchak is working on (and apparently has given him no assignments, despite being his editor) he blindly runs interference for Carl, even endangering his own family members in the process without knowing why.

I have the Audible version of this book and the reader (Johnny Heller) does a fine job with various accents and voices, even managing females without sounding like a neophyte drag queen.

My cred: I've seen both Kolchak films and every episode of the series repeatedly and I just finished reading the two novels that the films were based on. I've read every Sherlock Holmes story by Doyle, and seen most of the screen versions (including BBC versions not aired in the USA). I'm not an expert but feel that I can adequately judge the rendition of the characters.… (més)

The Green Hornet has a special place in our hearts. Back in the days we ran our Forest Comics business there was a guy who always seemed to be first through the door at any show we attended, and would run straight to us shouting “Got any Green ‘ornet?” We always made sure we did, and he became one of our best customers. He would have loved this anthology, and as a fellow Green Hornet fan, so do I. As with any anthology the stories (and there’s a lot in this one) vary in quality - but here they swing between good and excellent. There isn’t a clunker in these pages. I only have two questions about this collection. 1. Why did I leave this on a shelf unread for so many years? 2. Why don’t I have a story in it? (OK I wasn’t writing fiction back then .. but if anyone ever does a second collection then count me in!) Let’s roll ...… (més)