Val Andrews

Broschiertes Buch

Sherlock Holmes and the Charlie Chaplin Affair

Beschreibung

For his last book Val Andrews chose to write a story involving Charlie Chaplin. As ever it mixes fact with fiction, and introduces the reader to the world of vaudeville and film that was so familiar to him. In fact, Val always said that this was his favourite novel to write and research. At the heart of the story is Hannah Chaplin who was born in London in 1865 as Hannah Harriet Pedlingham Hill. She was the mother of Charlie Chaplin, and was an actress, singer and dancer in her own right. She performed in music halls under her stage name of Lily Harley from the age of sixteen, and even toured Northern America in 1890, just a year after giving birth to Charlie and at a time when her health was starting to give cause for concern. As a consequence she spent spells in asylums while her son's career was taking off in America. No wonder then that Chaplin visits a retired Sherlock Holmes to try and track down his mother who he has not seen for some years. Holmes and Watson accept the case which will entail Watson going under cover as a 'resting' music hall entertainer. Eventually the duo will end up in Hollywood where Hannah Chaplin will be reunited with her son. The story mirrors real life as Chaplin had Hannah brought to America in 1921 where she was cared for in a house in the San Fernando Valley until her death in 1928.

Autor

During his life Val Andrews wrote over thirty new Sherlock Holmes adventures and was always at his best when writing about the world of entertainment, in which he worked as a writer and performer for fifty years. From a theatrical background, he had been in his time a professional vaudeville artiste, ventriloquist, magician and scriptwriter to Tommy Cooper, Benny Hill and other comedy legends of stage and television. He could even count among his friends the likes of Orson Welles.Val Andrews was born in Hove near Brighton on the 15th February 1926 only a few hours after Valentine's Day and hence his Christian name. He was the son of an architect and indeed it was his father who introduced him to magic, a fascination that was to last a lifetime and was to result many biographies on the great magicians and numerous writings on magic in general.He died from a heart attack on the 12th October 2006 and will be missed, but at least his name will live on through his books that continue to thrill old and new murder mystery enthusiasts alike.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Baker Street Studios Limited
• Seitenzahl: 138
• Erscheinungstermin: 5. September 2020
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 140mm x 8mm
• Gewicht: 184g
• ISBN-13: 9781901091717
• ISBN-10: 1901091716
• Artikelnr.: 59578907