A Taste for Honey
First edition
AuthorH. F. Heard
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Published1941
PublisherCassell (UK)
Vanguard Press (US)
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Followed byReply Paid 

A Taste for Honey is a 1941 mystery novel by H. F. Heard.

Background

A Taste for Honey was the first of three novels Heard wrote about a Mr. Mycroft, strongly implied to be an elderly Sherlock Holmes in retirement on the Sussex Downs.[1] The novel's two sequels are Reply Paid (1945) and The Notched Hairpin (1949).[1] Heard also wrote two short stories featuring the detective for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine: "Mr. Montalba, Obsequist"[2] (September 1945)[3] and "The Enchanted Garden" (March 1949).[3]

Reception

Christopher Morley called A Taste for Honey the only worthwhile Sherlock Holmes sequel, adding that it was "engaging and terrifying".[4] Raymond Chandler called the book "a very clever thriller".[5]

Vladimir Nabokov expressed enthusiasm for the novel, stating in a letter to his friend, the critic Edmund Wilson: "I was lying on my bed groaning … yearning for a good detective story—and at that very moment the Taste for Honey sailed in. … Mary [McCarthy] was right, I enjoyed it hugely." Nabokov, an expert in entomology, also noted that the author got facts about butterflies in the novel wrong.[6]

Adaptations

On 22 February 1955, the American Broadcasting Company presented "Sting of Death", an adaptation of the novel starring Boris Karloff as Mr. Mycroft, as an episode of The Elgin TV Hour.[7]

The novel was loosely adapted into a 1967 British horror film, The Deadly Bees, directed by Freddie Francis.[8] Robert Bloch, who admired the novel, kept closely to it in his original screenplay; however, before production began, the screenplay was heavily rewritten by Anthony Marriott, removing most connections with the book.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b DeAndrea, William L. (1994), Encyclopedia Mysteriosa, London: Macmillan, p. 159
  2. ^ Queen, Ellery (1946), To the Queen's Taste: The First Supplement to 101 Years' Entertainment: Consisting of the Best Stories Published in the First Four Years of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., p. 322
  3. ^ a b Kaye, Marvin (1995), The Game Is Afoot: Parodies, Pastiches, and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes, New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 123, ISBN 9780312117979
  4. ^ Morley, Christopher; Rothman, Steven (1990), The Standard Doyle Company: Christopher Morley on Sherlock Holmes, New York: Fordham University Press, p. 112, ISBN 9780823212927
  5. ^ Chandler, Raymond; MacShane, Frank (1981), Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, New York: Columbia University Press, p. 416, ISBN 9780231050807
  6. ^ Oklot, Michal; Walker, Matthew (2018), "Detective Fiction", in Bethea, David M.; Frank, Siggy (eds.), Vladimir Nabokov in Context, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 160, ISBN 9781108676175
  7. ^ Nollen, Scott Allen (1991), Boris Karloff: A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., p. 338, ISBN 9780899505800
  8. ^ Francis, Freddie; Dalton, Tony (2013), Freddie Francis: The Straight Story from Moby Dick to Glory: A Memoir, Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, p. 142, ISBN 9780810892064
  9. ^ Schweitzer, Darrell; Mallett, Daryl F. (1994), Speaking of Horror: Interviews with Writers of the Supernatural, San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, pp. 14–15
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