Favorite Holmes pastiches?

My all-time favorite would have to be the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, the first book, introduces the reader to 15-year-old Mary Russell, a precocious half-American girl slowly getting lost in a world that will never understand her intelligence until she literally stumbles across Mr. Sherlock Holmes in retirement on the Sussex Downs. The meeting of "true minds" will catapault Russell and Holmes into a tenative friendship and into an adventure that may very well cost them their lives.

My favorite non-Russell book is probably Angel of the Opera by Sam Siciliano. I was a Phantom of the Opera fan before I met Holmes, so this combination immediately became an instant favorite. The synopsis is simple; what if the managers at L'Opera Garnier invited the world's greatest detective to investigate the problem of the Opera Ghost?

I confess a weakness for the Laurie R. King series; having read The Beekeeper's Apprentice at age 15, whilst in the habit of reading while walking and maintaining my blond hair at an unruly length, not to mention my ambition to marry Sherlock Holmes, it struck a chord with me. My appreciation has since waned, but I "keep up" with the books as they come out in paperback, and harbor a nostalgic affection.

I, too, am an old-school Phantom of the Opera fan, although in my case the two were someone contemporaneous. I never liked the Holmes/Phantom crossovers that are available: for me, The Canary Trainer has too much "out of character" content and The Angel of the Opera ends sappily and furthermore leaves off ignoring my favorite character, The Persian, in favor of villifying him. Someday I will write the definitive crossover; until then, naturally, I read and grouse about what's out there!

Not so much a pastiche as a crossover too - I love Shadows Over Baker Street which is Lovecraft meets Conan Doyle, very entertaining in a totally bizarre way :)

The Adventures of the Peerless Peer by Philip Jose Farmer is a lot of fun

Has anyone come across The Revenge of Moriarty and/or the Return of Moriarty.

I`ve read one of them, not sure which, and it`s fabulous.

Not sure if it`s strictly a pastiche - I`m never 100% sure what the word `pastiche` means - a lot of people use it interchangeably with `parody` which was not my understanding.

The relevant definition of pastiche is given in Webster's Dictionary as:

a literary, artistic, or musical work that imitates the style of a previous work; also: such stylistic imitation

A pastiche can be a parody, but need not be.

Of the very few I've read, my favorite was Michael Dibdin's The Last Sherlock Holmes Story. This is probably sacrilege, and should not be used to impeach my love for Holmes. But it was brilliant.

One of these days, I shall take some of your suggestions. :)

That`s more or less what I thought.

If you do try the Moriarty books, let me know what you think.

While we`re on the subject, have you heard of a play called Sherlock Holmes ; The Last Act by David Stuart Davies ? I saw it whilst on holiday in the Lake District a number of years ago - absolutely amazing ! The playwright is also a compiler of books of short stories, partic with a Holmes connection. I have one called (I think) Rivals of Sherlock Holmes.

No, I hadn't. Sounds neat. :)

I'm partial to Carole Nelson Douglas Irene Adler series.

I have read three of the Irene Adler series (and own almost, if not all, of them), but I have to say that I am not that impressed with it. That is why I - at least momentarily - stopped reading them.

I enjoyed Good Night Mr. Holmes very much and liked the third as well. I couldn't find the second in our library. The newest, however, I had a hard time getting into and never finished.

I always loved Irene Adler, and didn't know about the series. Despite mixed reactions, it's one I'll have to seek out.

Favorites, anybody? Good Night, Mr. Holmes seems to be on one list, at least; but I'd love to hear fuller reactions on the others.

How is it that in all this talk of Holmes pastiches no one has yet mentioned August Derleth?

lilithcat, who is August Derleth?

Derleth was the creator of the Solar Pons stories, featuring "a detective who is very similar to Sherlock Holmes", some volumes of which were published under the imprint of Mycroft & Moran, a subsidiary of Arkham House Publishing. (Derleth was also a devotee of H.P. Lovecraft.)

I've also got a marvelous book called The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, with pastiches by such luminaries as Vincent Starett, Agatha Christie, Sir James Barrie, O. Henry and more. It's an old and very popular literary game!

Thank you, lilithcat! I will look into it.
:-))

Hi.

Yes, I've read John Gardner's Moriarty books. They're a lot like his Bond books - perfectly good adventure stories, but without the ... bite, I suppose ... of the originals. The thing that's nice about The Seven Percent Solution, or The Final Solution or Erasing Sherlock is that they use Sherlock Holmes to tell a story, add layers, stand for something. The Moriarty books rattle along, but it's hard to see exactly what they're *for*.

Anyone read Sherlock Holmes' War Of The Worlds by Manly Wade Wellman

Came across this recently, yet another for the unread list. :)

Certainly sounds like fun though.

I also have a Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula audiobook that is pretty good, too.

I, too, was introduced to the King series around the age of 15, being already an avid fan of the Doyle stories.

I also enjoy Holmes for the Holidays, a collection of Christmas-themed pastiches.

And I did break down and buy Sherlock Holmes Vs Dracula, although I haven't opened it yet.

peppermintkiwi, Sherlock Holmes Vs Dracula is not bad...

I've often wondered why Doyle never pitted Holmes against Jack the Ripper, since the killer's murders were contemporary. I seem to remember that there's been at least one pastiche doing so, but I haven't a clue who wrote it or what its title might be.

I've read at least two pastiches with a Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper theme, and I remember at least one short story where Watson asked Holmes why didn't try solving that mystery, but Holmes replied that it wasn't imaginative enough or something to that effect.

One of the pastiches, The Last Sherlock Holmes story, is an awful, awful book. Read at your own risk! This is the only book I've ever thrown across a room before.

The other, unfortunately, I can't recall the title of, though it was written in third person omniscient, which is relatively rare.

I`m reading The Further Adventures of sherlock Holmes at present. I was initially a bit disappointed that it was not, as I`d been told, a collection of stories by other writers from the post-Reichenbach Falls period, though some may be.

So far, there have only been a couple I`ve not liked (I`m about half-way through). The Adventure of the first Class Carriage by Ronald A Knox didn`t really grab me, and W R Duncan Macmillan`s The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant was more of a lame duck.

To my surprise, the adventure of Arnsworth Castle by the foul-natured Adrian conan Doyle is excellent, and I also enjoyed The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker by Arthur Whittaker, which has the distinction of having been mistaken for an authentic Doyle (albeit not a great one) by Hesketh Pearson and Conan-Doyle Junior. In fact, Conan Doyle, who had read it in manuscript form, judged it "not bad" and suggested the author change the names and use it himself.

So far, the others are generally enjoyable, maybe a tad predictable.Other authors in the volume are Vincent Starrett, Stuart Pamer, S C Roberts, Alan wilson, F P Cillie , D O Smith and Julian Symons.

I`m reading The Further Adventures of sherlock Holmes at present. I was initially a bit disappointed that it was not, as I`d been told, a collection of stories by other writers from the post-Reichenbach Falls period, though some may be.

So far, there have only been a couple I`ve not liked (I`m about half-way through). The Adventure of the first Class Carriage by Ronald A Knox didn`t really grab me, and W R Duncan Macmillan`s The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant was more of a lame duck.

To my surprise, the adventure of Arnsworth Castle by the foul-natured Adrian conan Doyle is excellent, and I also enjoyed The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker by Arthur Whittaker, which has the distinction of having been mistaken for an authentic Doyle (albeit not a great one) by Hesketh Pearson and Conan-Doyle Junior. In fact, Conan Doyle, who had read it in manuscript form, judged it "not bad" and suggested the author change the names and use it himself.

So far, the others are generally enjoyable, maybe a tad predictable.Other authors in the volume are Vincent Starrett, Stuart Pamer, S C Roberts, Alan wilson, F P Cillie , D O Smith and Julian Symons.

I like pastiches that are just a little bit wrong. I read a lot of comic books so "alternate universe" stories may be a bit easier for me to swallow than for a lot of canon purists. Shadows Over Baker Street is my favorite collection of them, and The Seven Per cent Solution is my favorite overall work. I've read that one multiple times.

I have to side with Eurydice that The Last Sherlock Holmes Story was brilliant. Also disturbing and VILE, but brilliant. I despised the story but couldn't put it down. I haven't reread it since, but I couldn't throw it away, it's too well done and too imaginative. It's a very impressive story.

yes, Ragnell, it was DEFINITELY vile and disturbing....

I read Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula recently. The audiobook I have is the same thing. It is worth a shot, fairly understated and slips Holmes and Watson into the cracks in Stoker's work, so to speak.

I'm a big fan of Solar Pons. Has anyone ever read any of the Schlock Homes stories - many appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. They're clever in a way of their own.

My favorites are the books by Larry Millett, especially Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders: From the American Chronicles of John H. Watson, M.D.. Holmes and Watson in Minnesota!

I did not much care nearly as much for The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr.

Regarding Carole Nelson Douglas's "Irene Adler" series - I read, and loathed, Chapel Noir.

Part of my loathing is probably due to the fact that it combined three subjects I enjoy - Sherlock, Jack the Ripper *and* 19th-c Paris - and still managed to irritate me. First of all, Irene Adler herself. Not only is she anachronistically modern in her knowledge and attitudes (i.e. she knows Oscar Wilde is gay when his public facade is that of an average husband and father) but everyone she meets becomes her devoted admirer. We meet a few historical figures in this book - a Rothschild or two, Buffalo Bill - and none of them are immune from the Irene-love. And Sherlock venerates her to the point of drilling holes in any old coins she tosses his way and wearing them on his watch-chain, but you knew that already.

Then there's the problem of the narrator, Nell, who's a shallow all-disapproving caricature of Victorian womanhood, present merely to provide a foil for Irene's more tolerant sensibilities. What makes it worse, however, is that she's supposed to be Watson to Irene's Holmes - and there's no equivalent relationship there. For all Holmes's gruffness and taking Watson for granted, there's a close partnership between the two men, with moments where Holmes expresses admiration for his old friend. Nell's status is that of "charity case": she owes everything to Irene, who's in the position of power. And I have to ask Douglas - did Irene HAVE to be so superior? Couldn't she have an actual friendship with an equal, or near-equal, instead of condescending to an adoring acolyte?

Then there were annoying preventable mistakes - some bad French (e.g. "mademoiselles", not "mesdemoiselles") and a plot device whereby the Parisian "Ripper-esque" killer kills on certain saints' feast-days. Irene anticipates the next murder by pointing to the calendar and exclaiming that it's certain to take place THEN, that's Joan of Arc's feast-day, and there's no saint more French than her!Unfortunately, as anyone who's read George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan will know, the Catholic Church didn't make Joan of Arc a saint (and give her her own feast-day) until 1920. The action of Chapel Noir takes place in 1889.

Finally, Chapel Noir was actually the first-half of a two-part story, to be concluded in Castle Rouge (not that you got any hint of this from the cover, mind you). Annoying, but since I could already guess the shape the story was going to take I felt no need to hunt down Part Two, or anything else Douglas has written.

#31: bibliotheque

You've put to words some of the problems I had with Chapel Noir, but couldn't quite figure out why. I actually never finished the book because I was so disgusted reading it.

Have you read any of the previous Irene Adler books? They're actually not too bad. The best is probably the first, Good Night, Mr. Holmes and that's probably where Douglas should have stopped. Nell gets progressively more annoying and Irene more perfect as the books go on.

# 31 & 32: I have to agree with both of you. Unfortunately, at the time when I read them, I had bought several of the other books in the Adler series (I was on a binge, don't know what I saw in Douglas' writing), which are now sitting on a shelf. Perhaps I should donate them to the local library for next sale...

Has any one here read Sherlock Holmes: the Missing Years? It's about the master detective's time in Asia. I picked it up a few years back but I have not read it yet, as I'm trying to work my way through the canon before I read anymore pastiche.

A book that always seems quite fun to me is Ten Years Beyond Baker Street by Cay Van Ash Sub-titled Sherlock Holmes matches wits with the diabolical Dr.Fu Manchu.This works both ways for me because I'm also a fan of the Fu Manchu stories

devenish, I have Ten Years Beyond Baker Street, and it's one of the pastiches that survived the moving purge. I always enjoy the matching of wits between honorable foes, which is what Holmes and Fu Manchu are.

Plus, I'm always sad about the Siamese cats.

My primary peeve with pastiches is when the author goes through this long song and dance about "how I discovered Watson's missing manuscripts!" Some of the worst offenders even throw in footnotes in the text that explain how they fixed problems they saw in the manuscript. Just tell the story, dude, stop trying to impress us.

Thanks, that one sounds worth a look.

#38.

LOL. Nope. In some ways she is a Mary Sue, but in other ways, she's the exact opposite. For one thing, she has a lot of faults that are very obvious. The books she features in are so well-written though, that I never even noticed that technically she is a Mary Sue until someone pointed it out.

>38 perodicticus::

You need to read this:

http://community.livejournal.com/canon_sues/22418.html

But I will say with everyone else that Mary "Sue" Russell is extremely well-written, and this makes said heroine's awesomeness just about bearable.

Mary Russell may be well-written, but I find her tiresome. And I never did quite accept Holmes as a romantic figure. He's too selfish.

riani1, I tend to agree with you.

> 42 Indeed Mary Russell is tiresome! So supercilious! She wasn't as bad in her last outing, Locked Rooms, but she was completely obnoxious in The Game. I met King once at a fundraiser for a local library (she lives about 25 miles from here). It's obvious that she put herself into Mary Russell. King is very tall, rather heavyset, and has long hair (now grey) that she wears pinned up, and she's married to a much older man. She was terribly condescending, made remarks about how the only reason she was there was because the Friends of the Library group had badgered her into it, and was clearly bored. I was so disappointed - even my husband noticed it when I got home, and you know husbands aren't generally tuned in to that sort of thing. The encounter totally took the shine off the novels for me (which I've enjoyed but are rather uneven, I have to say).

What's different between a pastiche and fan fic? I don't generally enjoy them, but have come across a few that were OK.

Neil Gaiman has one in Fragile Things Sherlock in a LoveLockian world

and Colin Dexter did a good re-interpretation picking up on the key failing of the original stories in As good as gold: And other stories including Morse's greatest mystery

grr touchstones

There's a bunch of the Lovecraftian types in Shadows Over Baker Street, including a Gaiman. I have this at the moment.

People get paid to write fan-f... errr. pastiche, I think is the difference. :) Plus they do have to have some level of ability and even editing.

> 45 Reading Fox, I'm confused by your Colin Dexter comment. The Inspector Morse stories aren't Holmes pastiches, are they? I've never read them, but I assume they center on Morse, with no Holmes in them.

Yes the Inspecter Morse stories are seperate. The touchstoned work is a collection of short stories one of which is Morse's greatest mystery and another, the title of which escapes me, is a Holmes fan-fic.

It's a re-work of one of the original short stories featuring a disappearing bride I think.

Ah, The NobleBachelor. The Granada TY series renamed it "The Eligible Bachelor."

Nope - i thought it was, but I've consulted the books themselves. The original was "A case of Identity" and Dexter's is "A case of mis-Identity". My fault for the confusion, it is of course a missing Groom!

Dexter uses much of the original storyline and even the same language at points.

There's Caleb Carr's The Italian Secretary which is so so. It has a supernatural element and the plot itself is perfectly serviceable. The execution hangs fire though and lacks the charm of the original.

I found The Italian Secretary disappointing, to say the least. Definitely not on the same level as the other two murder/mysteries by Caleb Carr.

I'm not sure it's a pastiche, but I think Name of the Rose is a lovely tribute to Holmes. (Apologies if this is old hat and so last year - I'm still catching up!)

From a combination of book sales, I picked up some Holmes related books. The Holmes-Dracula File was pretty dreadful, though I actually ended up having a fondness for the Count. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, however, was extremely enjoyable, and I liked Watson's voice throughout it.

Interestingly, both books hinged upon the same point in Holmes' background. Maybe because I've read so few pastiches (only two others aside from these, which do not focus on Holmes) I wouldn't have thought it would be such a popular subject for speculation.

>54 parelle: I thought The Holmes-Dracula File more of a guilty pleasure than dreadful, but you're right: the Count does steal the show.

As you liked 7% Solution, try Meyer's other pastiche, The Canary Trainer, which is based on the Phantom of the Opera legend.

Other Meyer's pastiche is The West End Horror, with characters such as Bram Stoker.

>56 aluvalibri: yes indeedy - forgot about that one. Meyer is disgustingly talented. Not only did he write these three pastiches, he directed the film of 7% and worked on two of the more successful Star Trek films: director of Wrath of Khan (II) and script contributor on The Voyage Home (IV). And directed that excellent nuclear holocaust TV movie, The Day After.

Wow.

I have flagrantly refused to read ANY Sherlock Holmes pastiche.

I just feel it would be... an insult. I don't know. As well, I am afraid of cheapening my life-long nigh-idolatry of Holmes.

So pray tell: what was the FIRST pastiche you read? Why did you read it? What was your gut reaction?

Should I think about jumping off the deep end? The Mary Russell books have sounded interesting in the past... ugh. I'm just so scared of ruining my vivid impressions of Holmes...

Like principii, I've been avoiding Sherlock Holmes pastiches. The only one I've read is Michael Chabon's The Final Solution, just because I'm a massive Chabon fangirl. And he is fantastic at capturing a crotchety, 90-year-old Holmes exactly how I'd imagined he'd be. The plot's not really important (weird, I know), but it's set in 1944 and starts with the discovery of an escaped German Jewish boy with an African Gray parrot that keeps reciting the same cryptic set of numbers. And the writing's just beautiful.

i have no problem with the concept of a Holmes pastiche per se, but of course there are some pretty bad ones out there.
i never confuse them with anything from the canon, of course. but when i'm in the mood for some easy fiction (and you can read that "cheap pulp" if you like - lol), i'd just as soon it was about Holmes as anything else.
some of my favorites are the Solar Pons stories (actually very cleverly done).
however it does seem sometimes that anybody who lived at the turn of the 20th century is fair game... Jack the Ripper (repeatedly), Alfred Dreyfus, Teddy Roosevelt, Oscar Wilde, Tarzan, The Phantom of the Opera, Aleister Crowley, etc (just how many 'Holmes vs. Dracula' books they they do?!), i have them all. but as a collector i'll grab just about anything within the genre if they're cheap enough. as a result i have some pretty crappy books on my shelf, but i take a sort of perverse pride even in that!
;)

> 59 Also a Chabon fan, but I was tremendously disappointed with The Final Solution. It was so simplistic, it seemed like a rather high schoolish creative writing assignment (c'mon - as though we don't know what kind of numbers that stupid parrot is reciting). And there was no real resolution - the book just seemed to end. Certainly not up to his best efforts.

I really enjoyed The List of Seven by Mark Frost. It's not really a Sherlock Holmes pastiche in the strictest sense, since one of the main characters is Arthur Conan Doyle. However, the other main character, Jack Sparks, is the fictional inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.

I'll second #54 and say that I like The Seven Per Cent Solution as well. Ingenious to get Holmes together with Freud. The film version is very good, too--splendidly cast. Laurie King's books are okay. I liked the film "Without a Clue," with Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine, immensely. A simple but funny premise.

#63, I agree that "Without a Clue" was a cute premise and an enjoyable film. Of course, I like both Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine immensely, so combine them with Sherlock Holmes and it would be hard for me not to enjoy it.

The only pastiche I've read is Sherlock Holmes and the Theatre of Death by Val Andrews. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Andrews, because I was impressed at how well he wrote in Watson's voice. I've just picked up a 2nd of his books, The Greyfriars School Mystery and in the "Introduction", written by Watson in October 1928, it states the case took place in 1912, taking Holmes away from his bees. I don't recall if the other book was also post retirement or not.

Anyway, since I haven't read other pastiches, how does Val Andrews compare with your favorite authors? Specifically those where Holmes and Watson are the protagonists (not Irene Adler, Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft, Moriarty or Lestrade).

I just found Holmes On The Range, which in spite of the hokey title was a pretty good book.

I really enjoyed both Holmes on the Range and its sequel On the Wrong Track. (For some reason, it never occurred to me that they would be considered pastiches, but I guess they are.) When our book group at the Mystery Co. Bkstr read the book in February, we did a speaker phone call with the author, Steve Hockensmith, so the group had a chance to ask him questions.

One of the things which make those books so interesting, is that we don't normally tend to connect the era of America's "wild west" with Holmes' Victorian Britain. These books put them in context with one another. They are really a fun read.

I love Larry Millets stories, especially cause they are in MN. I did read one that took place without Watson, and was when Holmes was in Tibet, I did not like that one at all. What do you think about the tv/movie portrayals of Holmes? I love Jeremey Brett! As far as movies... not liking anyone at the moment.

I like the author Laurie King. This would be my recomendation.

Without getting sidetracked too much from Holmes pastiche, I really enjoy Will Thomas's Barker and Llewelyn series. But Nicholas Meyer's series is excellent as is David Pirie is superb.

Also not really my thing, but I did come across a fun one - Martian Moons I think as a short story in flying sorcerers. It's a robotic Holmes on Mars. Quite well done.

I went to a talk by authors who had written what they called a 'pastiche'. They explained that a 'pastiche' was to write in the same style as the original author and not just use the characters and historical setting. I had actually read a Sherlock Holmes book by one of the authors - Jane Rubino's 'Knight Errant' which is three short novels based on references in the Sherlock Holmes stories and it did read like Conan Doyle wrote it. On the other hand, I read Laurie King, Carol Nelson Douglas and Larry Millet and while the books were enjoyable they didnt really sound like Conan Doyle imho.
I plan to get Lyndsay Fayes book about Holmes vs Jack the Ripper since i heard good things about it.

I don't know if the works of René Réouven have been translated in English. I do find them ones of the best Holmesian pastiches one could find.
An anthology was recently published : Histoires secrètes de Sherlock Holmes.

After having completed 'the canon' I'm very interested in pastiches. Right now I would like to read Holmes short stories rather than novels.

I just recently completed Holmes for the Holidays and I'm currently working my way through Exploits of Sherlock Holmes which has been decent enough. I'm interested in the more traditional stories rather than the Sherlock Holmes Vampire Slayer type of stuff.

I'm looking for a top 10 of Holmes anthologies excluding the two above.

I've been looking at: Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by Richard Lancelyn Green

and

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Murder in Baker Street
Murder my Dear Watson

(all at least partially edited by Martin H. Greenberg)

The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures edited by Mike Ashley.

I would welcome any other suggestions.

Since I also have a weak spot for Lovecraft, I like Shadows over Baker Street

My wife has already picked up:

Shadows Over Baker Street
The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Gaslight Grotesque
Gaslight Grimoire

i heartily recommend 'The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes (Apocryphal Tales)', edited by Sebastian Wolphe.
some of the tales do not quite fall in with your 'traditional' criteria (although many do), but this collection includes stories by Poul Anderson, P.G. Wodehouse, Philip Jose Farmer, Anthony Boucher and others.
and it is here you will find 'The Singularge Experience of Miss Anne Duffield' by none other than John Lennon!

and in addition to 'The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' there is also 'New Sherlock Holmes Adventures', edited by Mike Ashley.
and don't forget 'More Holmes for the Holidays'.

the list really is nearly endless, but it looks like you have a damned good start.
happy hunting!

I found The game is afoot used at a local bookstore

And then I found cheap copies online of:

The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Murder in Baker Street
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

these are now winding their way to me, and all look very tasty.

I'm also picking up the 'Douglas Wilmer' BBC version of Holmes on DVD.

I like Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes series, which is about the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. It's a childrens book, but I think Springer did a marvelous job of keeping with Sherlock Holmes' character, and creating a believable relationship between him and his younger sister.

I would like to echo the statement on Springer's books. It is a wonderful series. Our library has them in the 'young adult' section.

I recently bought The Case of the Missing Marquess, the first in the Enola Holmes series, and I look forward to reading it.

Hope you enjoy it! Enola is certainly one of my favorite heroines now.

there seems something very ironic about a Discordian who enjoys Holmes!

(lol)

Well, Holmes's room was a mess, and so is mine. That's the discord! :D

that's funny, i use the same excuse! ; )

#81> I did enjoy it, quite a lot actually, so much so that I shall order the following books.

Wonderful! The books just get better as the series go on, and the accidental encounters Enola has with her brothers are even funnier. Thank you for supporting such a good author as Nancy Springer. :)

My pleasure! Enola is definitely worth following ;-)

I've never read Sherlock Holmes' stories before a good friend suggested I try reading The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King.

I fell in love with the characters, with their faults and all.

Within a couple of months I had borrowed all of the books in this series from the library. Some I enjoyed more than others (Locked Rooms, O Jerusalem), but found them all to be a good read.

Out of books from the series, I turned to the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books, reading almost all of them from a 'complete' book of Sherlock Holmes stories.

Guess what? Due to reading the Laurie King books, I developed an appreciation for the originals. And I discovered that Ms. King did a pretty good job of capturing Holmes, and then filling out his character just a tad.

I do have to add that I was kind of disappointed in the Language of Bees and God of the Hive books, and due to horrific reviews, I have skipped reading Pirate King for now.

I bought all the 'Mary Russell' books previous to Language of Bees (used copies, woo!) and can still reread them and re-enjoy the stories whenever I feel like it.

I enjoyed the first two, The Beekeepers Apprentice and A Monstrous Regiment of Women but I stopped reading them afterwards. I think I'll go back and read the series - after all, I did stop reading them when I was thirteen, and I wasn't a good judge of books.

I just have just finished reading The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Giant rat of Sumatra by Richard L. Boyer.

A solid pastiche, the tone is right, it feels to me like a Holmes story should. Good work by Richard L. Boyer.

I just finished The Jewel of Covent Garden by Wayne Worcester. Quite enjoyed it. Certainly more than some I have read.

Just completed Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds from Titan Books. I enjoyed the author's blending of Wells the Crystal Egg and War of the Worlds, but thought it was too full of conversation. The book is a merger of 3 novelets and two short stories.

The take on Holmes and Mrs. Hudson is shall we say unique.

Highly recommend two Titan books, both with provisos however. The Whitechappel Horror is a highly researched, incredibly accurate retelling of Holmes and the Ripper. It incorporates every detail and name involved in the surviving records, as well as very important personalities present at the time. It is presented as Watson's unfinished notes, there is no definite statement as to who the Ripper was, though the reader can follow the clues. It pulls no punches in the graphic detail (from Scotland yard reports) on the gruesomeness of the events.

Also published by Titan, and quite a lot of fun, Professor Moriority: Hound of the D'Ubervilles. These are memoirs of Colonel Sebastian Moran. They explain how Watson got it wrong repeatedly, Moriority's contempt for Holmes (he compares deductive reasoning to a carnival's skill at guessing weights), and each story in the anthology incorporates character's and storylines from other prominent books of the time that Doyle was writing. Warning, Moran is a debauched character, views all women through the lens of a brothel-frequent shopper, and his language is edited down the first and last letters of 4 letter words by the "editor". The author is an expert on detective and pulp fantasies both in literature and film, and his expertise shows in this book.

Just recently received A Sherlock Holmes Trilogy by Alan J Heiss. 3 short novels, have nearly finished the second. These are good tales in the style of Doyle by an artist who had one good book in him. One story set in the '90's, one in the 0's, and one right after the time of "His Last Bow". A believable Sherlock.

anyone here read this? I don't think it's available in print anymore, but it's very enjoyable and I read it every once in a while. https://archive.org/stream/scriblio_test_044#page/n7/mode/2up

Hello, everyone.
New to this group. Was looking for an online community of likeminded Sherlockians to dish with about 'Baker Street & Beyond'. I'm distressed to see so little recent activity here, but hope I can wake things up again?

In recent months I have completed my long-overdue acquaintance with the entire Holmes canon, and have springboarded into an almost obsessive collecting phase for Sherlockian pastiche. I've found as many mediocre-to-bad ones as good, but a few names stand out to me as stellar: Donald Thomas (I will commit a sacrilege perhaps and say that DT betters ACD in my opinion); Denis O. Smith is also great. Michael Kurland, both as an editor of collections and his own contributions. He has a series about Professor Moriarty, who has, of course, been grossly maligned by a certain detective and his Boswell (!). Loren Estleman's stories are great. James Lovegrove's 'Gods of War' was well-done. I am putting in a plug for possibly my favorite Sherlock pastiche story to date, John Lescroart's 'Dunkirk', available in the Klinger/King edited collection 'In the Company of Sherlock Holmes.'

Hope to wake up some slumbering Sherlockians! Please post!

Ooof!

Just finished The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes and enjoyed it very much, taking place in the Great Hiatus, as these things do. Anyone else reading a good pastiche?