Your recommendations, my dear Watson

Cafe Society
#1

I was recently given a book reproducing the complete Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes stories with the illustrations from The Strand. When I shelved it with my other mystery books, I realized I had a few other novels, like Dean Meyers’ Seven Percent Solution and L.D. Estleman’s Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula – that I would like to read again. Certainly not canon, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

So – are there any other notable short stories, collections or series of Sherlock Holmes pastiches/homages I should seek out? Authors and titles, if you please. Even if they only involve supporting characters like Lestrade or Watson, I’d appreciate suggestions. I’d be particularly interested in any works starring Sherlock Holmes’ smarter older brother, Mycroft.

Uh… I do not care for slash writing. Post no links to slash, please.

#2

M.J. Trow’s Inspector Lestrade novels are kinda fun. I admit to only reading the first in the series.

Lestrade is portrayed as a competent, intelligent police detective, and Holmes (on the sidelines) as a preening egomaniac who happens to have a damn good publicist in Conan Doyle.

#3

Check out this thread:

Non-Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories?

#4

SpoilerVirgin: Thank you for the thread link. Skimming through it quickly, I was able to pick out a few titles that intrigued me. I’ll try to locate a few of the anthologies mentioned (if I don’t already own them) and Wendell Wagner’s and Jeffrey Harnett’s picks.

See, I’d been haphazardly accumulating about a dozen non-canon stories for years now, but I didn’t realize until recently how much MORE of the stuff there is out there. In the thread link, there are almost no Young Adult novels listed (I seem to recall reading one when I was 13 with the Baker Street Irregulars, a kidnapped boy and a little Cockney girl nicknamed Screamer) and not even a mention of Gene Wilder’s* The Adventures of Sigerson Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother* – which was the first pastiche/satire I recall reading.

Are there any notable pastiches featuring Mycroft Holmes? Being the smarter older brother of the Great Detective, I’d be curious if anyone had actually attempted to write stories delinating WHY Sherlock Holmes owns him as his superior. I kind of want to take a stab at that myself.

Is there an opinion about the Irene Adler series?

#5

Quinn Fawcett has written a series of five Mycroft Holmes novels. I haven’t read them, so I can’t comment on their quality, but they seem to be viewed favorably on Holmes related websites.

There’s also a list of Sherlock Holmes Essential Reading posted at Amazon that might give you some more ideas.

#6

The Quinn Fawcett books are pretty good, or at least the first three are (which is as far I’ve gotten). I hadn’t realized there were five of them now. I guess it’s off to the bookstore again.

#7

I’ve read a few, and found them fairly well-written, but the POV character bugged the hell outta me. That’s just a matter of taste though, probably.

There is also a series of mystery books by Laurie King, starting with “The Beekeeper’s Apprentice,” about Holmes retiring to the countryside and meeting/falling in love with a young woman. Surprisingly good, though they sound as if they should be horrible. Mycroft is in it, though not as the main character.

#8

I enjoyed the Irene Adler books a lot, and would recommend them.

I also liked Nicholas Meyers two–the 7% Solution you already mentioned, and there’s also The West End Horror, which I didn’t think was as good.

#9

There’s another Nicholas Meyer Sherlock Holmes novel that came out a few years ago – The Canary Trainer, in which Holmes meets The Phantom of the Opera. (Someone else wrote a SH meets TPOTO book, too, but I haven’t read it). It’s not as good as Meyer’s other two.

Loren D. Estleman wrote another SH novel, which is pretty good – Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Holmes.
About 25 years ago somneone released The Giant Rat of Sumatra. I don’t recall the author’s name (my copy’s at home), but it’s pretty good. It is not the same as the recent book of that name.

Cay van Ash’s Ten Years Beyond Baker Street is SH meets Fu Manchu, and an OK read. SH meets Fu Manchu in one of the entries in The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published on the 100th anniversary of his first appearance in The Strand. I think it’s still in print.

There are a few examples of Sherlock Holmes meets Jack the Ripper (like A Study in Terror, the novelization – by Ellery Queen! – of a movie), but the best I’ve read is Hannah’s The Whitechapel Horrors.
I’ve got a whole bookshelf of Holmes pastiches, most of them of variable quality (don’t read Prisoner of the Devil – Holmes meet Edward Dreyfus on Devil’s Island, or Philip Jose Farmer’s The Adventure of the Peerless Peer – SH meets Tarzan. They’re both awful.) For my money, the best imitations of Holmes were the tales wriiten by John Dickson Carr and (sometimes) Adrian Conan Doyle, and collected as The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes. I know that there are a lot of folks who hate that book, but even at their worst these tales are infinitely preferable to most other imitators. There’s a bit of interest in seeing Sherlock Holmes meeting literary or historical persons (Harry Houdini, Charlie Chaplin, Rassendyl from The Prisoner of Zenda, O. Henry, Professor Challenger, and too many others to mention. Heck, there’s a website that lists all of these meetings somewhere.), but in the end the stories are mainly fluff. Interesting bits of What If that rarely seem to feature the real arrogant but brilliant Holmes we’ve come to know and love.

#10

Stephen King wrote a short story about Sherlock Holmes; I think it’s in his “Nightmares and Dreamscapes” collection of stories. I thought it was quite good. Can’t remember the title, though. King has Watson solve the crime, as opposed to Holmes. Overall, I think he got the characters and storyline as Doyle would have written them.

#11

Adrian Conan Doyle (son of Watson’s literary agent) wrote a number of stories, I think in connection with John Dickson Carr?

#12

How utterly cool!

Do you have a title? Publisher? ISBN number? I may want to run right out and buy it!

Fenris

#13

Sauron, The Stephen King pastiche is called “The Doctor’s Case.” I enjoyed it initially but, re-reading it the other day (along with the much better “Ulmey’s Last Case”) something about the sudden conspiracy among Holmes, Lestrade and Watson at the conclusion of the case makes me feel… I dunno… disappointed, somehow. Holmes seemed alogether too cheery about it and Lestrade just seemed out of character in going along with it. King’s take on Watson does make me smile, however. (He picked up the shadows! Hahahahaha!)

Fenris, you but have to ask, my friend.

The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (with the classic Illustrations by Sidney Paget) was published by Castle Books. The hardcover ISBN is 0-89009-057-2. The paperback ISBN is 0-7858-1325-X.

As the introduction notes, "Here – reproduced in complete facsimile – are the original Sherlock Holmes detective stories… as they first appeared in the famed British magazine, "The Strand. " It contains 37 of the 60 Sherlock Holmes’ canonical stories. It opens with “A Scandal In Bohemia” and ends with “The Adventure of The Second Stain.” It also includes a complete unabridged reproduction of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

It’s recent book. Knowing how my friend Queena hates to shop retail, she probably picked it up either remaindered or deeply discounted somewhere-- maybe Barnes & Nobles.

Cal_Meacham: Thanks for your picks and stuff the stay away from. I’ll be going to the library this Saturday to hunt some of this stuff down (Whitechapel Horrors sounds good.)

I should be remiss in not mentioning The Great Detective’s brief appearance in the first volume of Alan Moore’s and Kevin O’Neil’sLeague of Extarordinary Gentleman – the excellent comic book miniseries, soon to be rewritten, recast and butchered onscreen this spring by Hollywood revisionists at a multiplex near you.

#14

Sherlock Holmes’ War Of The Worlds by Wellman.

If you can find a copy, get it. It describes what Holmes, Watson & Proffessor Challenger (of The Lost World, a major inspiration for * Jurassic Park*) were doing when the Great Martian Invasion took place.

Very fun. :slight_smile:

#15

Colin Dexter, the author of the Inspector Morse mysteries, has a very funny retake of “A Case of Identity” among the short stories in Morse’s Greatest Mystery and Other Stories.

#16

The problem with The Whitechapel Horror, although it’s competently written, is that it’s told in third person, and so it doesn’t feel right. IMHO Holmes stories should always be told from Watson’s viewpoint.

Horror also had a deucedly unsatisfying ending, eh wot?

Enjoyed Sherlock Holme’s War of the Worlds and Holmes vs. Dracula. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice also appealed to me, as did the stories by June Thomson (The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes).

#17

The problem with The Whitechapel Horror, although it’s competently written, is that it’s told in third person, and so it doesn’t feel right. IMHO Holmes stories should always be told from Watson’s viewpoint.

Horror also had a deucedly unsatisfying ending, eh wot?

Enjoyed Sherlock Holme’s War of the Worlds and Holmes vs. Dracula. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice also appealed to me, as did the stories by June Thomson (The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes).

#18

Thanks for the refresher on “The Doctor’s Case,” Askia.

I have this book. Actually, if I’m not mistaken, I have two copies of this book. Both were picked up at discount bins in chain bookstores several years ago (at least 10), so it may not be available any longer. The book is wonderful, and the Sidney Paget illustrations are the only way to see Holmes, in my opinion.

Fenris, if I still have two copies of the book, you’re welcome to one of them if you’ll pay postage. E-mail me if you’re interested.

#19

Oh, I also really enjoyed Naslund’s Sherlock in Love–but it ain’t your typical Holmes story.

Sorry about the double post; I’ll start a Pit thread about the hamsters.

#20

Geez, I keep thinking of new stuff.

One of my favorite Holmes books is a collection by Marvin Kaye: The Game is Afoot: Parodies, Pastiches, and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes. Entertained me on many late evenings, as the fog swirled outside my humble lodgings.

Oh, and please forgive my grammatical error-- of course it’s Holmes’ War of the Worlds, not Holme’s.

There was also a series of “programmed adventure” books in which you were a private detective, helping Holmes. Mildly amusing; the first was, I think, Murder at the Diogenes Club.