Holmes and Moriarty (2024)

A Holmes pastiche by Gareth Rubin endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate. Cover image below is the 2025 paperback edition sporting the estate's logo.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have been hired by theater actor George Reynolds to find out why the audience who comes to see him perform onstage every night are the same people—only wearing different disguises each time. Is something sinister going on and, if so, what?

Meanwhile, Holmes’s archenemy, Professor James Moriarty, is having problems of his own. Implicated in a rival gang leader’s murder, Moriarty and his second, Moran, must go on the run from the police as they try to find out who’s behind the frame-up.

But their investigation puts them in the way of Holmes and Watson and it’s not long before all four realize they’re being targeted by the same person. With million of lives on the line, Holmes and Moriarty must form an uneasy alliance in order to unmask the true villain.

For fans of Anthony Horowitz's The House of Silk and Moriarty, this is the first Sherlock Holmes book endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate in over a decade.

Title: Holmes and Moriarty
Author: Gareth Rubin
Year: 2024
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899

This one wasn't found inside the tin dispatch box. In fact, it's not even a Sherlock Holmes story. But it is about an acknowledged Sherlockian who became a friend (and then foe) to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and is known to have helped the great detective from time to time. This is my own first book about Harry Houdini!

HOUDINI BEGINS! 

Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899, reproduces every page of Houdini's very first diary, kept when he was a struggling performer playing dime museums, medicine shows, circuses, and séance chambers. It's an incredible artifact that has never been made available to the public, and an inspiring story of perseverance. The diary is annotated by Houdini historian John Cox and illustrated with previously unseen material from the world's finest magic collections.

Will Houdini escape his obscurity? Read the story in his own words.

Title: Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899
Author: John Cox
Year: 2025
Publisher: Mike Caveney's Magic Words
Purchase: Mike Caveney's Magic Words

A Three-Pipe Problem (1976)

The exploits of wannabe or delusional Sherlocks were popular in the 1970s. There was the excellent 1971 film They Might Be Giants with George C. Scott, as well as a TV movie The Return of the World's Greatest Detective with Larry Hagman. This 1976 novel by Julian Symons picked up on the theme.

Small-time actor, Sheridan Haynes, had a rather unhealthy preoccupation with Sherlock Holmes. So when the chance came for him to play the famous detective in a TV series, it seemed his dreams had come true. And when London was plagued by a series of unsolved murders, well it seemed only natural for him to take his role into real life. Was this a case of a laughable and misguided actor, or was Sherdian actually on to something?

Title: A Three-Pipe Problem
Author: Julian Symons
Year: 1976
Publisher: Avon
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Sherlock Holmes: Further Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells (2021)

More sci-fi Holmes stories in this follow-up to Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells Volumes 1 & 2.

The World's Greatest Detective Returns to the Realms of the Master of Science Fiction in all NEW Adventures! Imagine Holmes trying to stop a diabolical doctor creating human animal hybrids - attacking a cult that worships man eating plants - taking on a mermaid client - using his deductive skills to track down missing time travelers. These are just some of the stories included in the new all new anthology Sherlock Holmes: Further Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells. Anthology edited by C. Edward Davis and Derrick Belanger, the team behind the original Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells.

The Cult of the Orchid by Mike Adamson

The The Problem of the Weedy Wanderer by Will Murray

The Time Machine Theft by C. Edward Davis

Fishy Business by Robert Stapleton

The Mark of the Beast by Michael Siverling

The Bandaged Client by Katie Magnusson

The King's Ransom by Claire Daines

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Inventor by Mark C. Richardson

The Outline of Mystery by Chris Chan

The Alarming Visions of Ogden Drury by Derrick Belanger

The Adventure of the Crystal Egg by Hassan Akram

The Adventure of the Pale Death by M.L.D. Curelas

Title: Sherlock Holmes: Further Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells
Author: Derrick Belanger (editor)
Year: 2021
Publisher: Belanger Books
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1985)

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of early and significant Holmes pastiche. It includes the infamous "The Case of the Man who was Wanted" (here titled "The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker"), which was thought to be an unpublished story by Conan Doyle when it was first uncovered in 1948. The book includes an introduction by Richard Lancelyn Green explaining the history of each story in the collection.

"If the stories in this book can kindle afresh the fire in the rooms in Baker Street, or echo the noise of the handsome cabs, or catch the sound of a foot upon the stair, then they will achieved their end." - Richard Lancelyn Green

Many writers have revisited the Reichenbach Falls in the hope of summoning up the ghost of Sherlock Holmes. Now Richard Lancelyn Green has succeeded triumphantly with this collection of stories by experts of the calibre of Ronald Knox, Julian Symons and Adrian Conan Doyle. Designed not to compete with or parody the original, but rather to reflect and enhance the achievements of the great detective, The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a delightful treat for all fans. 

The Adventure of the First-Class Carriage

by Ronald A. Knox (1947)

The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker 

by Arthur Whitaker (1948)

The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet 

by Vincent Starrett (1920)

The Adventure of the Marked Man 

by Stuart Palmer (1944)

The Adventure of the Megatherium Thefts 

by S.C. Roberts (1945)

The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant 

by W.R. Duncan Macmillan (1953)

The Adventure of the Ainsworth Castle 

by Adrian Conan Doyle (1954)

The Adventure of the Tired Captain 

by Alan Wilson (1958)

The Adventure of the Green Empress 

by F.P. Cillie (1967)

The Adventure of the Purple Hand 

by D.O. Smith (1982)

The Adventure of the Hillman Hall 

by Julian Symons (1981)

Title: The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Richard Lancelyn Green
Year: 1985
Publisher: Penguin
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Okay, this isn't a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, but I wanted to celebrate the 40th anniversary today of the first airing in the U.S. of the great Granda series starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes (it had premiered in the UK a year before). Still the best Holmes adaptations, IMO, and I love this Dell paperback from 1985 that tied-in with the series. Now that's a Holmes for the '80s!

"Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot!"

Here, in thirteen of his finest adventures––brought together for the first time in one paperback volume––Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous detective, helps governesses in distress, clears young men wrongly accused of dire crimes, and catches criminals in cases hopelessly bungled by Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. No sinister development can dissuade Holmes from pursuing each mystery to its brilliant conclusion––not even the malevolent cunning of Morality, his arch enemy, the Napoleon of Crime. 

Just as the Granada TV series carries us back, with stunning authenticity, into the fascinating Victorian era, these stories carry us into a world of mystery without parallel, setting a standard still unsurpassed in a century of detective fiction.

If you also love Jeremy Brett and the Granada series as well, I HIGHLY recommend The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast.

Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Year: 1985
Publisher: Dell
Purchase: Amazon.

VIDEO: Sherlock Holmes Pastiches

Something a little different today, but still on topic. All but one of these (R. Holmes & Co.) I've covered here on The Battered Tin. Enjoy.

The Dartmoor Horror (2021)

More problems at Dartmoor. Sir Henry, just move already! While this is touted as a sequel to The Hound of the Baskervilles, an authorized sequel, The Revenge of the Hound, came out in 1987.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR. WATSON RETURN TO THE MOORS IN THE SHOCKING SUPERNATURAL SEQUEL TO THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.  

All is finally safe and secure at Baskerville Hall. The legendary Hound from Hell has been shot and killed by Sherlock Holmes; the dog's master, Jack Stapleton, has been sucked down into the depths of the Grimpen Mire, and the case Dr. Watson chose to call "The Hound of the Baskervilles" for readers of The Strand Magazine is officially closed...or is it?

Mysterious events and untimely deaths continue to swirl around the squire of Baskerville Hall, prompting a frightened Sir Henry to call upon the services of the great detective once again. Holmes and Watson return to the moor to save the last of the Baskervilles; but this time, they must also combat supernatural forces that were so quickly dismissed before. The question then becomes...how can they possibly succeed?

Title: The Dartmoor Horror
Author: Joe DeSantis
Year: 2021
Publisher: Berlanger Books
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Devil's Blaze (2022)

The second novel by Robert J. Harris set during the time of the Universal Basil Rathbone films. Why then the cover image of Rathbone and Bruce from the Victorian-set 20th Century Fox films? That's the true mystery!

The world’s greatest detective returns. 

London, 1943. Across the city prominent figures in science and the military are bursting into flame and being incinerated. Convinced that the Germans have deployed a new terror weapon, a desperate government turns to the one man who can track down the source of this dreadful menace - Sherlock Holmes.

The quest for a solution drives Holmes into an uneasy alliance with the country’s most brilliant scientific genius, Professor James Moriarty. Only Holmes knows that, behind his façade of respectability, Moriarty is the mastermind behind a vast criminal empire. As they pursue the trail of incendiary murders, Holmes is quite sure that the professor is playing a double game and that there lies ahead a duel to the death which they cannot both survive.

A tribute to the classic Universal Pictures Sherlock Holmes film series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

Title: The Devil's Blaze
Author: Robert J. Harris
Year: 2022
Publisher: Polygon
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Under a Raven's Wing (2021)

A collection of shorts stories by Stephen Volk that finds a young Sherlock Holmes in Paris under the mentorship of Auguste Dupin.

The Apprenticeship of Sherlock Holmes 

In 1870s Paris, long before meeting his Dr Watson, the young man who will one day become the world’s greatest detective finds himself plunged into a mystery that will change his life forever. 

A brilliant man―C. Auguste Dupin―steps from the shadows. Destined to become his mentor. Soon to introduce him to a world of ghastly crime and seemingly inexplicable horrors. The spectral tormentor that is being called, in hushed tones, The Phantom of the Opera . . . The sinister old man who visits corpses in the Paris morgue . . . An incarcerated lunatic who insists she is visited by creatures from the Moon . . .  A hunchback discovered in the bell tower of Notre Dame . . .  And―perhaps most shocking of all―the awful secret Dupin himself hides from the world. 

Tales of Mystery, Imagination, and Terror. Investigated in the company of the darkest master of all.

Title: Under a Raven's Wing
Author: Stephen Volk
Year: 2021
Publisher: PS Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk