LINK: Interview with Nicholas Meyer

My favorite Sherlock Holmes website, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, has a terrific podcast interview with Nicholas Meyer, who wrote the seminal Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel, The Seven Per Cent Solution (which launched my interest in Holmes), as well as the screenplay for the film version.

Meyer is a excellent conversationalist and tells fascinating stories about his adventures in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Hollywood, so click the headline to have a listen at IHOSE.

Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook (2012)

A collection of stories teaming Sherlock Holmes with popular figures from history and fiction.

Moonstone Books is proud to present this original anthology featuring never-before-seen tales of the world's first consulting detective, Mr Sherlock Holmes, as he teams up with other investigators and notables of his time! Holmes teams up with one of the most famous thieves of literature, Arsene Lupin! Lawrence of Arabi! Calamity Jane! Sexton Blake! Houdini! The Thinking Machine! Doc Savage's father, Colonel Savage! Featuring short stories from incredible authors including Barbara Hambly, Will Murray, Kevin Van Hook, Martin Powell, Matthew Baugh, Martin Gately, Don Roff, Win Scott Eckert, Chris Sequiera, and Joe Gentile, this collection showcases the secret sequel to the classic Holmes novel "The Sign of Four", as well as Sherlock and Conan Doyle's own "Lost World" Professor Challenger!

Title: Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook
Author: Howard Hopkins (editor)
Year: 2012
Publisher: Moonstone
Purchase: Amazon.

Pulptime (1985)

Pulptime by P.H. Cannon has Holmes teaming up with H.P. Lovecraft and Harry Houdini to solve a mystery in 1925 New York. Includes illustrations by Steve Fabian.

In these pages, H.P. lovecraft lives again and Sherlock Holmes stalks New York of 1925, looking for a set of mysterious documents stolen by New York gangster Jan Martens. A visit with Harry Houdini, a seance with a beautiful medium, a trek through the New York sewer system––and what lay beyond––make a fascinating tale, as told through the words of young Weird Tales writer Frank Belknap Long, Jr., Lovecraft's best friend.

A Lovecraft scholar, Cannon has utilized his knowledge of the many volumes of Lovecraft's letters to reconstruct some of the events of his New York life and to simulate his actual conversations. (His friends have said that HPL spoke just as he wrote!)

As for what the documents are, and whether there were recovered––read on!

Title: Pulptime
Author: P.H. Cannon
Year: 1985
Publisher: Weirdbook Press
Purchase: Amazon.

The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories (2015)

A major new collection of past Sherlock Holmes pastiche and parodies, assembled by famed publisher and Otto Penzler. Due for release October 27, 2015.

The biggest collection of Sherlock Holmes stories ever assembled!

Arguably no other character in history has been so enduringly popular as Sherlock Holmes. Ever since his first appearance, in Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1887 novella A Study in Scarlet, readers have loved reading about him almost as much as writers have loved writing about him.

Here, Otto Penzler collects eighty-three wonderful stories about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, published over a span of more than a hundred years. Featuring pitch-perfect cases by acclaimed modern-day Sherlockians Leslie S. Klinger, Laurie R. King, Lyndsay Faye and Daniel Stashower; pastiches by literary luminaries both classic (P. G. Wodehouse, Dorothy B. Hughes, Kingsley Amis) and current (Anne Perry, Stephen King, Colin Dexter); and parodies by Conan Doyle’s contemporaries A. A. Milne, James M. Barrie, and O. Henry, not to mention genre-bending cases by science-fiction greats Poul Anderson and Michael Moorcock.

No matter if your favorite Holmes is Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Robert Downey, Jr., or Benedict Cumberbatch, whether you are a lifelong fan or only recently acquainted with the Great Detective, readers of all ages are sure to enjoy The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories.

Title: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
Author: Otto Pendler (editor)
Year: 2015
Publisher:Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original
Purchase: Amazon.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part III: 1896 to 1929 (2015)

The third book in a three-volume collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published to help preserve Undershaw, the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Part Three of a record breaking three-volume collection, bringing together over sixty of the world's leading Sherlock Holmes authors. All the stories are traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches. This volume covers the years from 1896 to 1929, including contributions from: Geri Schear, Paul D. Gilbert, Stuart Douglas, Lyn McConchie, Phil Growick, Seamus Duffy, Leslie FE Coombs, Mark Alberstat, GC Rosenquist, Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett, Andrew Lane, Peter K. Andersson, Matthew J. Elliott, Jim French, Bob Byrne, James Lovegrove, Tim Symonds, Larry Millett, Kim Krisco, C. Edward Davis, Joel and Carolyn Senter, (and two poems by Bonnie MacBird). The authors are donating all the royalties from the collection to preservation projects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw.

Title: The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part III: 1896 to 1929
Author: David Marcum
Year: 2015
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part II: 1890 to 1895 (2015)

The second of a new three-volume collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published to help preserve Undershaw, the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Part Two of a record breaking three-volume collection, bringing together over sixty of the world's leading Sherlock Holmes authors. All the stories are traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches. This volume covers the years from 1890 to 1895, including contributions from: Ann Margaret Lewis, Vincent W. Wright, William Patrick Maynard, Matthew Booth, J.R. Campbell, Robert V. Stapleton, Sam Wiebe, Jeremy Branton Holstein, Bill Crider, Peter Calamai, Lyndsay Faye, Marcia Wilson, Jack Grochot, Bert Coules. Christopher Redmond, Mike Hogan, Carl Heifetz, Wendy C. Fries, Dick Gillman (and a poem from Carole Nelson Douglas).The authors are donating all the royalties from the collection to preservation projects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw.

Title: The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part II: 1890 to 1895
Author: David Marcum
Year: 2015
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part I: 1881 to 1889 (2015)

The first of a new three-volume collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published to help preserve Undershaw, the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Part One of a record breaking three-volume collection, bringing together over sixty of the world's leading Sherlock Holmes authors. All the stories are traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches. This volume covers the years from 1881 to 1889, including contributions from: John Hall, Hugh Ashton, Adrian Middleton, David Marcum, Jayantika Ganguly, Denis O. Smith, Amy Thomas, Kevin David Barratt, Luke Benjamen Kuhns, Summer Perkins, Deanna Baran, Shane Simmons, C.H. Dye, Mark Mower, Derrick Belanger , Daniel D. Victor, Steve Mountain, Stephen Wade, John Heywood, Will Thomas, Daniel McGachey, Martin Rosenstock, Craig Janacek, (and a poem from Michael Kurland). The authors are donating all the royalties from the collection to preservation projects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw.

Title: The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part I: 1881 to 1889
Author: David Marcum
Year: 2015
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes (1954)

The first official Sherlock Holmes continuation was this collections of new stories penned by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr. This hardcover edition was published in 1954. I've also covered the 1976 paperback.

This is a collection of Entirely New Sherlock Holmes stories written by son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and that master of detective fiction John Dickson Carr.

The Adventure of THE SEVEN CLOCKS
The Adventure of THE GOLD HUNTER
The Adventure of THE WAX GAMBLERS
The Adventure of THE HIGHGATE MIRACLE
The Adventure of THE BLACK BARONET
The Adventure of THE SEALED ROOM
The Adventure of FOULKES RATH
The Adventure of THE ABBY RUINS
The Adventure of THE TWO WOMEN
The Adventure of TE DARK ANGLES
The Adventure of THE DEPARTED HORROR
The Adventure of THE RED WIDOW

Title: The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes

Author: Adrian Conan Doyle & John Dickson Carr

Year: 1954

Publisher: John Murray

Purchase: Amazon.com

Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space (1985)

Sherlock Holmes meets sci-fi. A collection of fantastical Holmes tales by well-known science fiction authors.

FANTASTIC SHERLOCK HOLMES 

In this outstanding collection of Sherlockian tales, the master of detection solves the most fantastic cases pf his career. Herein are answered questions which have plagued loyal readers for decades, including: What is the truth about the mysterious seance of Sumatra? What occurs when Holmes must pursue and extra-terrestrial? Is it possible that there is an alien Sherlock Holmes? What is the dreadful truth behind the disappearance of J. Adrian Fillmore? These and other matters are thoroughly and delightfully solved by a distinguished group of authors including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, Philip Jose Farmer, Sterling Lanier, Gene Wolfe, Edward Wellen and others, for your amusement and edification.

The Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Problem of Sore Bridge–Among Others by Philip Jose Farmer

The Adventure of the Global Traveler by Anne Lear

The Great Dormitory Mystery by S.N. Farber

The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound by Gordon R. Dickson

The Thing Waiting Outside by Barbara Williamson

A Father's Tale by Sterling E. Lanier

The Adventure of the Extraterrestrial by Mack Reynolds

A Scarletin Study by Philip Jose Farmer

Voiceover by Edward Wellen

The Adventure of the Metal Murderer by Fred Saberhagen

Slaves of Silver by Gene Wolfe

God of the Naked Unicorn by Richard Lupoff

Death in the Christmas Hour by James Powell

The Ultimate Crime by Isaac Asimov

Title: Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space
Author: Isaac Asimov, Martin Greenberg & Charles G. Waugh (editors)
Year: 1985 (first published 1984)
Publisher: Blue Jay Books
Purchase: Amazon.

Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Released in 2009, Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes offered a new collection of Holmes stories, each with a horror twist.

THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON BAKER STREET!

Between the shadowy realms of fear and the unforgiving glare of science lies a battleground of unspeakable horror. In vile alleyways with blood-slick cobblestones, impenetrable fog, and the wan glow of gaslight, lurk the inhuman denizens of nightmare.

Faced with his worst fears, Sherlock Holmes has his faith in the science of observation and deduction shaken to the core in 13 all-new tales of terror from today's modern masters of the macabre!

Hounded by Stephen Volk

The Death Lantern by Lawrence C. Connoll

The Quality of Mercy by William Meikle

Emily's Kiss by James A. Moore

The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy by William Patrick Maynard

The Last Windigo by Hayden Trenholm

Celeste by Neil Jackson

The Best Laid Plans by Robert Lauderdale

Exalted are the Forces of Darkness by Leigh Blackmore

The Affair of the Heart by Mark Morris

The Hand-Delivered Letter by Simon Kurt Unsworth

Of the Origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles by Barbara Roden

Mr. Other's Children by J. R. Campbell

Title: Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes
Author: J.R. Campbell & Charles Prepolec
Year: 2009
Publisher: EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

The Revenge of the Hound (1989)

This sequel to The Hound of the Baskervilles was first released in hardcover 1987 to celebrate the Centenary of Sherlock Holmes. This paperback edition from Pinnacle released in 1989.

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are back!

World-class Sherlockian Michael Hardwick has faithfully resurrected Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved super-sleuth in a dazzling new adventure so devilishly ingenious that Sir Arthur himself would most certainly have applauded! 

A sleeping derelict is savaged by a huge hound... The headless skeleton of Oliver Cromwell is stolen...A Chinese ship's steward is mysteriously murdered... And the King of England is threatened with blackmail. A sinister game is afoot, and it's up to Sherlock Holmes and his devoted crony and chronicler Dr. John Watson to put the pieces of the bizarre puzzle together, in order to keep the British Empire from being torn apart!

Title: The Revenge of the Hound
Author: Michael Hardwick
Year: 1989
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon.

Cry For Thunder (2015)

This has got to be one of the most unusual Holmes match-ups of all time. Kolchak: The Night Stalker was a popular TV show in the 1970s starring Darren McGavin as reporter Carl Kolchak who uncovers paranormal mysteries and his fair share of monsters. First released in 2014, this is the just released paperback edition.

BASED ON TRUE EVENTS... a historic unveiling! Not a dream, not a hoax, not a parallel universe! Two of the most unique investigators of all time try to untangle the same mystery... one hundred years apart from each other! The lawless Wild West; the hidden world of Victorian London; the present-day hell of Hollywood... there... and back again. Follow Holmes' trail of a man who was wrongfully - and willingly - imprisoned, to shocking New World Order anarchy, to a beautiful woman who needs Kolchak to delve into the surreal past, to the shunned man who has the key!

Title: Cry For Thunder
Author: Joe Gentile
Year: 2015 (first published 2014)
Publisher: Moonstone
Purchase: Amazon

Solar Pons Versus the Devil's Claw (2004)

Here's one last Ponsian post before we return to the man from Baker Street. After breaking with the estate of August Derleth, Basil Copper continued to write and publish Solar Pons stories via small publishers. Solar Pons Versus the Devil's Claw was Copper's only feature length Pons novel. It was released in a limited edition in 2004 by Sarob Press and today sells for a premium.

This is a dynamite book, standing out less from Copper's Pons tales only because so many of his approach novel length anyway. Hugh Mulvane spends most of the first quarter of the story regaling Pons with a freakish tale of his vile uncle Simon Hardcastle (love that name!), who dies during a nightmarish ordeal in the creepy old cemetery of his grand Chalcroft Manor. Weird marks on the ground near the body––found also around a dead poacher some months earlier––revive a spooky legend, instilling fear among the superstitious citizenry. Mr. Mulvane is supposed to inherit, which places him in a difficult position, yet he's ostensibly keen to get to the bottom of the mystery. Pons agrees, he and Parker accompanying the young man to the estate and the scene of the crime.  

Only then, well into the book, with the aid of Inspector Stone of the Buckinghamshire C.I.D., does Pons plunge into the fray, sift the minutest physical clues, interrogate the suspects, none of whom seem at all likely. Peters the estate manager; his beautiful wife Sarita; the lovely Miss Masterson; Tidmarsh, music master at the local college; Angela the maid; what could any of them hope to gain from dirty deeds? So obscure is the situation that for a period it isn't clear that any major crime has been committed. Pons, however, starts shuffling the pieces of the puzzle, begins to fashion in his mind the shadowy image of an evil conspiracy. 

-From the essay The Adventures of Solar Pons by Jeffery Scott Sims.

Title: Solar Pons Versus the Devil's Claw
Author: Basil Copper
Year: 2004
Publisher: Sarob Press
Purchase: Amazon

Also see: The Adventures of Solar Pons (1976), The Return of Solar Pons (1975), Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey (1976), The Dossier of Solar Pons (1979), The Further Adventures of Solar Pons (1979).

The Further Adventures of Solar Pons (1979)

The second collection of original Solar Pons stories by Basil Copper. This 9th Pinnacle paperback was published in 1979 and has one of my favorite Pons covers.

Hark! Solar Pons is Back! 

And the chase is on . . . join the hunt as this superlative sleuth pursues his quarry through the tangled webs of intrigue, crime and murder. 

Faithful followers of Sherlock Holmes and mystery lovers alike will delight in Basil Cooper's compelling storytelling as he continues the grand tradition of August Derleth's unerring detective genius, Solar Pons. This literary descendant of Sherlock Holmes is the true heir to the incomparable Master . . . so the chase will continue, as long as villainy and crime must answer to truth and justice! 

The Adventure of the Shaft of Death 

The Adventure of the Defeated Doctor 

The Adventure of the Surrey Sadist 

The Adventure of the Missing Student

Title: The Further Adventures of Solar Pons
Author: Basil Copper
Year: 1979
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon

Also see: The Adventures of Solar Pons (1976), The Return of Solar Pons (1975), Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey (1976), The Dossier of Solar Pons (1979).

The Dossier of Solar Pons (1979)

After collecting all the Solar Pons stories by August Derleth into seven paperbacks (including one novel), in 1979 Pinnacle released an original collection of authorized Pons stories by horror and mystery novelist Basil Copper. This was the first.

The Chase Continues . . .

When August Derleth inherited the mantle of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he created in Solar Pons a detective whose genius cannot be matched––perhaps not even by Sherlock Holmes himself! Now the pen has passed int the hand of the noted British author, Basil Copper, whose superlative storytelling abilities will astound and delight the most discrimination dyed-in-the-woll aficionados of detection.

Here are six spine tingling and superbly crafted tales of suspense in the best tradition of Solar Pons. Come, once again, to Number 7B Praed Street, where the inimitable and infallible master of the art of deductive detection awaits. Follow along closely as he sets apace onto the mist-shrouded cobblestones of old London's alleyways in chase of crime. But make haste! The game's already afoot!

The Adventure of the Perplexed Photographer

The Adventure of the Sealed Spire

The Adventure of the Six Gold Doubloons

The Adventure of the Ipi Idol

The Adventure of Buffington Old Grange

The Adventure of the Hammer of Hate

Title: The Dossier of Solar Pons
Author: Basil Copper
Year: 1979
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon

Also see: The Adventures of Solar Pons (1976), The Return of Solar Pons (1975), Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey (1976).

Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey (1976)

August Derleth's only full-length Solar Pons novel was Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey, first released in 1968 by Mycroft & Moran. This 1976 paperback edition was released as part of Pinnacle's Pons reprint series (No. 7).

Who Done It?

Mr. Fairlie set out for London but never reached his destination. His dead body was found en route and in the lining of his hat was the address of . . . Solar Pons! 

No one had any evident motive to kill Jones Fairlie–but someone did. This wasn't the first time this clever killer had slain and it wouldn't be the last–unless the master of detection, Solar Pons, could stop him. 

Why was Mr. Fairlie carrying Pons's address? And who was this murderer whose killing were planned with utmost care? These were the related puzzles laid before Solar Pons within hours of the discovery of Fairlie's murder . . .

Title: Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey
Author: August Derleth
Year: 1976 (first published 1968)
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon.

Also see: The Adventures of Solar Pons (1976), The Return of Solar Pons (1975).

The Return of Solar Pons (1975)

Solar Pons, "the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street," returns in another collection of stories by August Derleth. First published in 1958, this 1975 U.S. Pinnacle paperback includes an introduction by Edgar W. Smith. As you can see by the numbered cover, this was Pinnacle's 6th Pons publication.

Who is Solar Pons? Who, indeed, is Sherlock Holmes?

They are inventions of two superlative storytellers...the invincible Arthur Conan Doyle of London, the prodigious and prolific August Derleth of Wisconsin.

The whole world knows of the legendary Holmes and his Baker Street beat. But only a few of the most dyed-in-the-wool aficionados of detection have been privileged to make the acquaintance of Solar Pons and his Praed Street office.

Here then is Solar Pons at his best. Only Watson himself could distinguish between the footsteps of Pons or Holmes. If you've not yet joined us in the chase, you are about to discover new joy in a tradition that, alas, has disappeared. Come, the game is afoot!

The Adventure of the Lost Dutchman

The Adventure of the Devil's Footprints

The Adventure of the Dorrington Inheritance

The Adventure of the 'Triple Kent'

The Adventure of the Rydberg Numbers

The Adventure of the Grice-Paterson Curse

The Adventure of the Stone of Scone

The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm

The Adventure of the Penny Magenta

The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant

The Adventure of the Camberwell Beauty

The Adventure of the Little Hangman

The Adventure of the Swedenborg Signatures

By the way, if the cover art looks strangely familiar, here's why:

Title: The Return of Solar Pons
Author: August Derleth
Year: 1975 (first published 1958)
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon.

Also see: The Adventures of Solar Pons (1976)

The Adventures of Solar Pons (1976)

Unique among Sherlock Holmes pastiches are the adventures of Solar Pons "the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street." On hearing that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had no plans to write more Holmes stories, 19-year-old August Derleth wrote the author asking permission to take over the series. Doyle declined, so Derleth created his own detective, Solar Pons, modeled very closely on Sherlock and his world. Derleth would ultimately write more Pons stories than Doyle wrote about Holmes.

First published in 1945, this is a 1976 UK paperback of the first collection of Pons stories with terrific cover art.

In his inverness cape Solar Pons steps briskly from No 7B Praed Street onto the mist-shrouded cobblestones of old London's alleyways. 

The game is afoot... 

The Adventure of the Frightened Baronet

The Adventure of the Late Mr. Faversham

The Adventure of the Black Narcissus

The Adventure of the Norcross Riddle

The Adventure of the Retired Novelist

The Adventure of the Three Red Dwarfs

The Adventure of the Sotheby Salesman

The Adventure of the Purloined Periapt

The Adventure of the Limping Man

The Adventure of the Seven Passengers

The Adventure of the Lost Holiday

The Adventure of the Man With a Broken Face

Title: The Adventures of Solar Pons
Author: August Derleth
Year: 1976 (first published 1945)
Publisher: Futura
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

Check out the official Solar Pons website: www.solarpons.com. You can also Like Solar Pons on Facebook.

LINK: The Scandalous Sherlock Holmes Copyright Issue

My favorite Holmes website I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere has an excellent article about the confusing history of Sherlock Holmes copyright and claims by certain parties. Writers of Holmes pastiche should have a read before paying a license to anyone who claims to own those boys from Baker Street.

Click the headline to have at read at I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.

The Demon Device (1981)

Not a Holmes story, but I think this still falls under our charter of "cases for which the world was not yet prepared." The Demon Device features Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself in action. First published in 1979, this beautiful 1981 Charter paperback sports sensational cover art and is illustrated throughout.

The time is World War I. The British government discovers the Germans are developing a deadly new secret weapon. Someone must be sent to find and destroy it and who would be a better candidate than Arthur Conan Doyle.

Doyle is a six-foot-two, two-hundered-pound giant, and expert balloonist, boxer and airplane pilot. And he certainly can solve a ride as well as his fictional hero. But his abilities are sorely tested by the dizzying kaleidoscope of perils he finds behind enemy lines. And his prudish Victorian morality is stretched to the breaking point by the tempestuous I.A., a mysterious, dazzling beauty with very clear ideas on how she can help the embattled Doyle.

Title: The Demon Device
Author: Robert Saffron
Year: 1981 (first published 1979)
Publisher: Charter
Purchase: Amazon.

The Quallsford Inheritance (1987)

The Quallsford Inheritance – "a memoir of Sherlock Holmes from the papers of Edward Porter Jones, his late assistant" – was first published in hardcover in 1986. This is the first paperback edition.

SHERLOCK HOLMES SAID, "IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN EDMUND QUALLSFORD'S BEDROOM, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND THE FIRST PAGE OF THIS LETTER...."

And so Porter, Sherlock Holmes's nineteen-year-old apprentice, sets off for the Isle of Graesney, where Edmund Quallsford has committed suicide.

Or has he? Evidence seems to point to murder, and rumors of smuggling and old family debts prove to be well founded. Luckily, Holmes shows up–in disguise, of course–and the Holmes-Poter team sorts its way through a lively group of locals to find the smuggling-ring mastermind.

Title: The Quallsford Inheritance

Author: Lloyd Biggle, Jr.

Year: 1987 (first published 1986)

Publisher: Penguin Books

Purchase: Amazon

Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Bird (1979)

The first Holmes pastiche by the prolific Frank Thomas. This first paperback edition contains a preview for The Dossier of Solar Pons in the back.

A BIRD ON WING... 

As the cold London fog rolls in off the Thames and Sherlock Holmes and the good doctor settle in for a quiet and cozy night by the fire, a letter arrives . . . . 

And so begins a tale as incredible as any yet told–one in which we journey back in time with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they stalk the pages of evil–from the decadent quarters of Soho to the exotic reaches of Constantinople, from the mysterious village of St. Aubrey to the familiar 221B Baker Street. Theirs is a strange search for a Golden Bird whose history is ancient, whose presence is illusive and whose secrets are both  rich and deadly . . . . 

Title: Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Bird
Author: Frank Thomas
Year: 1979
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon

A Monstrous Regiment of Woman (1997)

Laurie R. King's sequel to The Beekeeper's Apprentice. First published in hardcover in 1995. This Batman paperback is from 1997.

The dawn of 1921 finds Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes's brilliant young apprentice, about to come into a considerable inheritance. Nevertheless, she still enjoys her nighttime prowls in disguise through London's grimy streets, where one night she encounters an old friend, now a charity worker among the poor. Veronica Beaconsfield introduces Russell to the New York Temple of God, a curious amalgam of church and feminist movement, led by the enigmatic, electrifying Margery Childe. Part suffragette, part mystic, she lives quite well for a woman of God from supposedly humble origins. Despite herself, Russell is drawn ever deeper into Childe's circle. When Veronica has a near-fatal accident–and turns out to be the fourth bluestocking in the group to meet with misadventure after changing her will–Russell and Holmes launch a quite investigation. But the Temple may bring the newly rich Russell far closer to heaven than she would like....

Title: A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Author: Laurie R. King
Year: 1997
Publisher: Bantam Books
Purchase: Amazon

The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1996)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice or On The Segregation of the Queen by Laurie R. King is another Holmes pastiche that I think would make a great movie or TV miniseries. Originally published in hardcover in 1994, this Batman paperback is from 1996.

THE GAME'S AFOOT ... BUT THIS TIME THE HUNTERS ARE THE PREY

In 1915, long since retired from his observations of criminal humanity, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. Never did he think to meet an intellect to match his own–until his acquaintance with Miss Mary Russell, a very modern fifteen-year-old whose mental acuity is equaled only by her audacity, tenacity, and penchant for trousers and cloth caps, unthinkable in any young lady of Holmes's own generation.

Under Holmes's sardonic tutelage, Russell hones her talent for deduction, disguises, and danger; in the chilling case of a landowner's mysterious fever, and in the kidnapping of an American senator's daughter in the wilds of Wales. But her ultimate challenge is yet to come. A near-fatal bomb on her doorstep–and another on Holmes's–send the two sleuths on the trail of a murderer whose machinations scatter meaningless clues and seem utterly without motive. The villain's objective, however, is quite unequivocal:  to end Russell and Holmes's partnership–and then their lives.

Title: The Beekeeper's Apprentice
Author: Laurie R. King
Year: 1996
Publisher: Bantam Books
Purchase: Amazon

Night Break (2015)

The eight (and final?) installment in Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes series.

Sherlock's mother has died, his father has disappeared in India and his sister is acting strangely. The Holmes family seems to be falling apart, and not even brother Mycroft can keep it together. But while Sherlock is worrying about all of this, a man living nearby vanishes in his own house while Sherlock and Mycroft are visiting. Where did he go, and what is the connection with a massive canal being built in Egypt? The answer will rock the world, and tear the Holmes family apart!

Another fast-paced, brilliantly plotted adventure in Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock series as the teenage Sherlock Holmes investigates a new crime and comes up against a fresh crop of sinister, clever crooks.

Other books in the series are: Death Cloud (2010), Red Leech (2010), Black Ice (2011), Fire Storm (2011), Snake Bite (2012), Knife Edge (2013), and Stone Cold (2014).

Title: Young Sherlock: Night Break

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2015

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk

UPDATE: As to the future of this series, I received this tweeted response from author Andrew Lane:

@MacKidsBooks don't want any, John, but my agent and I are considering options. I've started work on #9 regardless. Title is 'Wild Hunt'... https://t.co/NzbnHEmJm7

— Andrew Lane (@AndyLaneAuthor) February 4, 2017

Exit Sherlock Holmes (1987)

This is a 1987 UK paperback edition of Robert Lee Hall's intriguing novel, Exit Sherlock Holmes. I always thought this one would have made a good movie.

THE ASTOUNDING SOLUTION TO THE ENIGMA OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

October 1903. Moriarty is back in London–he too survived the Reichenbach Falls. Holmes goes to ground, leaving Watson like so much bait to draw the quarry. But the subsequent astonishing revelation and confrontation at 221B Baker Street is only the first in a shattering series of blows to be dealt Watson's (and our) view of Holmes. Until now we have known only the skimpiest details of his early life–and then only what he himself, a fiercely secretive man, chose to reveal. Where did he acquire his many different skills? Why did he tell Watson so little about his brother Mycroft? And what was the true relationship between Holmes and his arch foe Moriarty? Mysteries and enigmas rise to envelop Watson in his quest for the truth like the yellow fogs of Victorian London. Can he ever pin down the true identities of Holmes and Moriarty–and the true meaning of their lifelong duel?

Title: Exit Sherlock Holmes
Author: Robert Lee Hall
Year: 1987 (first published 1977)
Publisher: Grafton
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

Becoming Holmes (2014)

Not to be confused with Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes books, this unofficial series about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" ran for six books between 2009 and 2014. As the cover states, this was his last adventure.

It is the summer of 1870 in London, and death seems to be everywhere; at least it feels that way to Sherlock Holmes. Almost seventeen now, he cannot shake the blackness that has descended upon him. And somewhere out there in the darkness, Sherlock's great enemy, the villainous Malefactor, is spinning his web of evil, planning who knows what. 

Only one thing can rouse the young detective from the depths of despair: the possibility of justice. Through information gleaned from his brother, Mycroft, Holmes uncovers a new and terrible plot unleashed by his nemesis. Prepared to do anything to stop Malefactor, Sherlock sets out to destroy his rival and bring him and his henchmen down, once and for all. Everything in the brilliant boy's life changes as death knocks again.... In this shocking and spine-tingling conclusion to the series, Sherlock Holmes transforms, becoming the immortal master of criminal detection.

Title: Becoming Holmes
Author: Shane Peacock
Year: 2014
Publisher: Tundra Books
Purchase: Amazon.

Christopher Lee, 1922-2015

Sir Christopher Lee has passed away at age 93. Lee played Sherlock Holmes in the 1962 film Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, and in two television movies, Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) and Incident at Victoria Falls (1992). He played Mycroft Holmes in the 1970 film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and played Sir Henry Baskerville in the 1959 Hammer production of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

You can read his full obituary at BBC.com.

Sherlock Holmes (1916) screens in San Francisco

William Gillette's recently discovered 1916 silent film version of his famous stage play Sherlock Holmes screened at the Castro Theatre in San Fransisco last Sunday. I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere has a full report and review. The film will be released on Blu-ray in October.

Read Sherlock Holmes in San Francisco: The Triumph of William Gillette at I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.

Pre-order Sherlock Holmes on Blu-ray at Amazon.

Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula (1978)

I could hardly believe my eyes when I found this on bookstore shelves back in 1978. My two great interests combined: Sherlock Holmes and Dracula!

HOLMES AMONG THE UNDEAD... 

A mysterious schooner runs aground in an English harbor. Its cargo is fifty boxes of earth; its only living passenger, a black dog. The captain's body is lashed to the wheel––lifeless, drained of blood. Soon, a rash of bizarre nocturnal crimes terrifies London. This, plainly, is the work of Count Dracula. And just as plainly, it is a case for Sherlock Holmes. Lovers of the Holmes stories will find their hero here in a new role––avenger in a realm where pale corpses, rising from their graves, go forth by night to feast on blood...

Title: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula or The Adventure of the Sanguinary Count
Author: Loren D. Estleman
Year: 1978
Publisher: Penguin
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

The UK novelization of the great 1970 Billy Wilder film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely. (Click for U.S. edition.)

SHERLOCK HOLMES –
THE UNPUBLISHED FACTS.
Dramatic new revelations.
Dr. Watson's secret memoirs unearthed.

"In my lifetime I have recored more than sixty cases which demonstrated the singular gifts of my friend Sherlock Holmes, the best and wisest man that ever lived. But there were other adventures shared by us which, for reasons of discretion, I have decided to withhold from the public until a later date. They involve matters of a delicate and sometimes scandalous nature..."

Title: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Michael & Mollie Hardwick
Year: 1970
Publisher: Mayflower
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

A Study in Scarlet (2011)

This one is canonical, but much like the 1985 copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which I shared here, I love how this 2011 BBC Books edition of Doyle's first Holmes adventure, A Study In Scarlet, uses the reigning Holmes and Watson on the cover. In this case it's Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman from the hugely popular television series, Sherlock.

The hit BBC series Sherlock has introduced a new generation of fans to Sir Arthur Conon Doyle's legendary detective. The debate episode took as its inspiration Conan Doyle's first Holmes novel, and this new edition of A Study in Scarlet, with an introduction by Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, allows fans to discover how it all started.

A Study in Scarlet is a potent mix of murder, suspense, cryptic clues, red herrings and revenge. It introduces us to the world-famous characters of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Inspector Lestrade as they join forces for the first time to track a mysterious killer that stalks London's streets. 

Title: A Study in Scarlet
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Year: 2011
Publisher: BBC Books
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk

Sherlock Holmes and the Sacred Sword (1985)

First published in 1980, this original Sherlock Holmes adventure by Frank Thomas seems to have anticipated Indiana Jones. This Pinnacle paperback was published in 1985.

BENEATH THE DEADLY BLADE 

A dying man arrives at 221B Baker Street. An eccentric burglar scandalizes Sussex. The legendary sword of the prophet Mohammed surfaces, then disappears...  

This bizarre sequence of events propels Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to the back canals of Venice, the shadowy world of Berlin, the lurid alleys of Cario, an the Valley of the Kings––in search of the sacred silver sword and the false prophet who may trigger a holy war in the Middle East, unless the dauntless Holmes can bring the scoundrel to ground and halt his fiendish scheme!

Title: Sherlock Holmes and the Sacred Sword
Author: Frank Thomas
Year: 1985 (first published 1980)
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon

Sherlock Holmes and the Treasure Train (1985)

One of several original Holmes novels by Frank Thomas. This one has Sherlock solving a great train robbery.

INTO THIN AIR... 

A half million pounds in gold has disappeared from an armored train outside London. The railroad and the banks are in an uproar, and finally they must turn to Sherlock Holmes for help. What begins as a deceptively simple case transforms into a puzzle unlike any Dr. Watson has ever seen, as Holmes works brilliantly to unravel an international tangle of high finance, low cunning, and cold-blooded murder. The clues are slim, the work is deadly dangerous, the game's afoot––and the great sleuth is giving chase!

Title: Sherlock Holmes and the Treasure Train
Author: Frank Thomas
Year: 1985
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon

The Private Life of Dr. Watson (1983)

Dr. Watson takes center stage in this 1983 novel by renown Sherlockian Michael Hardwick.

Sherlock Holmes fans can rejoice that the world's most famous right-hand man has finally set pen to paper to tell his own story. John H. Watson was, after all, twenty-six years old when he met the Great Sleuth, and had already had a veritable lifetime of action and passion to his record. Who was this man who was to become Holmes' companion-biographer, his Boswell? 

In this rousing autobiography Dr. Watson tells the whole truth: a humble background in Scotland, with an ominous streak in his heredity; the family upheavals that were to eave their mark on him forever, and the ironic circumstances that led to his becoming a doctor, army surgeon . . . and sleuth's assistant. His story takes us across four continents, onto the stages of London and Paris, over Afghan battlefields, and into more than a few ladies' boudoirs.  

This great adventurer in life and love is revealed as the worthiest possible companion to offset the genius of Holmes, and their momentous meeting, which ends the book, seems a natural conclusion to this chapter of Watson's life––and, of course, the forerunner to the adventures already familiar to millions of readers.

Title: The Private Life of Dr. Waston
Author: Michael Hardwick
Year: 1983
Publisher: E.P. Dutton, Inc.
Purchase: Amazon

The Canary Trainer (1993)

Nicholas Meyer's third original Holmes novel finds Sherlock at the Paris Opera House tangling with a familiar Phantom.

Located by a computer in the bowels of a major university where it had collected dust for over half a century, this missing manuscript by the biographer of Sherlock Holmes reveals for the first time a hitherto unknown episode in the life of the Great Detective. 

Holmes, master sleuth, was also an accomplished violinist. Following his discharge from therapy with Sigmund Freud (see The Seven-Per-Cent Solution), we now learn that he journeyed to Paris and there found employment as a pit musician at the Paris Opera. 

The year is 1891, Paris is the capital of the western world, and its opera house is full of surprises. First and by no means least is the sudden reappearance of the great love of Holmes's life, an accomplished singer from Hoboken, New Jersey. 

Second is the series of seemingly bizarre accidents—each more sinister than the last—allegedly arranged by the "Opera Ghost, " an opponent who goes by many names and is more than equal to Holmes. 

Alone in a strange and spectacular city, with none of his normal resources, Holmes is commissioned to protect a vulnerable young soprano, whose beautiful voice obsesses a creature no one believes is real, but whose jealousy is lethal. 

In this dazzling, long-awaited sequel to The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, the detective pits wits against a musical maniac, and we are treated to an adventure unlike any other in the archives of Sherlock Holmes.

Title: The Canary Trainer
Author: Nicholas Meyer
Year: 1993
Publisher: W.W. Nortin & Co.
Purchase: Amazon.

The Return of Moriarty (1983)

First published in 1974, this is a 1983 UK paperback edition of John Gardner's The Return of Moriarty. The cover refers to Gardner as the author of Licence Renewed, the first of 14 original James Bond novels. Gardner would also pen a sequel, The Revenge of Moriarty.

'Watson and the world thought that Holmes lay dead beneath the dark and swirling waters of the Reichenbach; but Holmes in 1894 was very much alive . . . SO WHY NOT MORIARTY?' 

An evil genius never dies. The sworn enemy of Sherlock Holmes is back, manipulating turn-of-the century unrest to his own deadly advantage. From the murky haunts of Limehouse, punishers, forgers, cash-carriers, cracksmen, blackmailers, murders and Moriarty's whore-mistress, the celebrated Sal Hodges, carry out the will of the Napoleon of crime. How far do the tentacles of evil stretch? What was the connection between Moriarty and Jack the Ripper? Or the famous de Goncourt case in which the Metropolitan police first faced charges of corruption in court? The answer for Inspector Crow, sworn to bring Moriarty to justice, lie deep in the labyrinthine darkness of the Victorian underworld.

Title: The Return of Moriarty

Author: John Gardner

Year: 1983 (first published 1974)

Publisher: Star

Purchase: Amazon (2013 edition)

SHERLOCK HOLMES, NO. 1 (1975)

In 1975, D.C. Comics attempted to add Sherlock Holmes to their pantheon of superheroes with SHERLOCK HOLMES, NO. 1. This was an adaptation of The Final Problem and The Adventure of the Empty House with an emphasis on ACTION (of course). There was never an issue No. 2.

Title: SHERLOCK HOLMES, NO. 1

Author: Dennis J. O'Neil & E.R. Cruz

Year: 1975

Publisher: National Periodical (D.C. Comics)

Purchase: Amazon.

Red Leech (2010)

Andrew Lane's second Young Sherlock Holmes novel had Sherlock traveling to America during the Civil War. Unlike the first book, this time the title nicely tied into the canon. In the The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, Watson makes mention of "the repulsive story of the red leech." Unfortunately, in the U.S. the book was retitled Rebel Fire.

A DEAD MAN WALKING

A SCARRED FACE

A CRIME THSAT SHATTERED A COUNTRY

Sherlock Holmes knows that adults keep secrets. But he didn't expect to find the world's most famous assassin apparently living in Surrey when he's meant to be dead – and his own brother somehow involved.

When no one will tell you the truth, sometimes you have to risk all to discover it for yourself. So begins an adventure that will lead Sherlock to America, to the centre of a deadly web – where life and death are cheap, and the truth has a price no sane person would pay . . .

Title: Young Sherlock Holmes: Red Leech

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2010

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

Also see: Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud

The Three Monarchs (2014)

This original Sherlock Holmes short story by House of Silk author Anthony Horowitz was released as an eBook in 2014.

An original Sherlock Holmes short story from the New York Times bestselling author of The House of Silk and Moriarty—one of the only writers to earn the seal of approval from Conan Doyle’s estate. 

In this e-original short story, Sherlock Holmes and James Watson come together once again to uncover the motive behind a robbery gone awry. When an elderly man shoots an intruder he finds in his home, it seems like a clear case of self-defense. What’s not so clear is why the robber was there. His bag contains no silver or jewelry­—only three crude ceramic figurines of Queen Victoria which were mass-produced for her Golden Jubilee. When two of the figurines are traced to other houses on the same street, it’s Sherlock Holmes who sees the key to unlock the mystery. 

Title: The Three Monarchs

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Year: 2014

Publisher: HarperCollins

Purchase: Amazon.

Also see: The House of Silk

The Revenge of Moriarty (1975)

Long before the Anthony Horowitz bestseller, Moriarty, author John Gardner penned two novels about Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis: The Return of Moriarty and The Revenge of Moriarty. The long delayed third book, originally to be called The Redemption of Moriarty, was published posthumously in 2008 as just Moriarty. This Berkley paperback edition of Gardner's second book was the first U.S. edition.

THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME IS BACK!

San Francisco, 1896. The foggy mists are lifting, and who should emerge from the sinister back alleys to reclaim his title as the most dangerous scientific criminal of his time but the nefarious Professor James Moriarty! Rising like a wicked phoenix from the ashes of his own destruction, Moriarty vows to launch a vendetta against the European underworld leaders who turned on him and left him in the clutches of Sherlock Holmes.

Back in London to take revenge! Baiting them with their favorite vices––spectacular German jewels, a delectable Italian beauty, the prized Mona Lisa, a very accommodating servant girl––Moriarty plays on their sinful weaknesses, and one by one ropes them in as only he can. Then, daring to commit his most horrible scheme, the professor masterminds a plot to destroy the legendary Holmes by cutting off his cocaine supply and bringing him to public disgrace.

Is there no stopping this dastardly genius? Does this really mean the end of the Baker Street Sleuth––and a gruesome triumph of Professor Moriarty??

Title: The Revenge of Moriarty

Author: John Gardner

Year: 1975

Publisher: Berkley

Purchase: Amazon (hardcover).

Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street (1962)

A fictional "biography" of the great detective by noted Sherlockian, William S. Baring-Gould. In the UK the book was titled just Sherlock Holmes. Pictured here is the first U.S. hardcover edition.

Although millions know of Sherlock Holmes through the chronicles of Dr. Watson, it is only now that, owing to his recent death, the full biography and facts of his life can be brought before the public. This volume brings together for the first time every known fact that can be fully authenticated about the life of one of the world's most extraordinary men, and reveals much more about him that has not been heretofore generally known. From twenty years' research into every possible source, the author has written as definitive and account as could ever be assembled. 

SHERLOCK HOLMES OF BAKER STREET reveals far more than Watson ever could, including the whole story of his running battle with the infamous Professor Moriarty, his dangerous brush with Jack the Ripper, his long association and love for Irene Adler, the question of his own son, the story of his retirement, the writing of his great book, and the circumstances of his death.

Title: Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street

Author: William S. Baring-Gould

Year: 1962

Publisher: Bramhall House

Purchase: Amazon.

LINK: You Say Fanfic, I Say Pastiche - Is There a Difference?

Here's another excellent post at the premiere Sherlock Holmes website, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, that is related to our little niche here at Sherlock's Vault.

When is a Holmes story considered a Pastiche, Parody, or Fanfic?

Click on the headline to find out.