Back in November, purely due to the coincidence of reading two novels featuring a character called Holmes in quick succession, I devoted Saturdays to a series of five posts on Sherlock Holmes pastiches and adjacent…ephemera. And it got me thinking: I would like to read more good Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
And so, online hive mind, I would appreciate suggestions of good pastiches that I can delve into in the months and years ahead, alongside Arthur Conan Doyle’s original canon. For the time being, I’m looking for examples of the page rather than the screen or radio, since I’m always bad at a) finding and b) making time to sit down with other media; there may come a time when movies, TV shows, and more pique my interest…it’s just not now.
Crucially, what I’m after is a short story collection or novel by a single author, rather than multi-author anthologies. The reasons for this restriction are legion, but for the time being let’s put it down to being able to narrow the field somewhat, since there are lots of such anthologies — seventeen have been published in the time you’ve spent reading this sentence — and I really do not have the time, money, and patience to wade through them.
Equally, I’m more interested in stories actually featuring a Victorian rendering of Holmes and Watson than I am in Holmes-adjacent stuff like The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars (1940) by Anthony Boucher, superb though that book was. Modernised versions of Holmes…well, I’m not against them in principle, but they’ll be put further down the list unless more than one person assures me they’re excellent. And I’d prefer a straight-faced pastiche than anything in the mould of parody as written by the likes of Maurice Leblanc, Robert Barr, and others.
Also, traditionally published books only, please. Yes, self-publishing has produced some delights — my own novel among them — but they are few and far between.
I include below a list of the books fulfilling these requirements that I’ve read — or, at least, the ones I can remember reading. My thoughts on some of them can be found at the provided link, but let me add here that I found both The Italian Secretary (2005) by Caleb Carr and The Veiled Detective (2004) by David Stuart Davies rather wanting.
Sherlock Holmes Universe Pastiches I Have Read
(an on-going, frequently-updated list)
Mycroft Holmes (2015) by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse
Mycroft and Sherlock (2018) by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse
Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage (2019) by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse
The Return of Moriarty (2025) by Jack Anderson
The Giant Rat of Sumatra (1976) by Richard L. Boyer
The Improbable Casebook of Sherlock Holmes [ss] (2021) by Nick Cardillo
The Italian Secretary (2005) by Caleb Carr
The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes [ss] (1954) by John Dickson Carr and Adrian Conan Doyle
Elementary: The Ghost Line (2015) by Adam Christopher
Elementary: Blood and Ink (2016) by Adam Christopher
The Veiled Detective (2004) by David Stuart Davies
The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes [ss] (2014) by Martin Edwards
Dust and Shadow (2009) by Lyndsay Faye
The Whole Art of Detection [ss] (2017) by Lyndsay Faye
A Study in Crimson (2020) by Robert J. Harris
The Devil’s Blaze (2022) by Robert J. Harris
A Taste for Honey (1941) by H.F. Heard
The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D. Hoch [ss] (2008) by Edward D. Hoch
The House of Silk (2011) by Anthony Horowitz
Moriarty (2014) by Anthony Horowitz
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (1994) by Laurie R. King
Young Sherlock: Death Cloud (2010) by Andrew Lane
Holmes and Moriarty (2024) by Gareth Rubin
Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess (2006) by Nancy Springer
Baker Street Irregulars: The Game’s Afoot [ss] (2018) ed. Michael A. Ventrella & Jonathan Maberry
~
I’m anticipating that either two people will reply or 1,600 will, and on the off-chance I fail to keep up with the comments please know that your thoughts and direction in this endeavour are greatly appreciated. It’s a messy pool into which to dip one’s toe, and all guidance really does mean a great deal — so thank-you.
The Invisible Event 
Lyndsay Faye’s “The Whole Art of Detection” (short story collection) and “Dust and Shadow” (novel)
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Not sure if I’d “recommend” it, but you should probably read Michael Dibden’s Last Sherlock Holmes Story.
You’ll either love it or curse me to Hades for having mentioned it.
Seven Percent Solution is well regarded, but my favourite SH pastiche is the Giant Rat chapter in the otherwise underwhelming And The There was No-One, by Gilbert Adair, which doesn’t quite fit your criteria but is worth a glance if you’re in the library.
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I remember enjoying The Seven Percent Solution a long time ago. I have the eight Young Sherlock books by Andrew Lane which would kill two birds with one stone as they are aimed at a teenage audience. I could bring up to Bodies this year so let me know.
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Is that the same Andy Lane who wrote All-Consuming Fire?
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Yes – as a Doctor Who fan I read that a long time ago but got a copy back last year for a future re-read,
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Frank Thomas’s series was popular in the 80s.
Robert Hall’s Exit Sherlock Holmes?
And Meyer’s Seven Per Cent Solution.
You could also look at the parodies J. M. Barrie wrote with Doyle himself.
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I assume, that you are looking for mysteries rather than adventure tales, since there are quite a few of those too. James Lovegrove for example is quite good at recreating the characters of Holmes and Watson and accurately rendering Watson’s voice. However, he is usually more interested in delivering a fun spectacle, than crafting a sound mystery.
When it comes to traditionalists I would recommend the pastiches of Dennis O. Smith, who is among the finest authors of Sherlockian tales, which try to be faithful to the original canon.
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Hi. I’d definitely recommend The Lost Chronicles, Volumes 1 and 2, by Denis O Smith. For me, he really captures the Conan Doyle ‘voice’ and sticks resolutely to the authentic tales. No sci-fi crossovers or my of that nonsense 😁
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It’s notable for Holmes’s absence, but Kingsley Amis’s story Dr. Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery features Watson doing a good solo job in solving a country mystery,
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Hi.
Thank you for your great blog. It has introduced me to so many good reads and some not so many too: but that’s the nature of the beast, right?
Here’s a Sherlock Holmes short story ‘homage’ from Neil Gaiman: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Study_in_Emerald
Maybe you know it?
I no longer have a copy so can’t vouch for its quality anymore. And whilst Gaiman has now gone the way of a number of high profile men and overstepped his masculinity (if that isn’t too euphemistic), it doesn’t stop his writing being sharp, often mythic and in most cases very entertaining.
Cheers.
David
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This may run a little farther afield than you want, but as a kid I very much enjoyed Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus, about a sleuthing mouse who lives with his Watson in a hole at 221B. Titus wrote a number of these; I only read a couple. Disney even turned it into a movie: The Great Mouse Detective. I remember thinking it was a charming parallel to the Holmes stories, but, as I say, I was younger then!
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I’m not sure that August Derleth’s Solar Pons stories count as pastiches or are more Homes adjacent. The stories are all based on cases mentioned by Watson. The Adventure of the Black Narcissus is the first story and the first collection is Solar Pons: In Re Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Solar Pons. The backstory goes that in 1928 Derleth wrote to Doyle asking if there would be more Holmes stories. Doyle said ‘no’ so Derleth decided to write his own.
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How about Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes (1906), four short stories pitting the gentleman thief against the master detective? I can’t vouch for the English translations, but Leblanc’s writing is excellent in the original French.
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I can’t vouch for the quality of most of these (other than the 3 Cthulhu Casebook ones which are good fun if you like a bit of a genre mash-up (you may well not))
https://www.listchallenges.com/sherlock-holmes-and-company-beyond-baker
alternatively there is a list of 3000 items (!?) which may be too much even for someone of your reading voracity (but could be a source of ideas?) https://www.listchallenges.com/a-study-in-sherlock-holmes-retellings-full
Sent from my iPhone
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I enjoyed Kim Newman’s “Moriarty, The Hound of The D’Urbervilles.” Moran has more than a hint of George Macdonald Fraers’s Flashamn about him, and as you could guess from the title, individual stories pastiche some other late 19th-century stories as well.
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Nicholas Meyer’s THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION is pretty much the book that popularised Holmesian pastiche as a genre in the 1970s so is a must-read (he has written several other too btw). The “Ellery Queen” A STUDY IN TERROR is s creative novelisation of the eponymous 1966 film (partly ghosted by Paul Fairman) and is well worth a look you. The various aforenentioned Andy Lane books about Holmes are certainly worth trying.
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I would recommend James Lovegrove whose Holmes stories aren’t all supernatural. Definitely the best Watson voice I’ve read. Also Loren D Estleman has done a couple which are fun.
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You know I’m generally not a fan of pastiches, especially Sherlock Holmes pastiches, but enjoyed Simon Clark’s “The Climbing Man” (collected in The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad). It’s an archaeological locked room mystery about a fresh, bizarrely positioned body being found a 3000-year-old sealed chamber. So if the story doesn’t work for you as a pastiche, the impossibility will sugar coat the disappointment.
I know you said you prefer a straight-paced pastiche than a parody a la Leblanc, but really have to second the recommendation for Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes. I remember it being closer to pastiche than parody. Leblanc only had to parody the name for legal reasons. Ellery Queen’s A Study in Terror is not bad for a genre curiosity. And, if I remember correctly, it counts as an official crossover between Queen and Holmes.
Only other recommendation is, sort of, Holmes-adjacent, Kido Okamoto’s The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi: Detective Stories of Old Edo. A collection of short stories, originally written during the 1910s and ’20s, featuring the Sherlock Holmes of Old Edo, Inspector Hanshichi. This collection was perhaps translated way too early into the game, but it deserves some attention.
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Here’s an old one I read way back when I was a kid in the 70’s – an attempt to tackle the story for “which the world is not prepared” – Richard Boyer’s “Giant Rat of Sumatra”. It looks like they re-printed the book as part of the Further Adventures paperback series. I re-read it a year or so ago and thought it held up pretty well. I wouldn’t want to do anything to spoil it, but the villain reveal at the end is very memorable.
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I have nothing left to recommend since others have already did or you have already read them. But thank you for the lists! I love Sherlock Holmes, and I would like to read more of them.
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