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.
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#1240: “Our investigation is foxed and bewildered because everybody is thinking of Christmas.” – Crimson Snow [ss] (2016) ed. Martin Edwards
Having looked at Silent Nights [ss] (2015), the first collection of Christmas-themed short stories in the British Library Crime Classic collection a fortnight ago, I move on to Crimson Snow [ss] (2016), the second such collection, edited once again by Martin Edwards.
Continue reading#1231: “These are booming times for crime.” – A Study in Crimson: Sherlock Holmes 1942 (2020) by Robert J. Harris
I’m not quite the target audience for a Sherlock Holmes pastiche taking its motivation not from Arthur Conan Doyle’s original canon but instead the 20th Century Fox films and subsequent radio serial starring Basil Rathbone — being as I’ve neither seen nor heard them — but the notion intrigued me enough to give A Study in Crimson (2020) by Robert J. Harris a go.
Continue reading#1228: “So you admire the man.” – Dear Mr. Holmes [ss] (2011) by Steve Hockensmith
I thought that the novel Holmes on the Range (2006) by Steve Hockensmith was the first time he wrote about crime-solving cowboy Gustav ‘Old Red’ Amlingmeyer, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that some earlier short stories had featured the character first.
Continue reading#1225: “Our path may be a murky one, but our enemy has shown himself.” – Moriarty (2014) by Anthony Horowitz
Last Saturday I wrote about Holmes and Moriarty (2024) by Gareth Rubin, and that got me thinking about Anthony Horowitz’s second novel in the Sherlock Holmes universe, Moriarty (2014), which I first read ten years ago.
Continue reading#1222: “When the world is burning, you pass the pail to whoever will take it.” – Holmes and Moriarty (2024) by Gareth Rubin
I’m a fan of Sherlock Holmes, and I’m a fan of a good Sherlock Holmes pastiche, so when Holmes and Moriarty (2024) by Gareth Rubin floated across my radar as being endorsed by the Conan Doyle estate as, possibly, the new official Sherlock Holmes novel…colour me intrigued.
Continue reading#1200: Little Fictions – ‘The Reigate Squires’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sometimes the Holmes canon surprises me; I have very fond memories of certain stories, while others are almost a complete blank.
Continue reading#1197: Little Fictions – ‘The Musgrave Ritual’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Is this the the best title in the Sherlock Holmes canon? I don’t mean the best story, but rather the most intriguing combination of words put together to entice you in.
Continue reading#1194: Little Fictions – ‘The “Gloria Scott”‘ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Many authors and film-makers would seek to overturn this in the years ahead, but as far as the canon goes we find ourselves visiting Sherlock Holmes’ first ever case.
Continue reading#1193: “We are lacking data. Without data we cannot infer.” – Elementary: The Ghost Line (2015) by Adam Christopher
Another month, another Sherlock Holmes pastiche, this time from the very enjoyable US TV series Elementary (2012-19). My belated discovery of two novelisations in that universe was a source of immediate interest, and so The Ghost Line (2015) by Adam Christopher found its way onto my TBR.
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