"Scribble, scribble, scribble, eh, Mr Grobius?" --
(attrb George III to Gibbon)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle & SHERLOCK HOLMES
(Canon and Pastiche)
Sherlock Holmes is one of those fictional detectives
that you are either hooked on or are indifferent to (I alternate over cycles of
about seven years -- must be some comet or something like that -- the comet must
have come round again in 1998 to revive the Holmes interest, hence this web page). By using that deliberately provocative phrase 'one of those fictional...',
my point is either that you believe in his reality or you don't, somewhat similar to one's consciousness of King Arthur or Horatio Hornblower. But then if you
BELIEVE in him, there is not enough original material in the Watson memoirs
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who unlike many recipients of this honor actually
deserved a knighthood -- he was really an admirable person, although he got taken in by fake fairy pictures) to assuage your hunger. Now that the Doyle estate, which fanatically prevented copyright infringements for years, has gone belly up (or down), the 'pastiches' or pseudo-Holmes new stories are all over the place. I happen to like that a lot, since I'm no purist over the Canon: just as I was able to accept Jeremy Brett as the ultimate media portrayer of the person as opposed to Basil Rathbone. (Those Granada Holmes's with Brett are absolutely the best 'pure' SH's ever done -- no out-of-period stuff, like SH in Washington during World War II. Unfortunately he died with just 19 left of the 'canon' to be done. Nobody yet has done all of them. But as Brett said once in an interview, even Doyle needed 'help' with some of the stories -- paraphrasing Tyrone Guthrie's comment that Shakespeare needed some 'help' with Troilus and Cressida.)
However, the Holmes-clone books differ considerably in quality, and a lot of
them just exploit the fact that he was contemporary with Jack the Ripper,
Count Dracula, or Fu Manchu (among many many others) and justify themselves with a manufactured confrontation. Some of these are actually quite good. Others suck. Must admit I'm really fed up with how many SH
manuscripts turn up according to prefaces as having been found in a battered old steamer trunk or safe-deposit box. Still, I read every Holmes pastiche that comes out -- when the comet is in the right aspect -- so have a pretty extensive collection. Here are some summaries.
First of all, the CANON
1. A STUDY IN SCARLET (1887; 1893 US)
The beginning of it all. Astounded the world in its time, is a bit
simple-minded as a book, and the characters are not firmed-up yet. This one has that neat historical back-story that took place among the Mormons in Utah -- the sort of background-story-after-the-fact device that became common in mysteries of the time, which when done well (as here) is marvellous.
2. THE SIGN OF THE FOUR (1889)
Starts out with Holmes giving himself a fix of cocaine (with a needle no less -- I always thought you snorted the stuff). This is a nice short
novel that is a lot of fun, but Holmes still hasn't become 'himself' totally yet,
although in some ways he is more interesting here than as the later formularized character.
3. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1892)
Here we go! The classic collection. Scandal in Bohemia
and all those early tales that set the world on fire.
4. THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1894)
The follow-up collection, which contains some of his best stories, like Silver Blaze ('dog in the night time') and the Moriarty stuff.
5. THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1901)
The Sherlock Holmes masterpiece. This is a classic like Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, or King Solomon's Mines. I have read this at least 10 times, and will read it again when this web page is finalized. There have
been several movie and TV versions, but I prefer the Basil Rathbone one over
even the Jeremy Brett: it was never done better.
6. THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1905)
The third great collection following the Moriarty disaster. Holmes brought back to life by popular demand.
7. THE VALLEY OF FEAR (1915)
It might even be better as a detective novel than Hound of
the Baskervilles (to purists like John Dickson Carr), but it's not as thrilling.
However, the historical flashback about the Molly McGuires in Pennsylvania
is really wonderful (actually, that reminds me of a very fine movie called the
Mollie McGuires, with Sean Connery and Frank Finlay as the famous Pinkerton -- but that film seems to have vanished even from video archives).
8. HIS LAST BOW (1917)
Probably the poorest of the collections. Holmes retires to
beekeeping on the Sussex Downs with only an occasional foray
into detection of any great interest. But there was a war going on and I guess
ACD was pretty busy with other matters than writing decent SH stories.
9. THE CASE BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1927)
The last collection. Pretty much formula by now although it contains classics like Thor Bridge.
10. THE FINAL ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1981)
(ed. Peter Haining)
Peripheral stories and other Holmesiana by ACD. Not stricly SH, but
related by subject. A couple of really good detective stories included, such as The Lost Special (about a train that disappears).
Note: November 1999. Reread all four novels (not ready to do the whole opus again yet -- now caught up in rereading Hammett/Chandler).
Here are some of the classic inconsistencies, such as (a) Watson having been wounded in the shoulder in Afghanistan (Study in Scarlet) and suffering from his leg wound in Sign of the Four. Watson marries Mary Morstan, but she very
soon disappears from the saga and he ends up back in Baker Street as you would
expect.
Also some interesting bits: The famous Mrs Hudson was not named until the second book; Holmes was cynical and hurt in the earlier books by the police always taking credit for his triumphs, later he couldn't care less; he was said to be totally ignorant of literature in S in S, not even knowing who Carlisle was, but quoting Goethe in S of F and saying so-and-so was better than Carlisle; in S in S he was an early bird, in H of B he would stay up all night. Also, there is a throwaway moment you never hear anything about after Watson arranges to become Holmes's roommate -- Watson keeps a bull-pup (but I might be missing some joke here -- somebody wrote to me and said it was common slang then meaning he had a few obnoxious habits!).
All of the novels follow a pattern in that the crime is solved halfway through the
book, then you get an explication going back into the past (not so much with H of B) -- that was standard practice for late Victorian novels. S of F is the weakest with its stolen Indian treasure; S in S is quite good with its stuff about Mormons, who really were horrible people, although it is not politically correct to say that now [wouldn't be surprised if Doyle was banned in Utah schools after what he said about Brigham Young]; and V of F has a really good story about the Molly McGuire/Pinkerton coal mining conflict (story is only marred because Doyle felt he had to throw in Moriarty to please his fans).
Bottom line is that these are damn good reads, especially Hound of the Baskervilles, with The Valley of Fear being a better mystery in the classic sense (I am also very fond of Sign of the Four), but Holmes is far more interesting in his unique persona in the short
stories.
Anthologies and Annotated Collections
THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES (1928)
The first omnibus edition, published by John Murray, in two volumes (novels and short stories), is still the classic, although Penguin and others have also done omnibuses (omnibi?!). Murray also published ACD's Complete Professor Challenger, another classic character from the mind of Doyle.
THE SPECKLED BAND AND OTHER STORIES (1965)
Doyle's own selection, more or less, of his best SH stories. This
is the one I would take to a desert island if I could only take one Holmes book.
Includes ACD's own favorite, The Speckled Band.
SHERLOCK HOLMES: SELECTED STORIES (1951)
No, I take that back: THIS is the Desert Island book, one of those fine Oxford World Classic editions in a tiny hardback (they have discontinued this nice format, unfortunately). A great selection, including a novel (Sign of Four -- there is a minor controversy over whether it should be 'of four' or 'of the four' -- I happen to prefer the THE, it sounds better). This edition also contains The Speckled Band.
THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (----)
By Martin Gardner (or it might have been Baring-Gould). Really the best thing of this sort ever done. Problem is, I CAN'T FIND IT! Did I lend it to someone? This is a catastrophe!
THE TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES (1986)
By Peter Haining. Basically the hype for the Granada TV show with
Jeremy Brett, but very well done with all sorts of fascinating stuff about the
filming of the series, historical vignettes about previous filmings, and so on. It was worth the subscription to Channel 13 that year (as was The Annotated Dracula in a prior season).
Some Contemporary Rivals
THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1970)
(Hugh Greene, editor)
Compiled by Graham Greene's brother, this is an anthology of Victorian and
early 20th century detective stories by Conan Doyle's contemporaries about detectives such as Martin Hewitt, Max Carrados, and Dr Thorndyke. Interesting, but none beat the master. Additional volumes in this series are:
COSMOPOLITAN CRIMES (Foreign Rivals) (1971) (e.g. Eugene Valmont)
THE FURTHER RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1973) (More Hewitt, etc.)
THE AMERICAN RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1976) (e.g. The Thinking Machine).
THE DOVER BOOK COLLECTION
I love these sturdy paperback reprints of the old detective stories. Here is a
list of the short stories I have about the rivals of Sherlock Holmes in these
editions:
E.C. Bentley: TRENT INTERVENES
C. Daly King: THE CURIOUS MR TARRANT
Roy Vickers: THE DEPARTMENT OF DEAD ENDS
Grant Allen: AN AFRICAN MILLIONAIRE
Frederick Irving Anderson: BOOK OF MURDER
Robert Barr: THE TRIUMPHS OF EUGENE VALMONT
Ernest Bramah: BEST MAX CARRADOS DETECTIVE STORIES
R. Austin Freeman: THE BEST DR THORNDYKE DETECTIVE STORIES
Jacques Futrelle: BEST THINKING MACHINE DETECTIVE STORIES
Jacques Futrelle: GREAT CASES OF THE THINKING MACHINE
(Futrelle was the only detective story writer I know of who went down with the
"Titanic")
Maurice Leblanc: THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ARSÈNE LUPIN
Arthur Morrison: BEST MARTIN HEWITT DETECTIVE STORIES
Baroness Orczy: THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER
Melville Davisson Post: UNCLE ABNER: MASTER OF MYSTERIES
Sax Rohmer: THE DREAM DETECTIVE
T.S. Stribling: BEST DR POGGIOLI DETECTIVE STORIES
T.S. Stribling: CLUES OF THE CARIBBEES
Robert van Gulik: CELEBRATED CASES OF JUDGE DEE
SOLAR PONS
(August Derleth)
Must I mention these? For the record, yes. The Lovecraft fanatic from Wisconsin wrote more stories about Solar Pons than Doyle did about Holmes.
They are a direct imitation (and some of them are not really that bad), but why
on earth did he pick such a ridiculous name, and why in fact wasn't he sued
by the Doyle Estate -- perhaps they regarded the stories as beneath their notice? But if you are a collector, some of them definitely belong on your shelves. The fact that Pons lives on Praed Street, near Paddington Station, which Derleth from Wisconsin had probably never visited except later when he was older (he was about 20 when he wrote his first Pons), is endearing because it is so off the wall. Baker Street itself, when you see it now, is also inapt, but I'm sure it was different in the 1890s. See the MysteryList web page for more about Pons.
Now for the Fakes:
Pastiches and Related Holmesiana
[peripheral names of note involved in these cases are underlined.]
Early Pastiches
Just to make this clear: a pastiche is not a parody, it is a "work in literature or art in direct imitation of another" -- (Chambers Dictionary) -- but note that the Misadventures, for example, contains parodies.
THE EXPLOITS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1952)
(Adrian Conan Doyle & John Dickson Carr)
During the collaboration while Carr was compiling the official biography of ACD with his son, they wrote some stories based on Watson's untold
references (like the Unfortunate Madame Montpensier) -- over the objections of the rest of the family. 'taint Holmes, really, but at least
the plots by Carr are clever. One of the best series of stories that really try
to emulate the originals. A lot of critics don't like these, but I do -- they come across as very authentic, at least in the same vein as the later ACD collections.
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1985)
(Richard Lancelyn Green, editor)
Contemporary attempts by other authors to write Sherlock Holmes stories in a
serious imitative style. Ronald Knox, Vincent Starrett, Julian Symons, and others
try their hand at doing SH pastiches. Quite good for the most part.
THE MISADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1944)
(Ellery Queen, editor)
The all-time classic (published in the year of my birth, as if that matters), containing both pastiches and parodies. This book was savagely suppressed by the Doyle Estate (Adrian, in fact, who was a bit of an asshole). My college
library had a copy of this, and one of my long-lasting regrets is that I never
stole this book. It has the great skit, where SH dies, goes to heaven, and
there is a brouhaha because Adam has gone 'walkabout' -- Holmes finally tracks him down, and explains to the Lord when asked how he found him among the millions of souls, "Elementary, my dear God, he has
no navel." It's really about time for this book to be reissued.
Modern Sherlock Holmes Novels
These books feature the actual Sherlock Holmes. Most of them use the lead-in pretense that the book is a newly discovered MS by Dr. Watson. Few of these books succeed in avoiding modern anachronisms, especially regarding political and social attitudes, although most are accurate enough in dialogue.
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1970)
(Michael & Mollie Hardwick)
A novelization based on a not-good-at-all movie. What could you expect?
They even ripped off the title of a classic (Starrett's). Considering that Michael Hardwick is an accomplished Holmes expert, this is a real potboiler -- maybe they just needed the money at the time.
ENTER THE LION (1979)
(M.P. Hodel & S.M. Wright)
Mycroft & Sherlock as young men involved in international intrigue and a plot
to restore the Confederacy. Read this in 1980 and have basically forgotten it.
EXIT SHERLOCK HOLMES (1977)
(R.L. Hall)
Read this in 1979 and have to admit I don't remember a thing about it.
THE QUALLFORD INHERITANCE (1986)
(Lloyd Biggle, Jr.)
Surprisingly good, from a primarily science-fiction author. Smuggling on Romney Marsh. Like it.
THE CASE OF THE RALEIGH LEGACY (1986)
(L.B. Greenwood)
Run of the mill attempt to re-create the original. Tries to be faithful, and at
least doesn't involve any deviance from the Canon.
THE CASE OF SABINA HALL (1988)
(L.B. Greenwood)
Another rather feeble attempt to achieve Watsondom.
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE THISTLE OF SCOTLAND (1989)
(L.B. Greenwood)
No, sorry, this just doesn't hack it.
THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND (1987)
(Michael Hardwick)
Hardwick is an expert Holmesian, so this book works. On the other hand, there
is nothing special about it.
THE SEVEN-PERCENT SOLUTION (Sigmund Freud) (1974)
(Nicholas Meyer)
This one became famous because of the movie and the Freudian connection;
it isn't really that good, but the story is fun. The movie, with Alan Arkin as Freud and Nicol Williamson as Holmes, was wonderful.
THE WEST-END HORROR (1976)
(Nicholas Meyer)
Big let-down after the at least interesting prior book. Not really Holmes.
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA (2002)
(Alan Vanneman)
This travesty goes to show how god-awful BAD some of these pastiches are (one can almost sympathize with Lady Doyle and her copyright obsession). In it is a science fictional race of humanoid rats, Homes and Watson off by tramp steamer with a black piratical sea-captain to Alexandria and Singapore, and nasty goings on in the slave trade run by no less than the Governor of Singapore (a buddy of Moriarty's). Also, Watson involves himself with loose women in a rather explicit manner.
Sherlock Holmes Encounters Famous Contemporaries
This is usually a lot of fun as an exercise. There are many contemporaries of SH, both real and fictional, who are suitable as collaborators or confronters -- the Victorian era is full of interesting characters.
THE LAST SHERLOCK HOLMES STORY (Jack the Ripper) (1978)
(Michael Dibden)
My original comment written on the title page when I first read it was:
Well-written but VILE. This is a really nasty book (but Dibden is
good at that).
PRISONER OF THE DEVIL (Dreyfuss) (1979)
(Michael Hardwick)
Excellent novel about SH's involvement in the Dreyfuss Scandal; a Devil's
Island Mystery.
TEN YEARS BEYOND BAKER STREET (Fu Manchu) (1984)
(Cay van Ash)
God, what can I say? I enjoyed it tremendously, although Fu Manchu is one of
the most ridiculous evil persons in the world (my apologies to
the Fu Manchu home page).
SHERLOCK HOLMES'S WAR OF THE WORLDS (1975)
(Manly Wade & Wade Wellman)
Well, why not? The Martians invaded Earth while Holmes was alive (and
before Orson Welles fooled the world with his radio broadcast).
ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER (Tarzan) (1974)
(Philip José Farmer)
An absurdity, but Farmer is a master at this sort of nonsense. After all, why
shouldn't Holmes have gotten involved in the Greystoke inheritance matter?
(Farmer 'believes' in the reality of Doc Savage, so this is actually pretty mild for
him.) A comedy.
SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. DRACULA (Count Dracula) (1978)
(Lawrence Estleman)
A hole that needed to be filled, but it's amusing enough. Worth a read.
THE HOLMES-DRACULA FILE (Count Dracula) (1978)
(Fred Saberhagen)
Revisionist view of both characters by a science-fiction writer, based on the Giant Rat of Sumatra. Not very good.
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HOLMES (Jekyll & Hyde) (1979)
(Lawrence Estleman) Another hole that needed to be filled. Worth spending an idle afternoon over.
ADVENTURE OF THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN (Houdini) (1985) (D. Stashower)
Holmes and Houdini -- a bit far-fetched.
MURDER BY DECREE (Jack the Ripper) (1979)
(R. Weverka)
Adapted from a movie script, and pretty lousy.
MORE... I have seen a series in Barnes & Noble bookstores of adventures in Colorado, etc. in the US that supposedly took place during his 'lost years', and a couple of others, but they didn't arouse my interest and can't be reported, just mentioned.
The Revisionist Moriarty Books
Starting with 'The Seven Percent Solution', showing Moriarty as a man maligned by Holmes, this sub-theme provides an interesting twist.
THE INFERNAL DEVICE (1978)
(Michael Kurland) From the blurb (I can't describe it better)
Scotland Yard was helpless. Sherlock Holmes was hopeless. And
just one man could save the QUEEN, THE EMPIRE, THE WORLD Who was
the single figure who alone could foil the most cunning plot ever to threaten
civilization with unspeakable horror? None other than that archenemy of
the law...that mastermind who obsessed Sherlock Holmes to the point of madness...that extraordinary hero whose true nature is revealed on these thrilling pages for the first time -- Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime, and now the world's last hope to circumvent the villainy of a loathsome Russian foe.
Nominated for an Edgar.
The author did a couple more (and might even have continued, but I don't know):
DEATH BY GASLIGHT (1982)
THE GREAT GAME (2001)
Another in that line, not quite as interesting as the first because the novelty wore off.
THE RETURN OF MORIARTY (1974)
(John Gardner)
Ian Fleming's successor -- the author of a multitude of James Bond sequels -- tries his hand at a subversive novel from Moriarty's point of view -- the antihero. Very entertaining indeed, but oddly enough not very memorable.
THE REVENGE OF MORIARTY (1975)
More of the same. These books are in the same vein as the Kurland ones. They are for irreverant Holmes addicts. There might be more than two of these too. (He's into a good moneymaker as the 'official' James Bond writer now, and can't be bothered with Moriarty any more.)
Irene Adler
Irene Adler is of course 'the woman' -- the only woman SH seems to have admired for her intellect. She makes a good rival in the following series.
GOOD NIGHT, MR. HOLMES (Irene Adler) (1990)
(Carole Nelson Douglas)
A nice series about "The Woman" that incorporates Holmesiana from the point
of view of the villainess of A Scandal in Bohemia. Great involvements in
the current affairs of Edwardian times, with SH, and with the divine Sarah
Bernhardt among other real people. However, as a divertissement (nice Jeremy Brett word -- he had a wonderful way of pronouncing French properly but still conveying contempt for the language as non-British), this
should not have developed into a whole series.
GOOD MORNING, IRENE (1990) IRENE AT LARGE (1992) IRENE'S LAST WALTZ (1994) CHAPEL NOIR (2000) CASTLE ROUGE (2002) FEMME FATALE (2003)
Too much of a good thing; glad they stopped (for a while, anyway)... The last couple involved Jack the Ripper ("You stuck Jack the Ripper with a hat pin?")
Holmes Gets Married
Heresy! (like Rex Stout's famous BSI presentation proving Watson was a woman). Nice series, though, and Miss Russell is a good feisty character.
THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE (1994) (Laurie R. King)
The sixtyish Sherlock Holmes, retired on the Sussex Downs, meets a 15-year-old tomboy with brains you wouldn't believe. She becomes his apprentice in the Consulting Detective business, and eventually MARRIES
him. Oh no, you say! Well, this actually works, although it is not the Holmes
we know from Doyle. This series is quite well written, and once you accept
the premise, entertaining and with quite a few nice points to make about
religion, detection, and life in general (but overly feminist for my taste,
and there are some careless inconsistencies: like when did she become
friends with Lord Peter Wimsey, what's this about SH's dead son, etc.?).
A MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN (1995) -- boring middle, bang-up ending
A LETTER OF MARY (1996) -- this one is excellent as a novel in its
own right
THE MOOR (1998) -- very atmospheric return to the Dartmoor of the Baskervilles (with the real-life Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould thrown in)
JUSTICE HALL (2002) -- a Gothic novel with an interesting subject based on WWI executions for cowardice or refusing to obey orders and how that could be used for 'judicial murder' to inherit a title
THE GAME (2004) -- an adventure set in northern India; SH and Mary go in search of Kipling's Kim, who has gone missing
Detective Stories Related to Sherlock Holmes Subjects
Stories about 'sons of Holmes', Sherlockian societies, actors who play SH, etc. Some of the books are about Arthur Conan Doyle himself.
A TASTE OF HONEY ('Mr. Mycroft') (1941)
(H. F. Heard)
An antisocial Watson-type who retired to an English village to get away from social contacts encounters a mysterious beekeeper and gets involved in the investigation of a murder based on a 'killer bee' species. Amusing.
SON OF HOLMES (Auguste Lupa) (1986)
(J.T. Lescroart)
Yes, SH's (illegitimate) son is Nero Wolfe. Inflating some points, aren't we,
just to make a book. Pretty lousy. (Auguste Lupa is a simple pun on Nero
Wolfe's name.)
THE CASE OF THE BAKER STREET IRREGULARS (1940)
(Anthony Boucher)
Sherlock Holmes fanatics in Hollywood react when a studio decides to do a
Holmes movie (with some improper changes). Quite amusing.
COPPER BEECHES (1971)
(A.H. Lewis)
A novel about "Baker Street Irregulars" (Holmes societies) doing their own
set piece adventure in Philadelphia. Very good.
WATSON'S CHOICE (1955)
(Gladys Mitchell)
A prolific writer of cosies starring her detective Dame Beatrice Bradley (more popular in Britain than here) has a go at one of those dinner parties where everyone dresses up as a Sherlock Holmes story character. OK.
A THREE-PIPE PROBLEM (1975)
(Julian Symons)
Sheridan Haynes (sort of a cross between Charles Paris and Jeremy Brett) is a TV actor who is typecast as Holmes. He gets to do his
Holmes stuff in real life. Excellent.
THE KENTISH MANOR MURDERS (1988)
(Julian Symons)
Sheridan Haynes the actor, doing one of those pay-to-go weekend stints at
a country manor, as Holmes. Fine -- we are all going to miss Julian Symons, who died a couple of years ago.
THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA (1974)
(Richard Boyer)
Pretty poor stuff. The author (whose first book this is?) has the classic
credentials: studied with Kurt Vonnegut in college in Iowa, schoolteacher,
book salesman, factory worker, bus driver, bartender, and editor for a Boston
publishing firm. Hey, why not give a book like this a shot though? Betcha it
had something to do with the latter job!
THE LIST OF 7 (A. C. Doyle) (1993)
(Mark Frost)
The famous Sir ACD himself is in this, one of those Illuminati conspiracy novels. There was a sequel too, but I don't remember if ACD as Watson was
in this too. (I've been remiss lately in filing away new books I've read, and they
end up on various slush piles where I can't find them for projects such as this
web page.) The books are quite good if you are into this sort of thing.
NEVERMORE (A. C. Doyle) (1994)
(William Hjorstberg)
The famous Sir ACD himself is in this one too. This time with Harry Houdini (and the spirit presence of Edgar Allan Poe) investigating a mass-murder case where the victims are being killed by methods described in Poe stories. Quite a good effort by the author of the excellent "Falling Angel" (a 'supernatural' private-eye novel).
Schlock Homes
THE INCREDIBLE SCHLOCK HOMES: 12 STORIES FROM BAGEL STREET (1976)
(Robert L. Fish)
I saved this till last. Savory fare indeed if you like rude, crude parody and awful
puns. The book's dedication is to Frederic Dannay (part of Ellery Queen), and reads: "...who first appreciated the full extent to which Schlock Homes could contribute to the confusion of logical reasoning." And that it does indeed. Homes and Watney are absolute idiots, but Homes always solves his case by
the most convoluted and irrational and misinformed logic you will ever find. (A typical Shlockian moment occurs when Watney remarks on Homes's disguise as a wino: "But you are a foot shorter!" / "Special shoes....")
There is also a sequel, THE MEMOIRS OF SCHLOCK HOMES: A BAGEL STREET DOZEN (1974), containing eleven stories. And there are probably more uncollected ones from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
Scholarly Studies
If you enjoy this sort of thing, which presupposes, of course, that Holmes was a real person, these books are quite good. Even better are the factual compendia describing the sites -- London, etc. -- as they were then.
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1933/1960)
(Vincent Starrett)
Regarded as a classic in the field. The definitive biography, bar none.
NAKED IS THE BEST DISGUISE (1974)
(S. Rosenberg)
Absolutely awful, but very scholarly and erudite. Psychoanalizes our hero
[non-fiction supposedly, at least not a detective story]. However, if Rex Stout
was allowed to get away with his famous proof at the Baker Street Irregulars club in New York that Watson was a woman, well I guess anything goes.
(I have great admiration for Rex Stout for what he did there -- apart from
writing the great Nero Wolfe series. You can visualize some of the more
conservative banker types at the BSI meeting spluttering their wine and
shouting 'Outrageous'. Right on, Rex!) See the text of this speech on a web page.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1972)
(Michael Harrison)
One of those "Footsteps" books that describes the milieu -- London at the time of SH. Find out what a pint of beer cost then, and how much you had to pay to have a housemaid. Excellent.
SHERLOCK HOLMES: TEN LITERARY STUDIES (1969)
(Trevor Hall)
Addresses such topics as SH's Schooling, Love Life, etc. (God, do people
really read this crap? Well, I did, and it's not without interest.)
THE TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES (1986)
(Peter Haining) See earlier on this page.
BARING-GOULD: [Note: I lost my copy of Baring-Gould's biography of SH -- probably with the Annotated SH, wherever that is now. I do have his Nero Wolfe biography, where he suggests NW is the son of SH.]
Biography: John Dickson Carr's THE LIFE OF SIR
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1949)
The Official one (not the only one of course). It really is good and probably the
only one you need to read unless you are obsessive.
The old Webring system is screwed up these days since it was bought out by Yahoo, who have proceeded to mess around with the structure and webring ethic. I'm not sure now which of the old webrings are still extant and which have been replaced by this new navbar.
Note: Portions of this document are set in the Baskerville Typeface (of course). If your PC does not have Baskerville, the text will be in Arial (a sans-serif font). If you want a copy of the Baskerville font, click here; you will need
to unzip it into your Windows Font directory. (You can pass this file along to other
SH fans, since this is a free shareware version of the font.)
After much mulling, I decided that this should just be a simple text-only web page --
no Sherlock Holmes logos, pipes, hats, or other graphics. They are irrelevant. The books stand on their own rights. My main hope is that aficionados of the immortal
Sherlock Holmes will find this compendium of some use. [Well, since 1998 this page has become a little fancier. And in Sept. 2005, having got my scanner working, I added all these book-cover images; I hope this doesn't make the page too slow to load. But computers are a lot faster these days for most people.] -- Grobius Shortling
I am not a member of the Baker Street Irregulars (the New York SH society), which is the oldest and best in America, but if you are interested, please contact: Sir James Saunders, BSI, Sherlockian Consultant
