In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon

by Laurie R. King (Editor), Leslie S. Klinger (Editor)

Overview

In the follow-up to the nationally bestselling A Study in Sherlock, a stunning new volume of original stories from award-winning Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger.

The Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were recently voted as the top mystery series of all time, and they have enthralled generations of readers—and writers!

Now, Laurie R. King, author of the New York Times-bestselling Mary Russell series (in which Holmes plays a co-starring role), and Leslie S. Klinger, editor of the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, have assembled a stellar group of contemporary authors from a variety of genres and asked them to create new stories inspired by that canon. Readers will find Holmes in times and places previously unimagined, as well as characters who have themselves been affected by the tales of Sherlock Holmes.

The resulting volume is an absolute delight for Holmes fans both new and old, with contributions from Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Michael Dirda, Harlan Ellison, Denise Hamilton, Nancy Holder, John Lescroart, Sara Paretsky, Michael Sims, and more. The game is afoot—again!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605986586
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	11/11/2014
Series:	Sherlock Holmes
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	727,733
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Leslie S. Klinger is the editor of the highly-acclaimed The New Annotated Dracula; The New Annotated Frankenstein; and the two-volume The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft, as well as the anthologies In the Shadow of Dracula and In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe. Together with Lisa Morton, he’s also edited the anthologies Ghost Stories and Weird Women, both with extensive selections of Victorian horror. He lives in Malibu.

Laurie R. King is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books, including the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes stories. She has been nominated for a multitude of prizes, and her fiction has won the Edgar, Creasy, Nero, Macavity, and Lambda Awards. She has been guest of honor at several crime conventions and is probably the only writer to have both an Edgar Award and an honorary doctorate in theology. She was inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars in 2010.

Table of Contents

Introduction Laurie R. King Leslie S. Klinger vii

The Crooked Man Michael Connelly 1

The Curious Affair of the Italian Art Dealer Sara Paretshy 15

The Memoirs of Silver Blaze Michael Sims 37

Dr. Watson's Casebook Andrew Grant 53

The Adventure of the Laughing Fisherman Jeffery Deavr 79

Art in the Blood Laura Caldwell 105

Dunkirk John Lescroart 121

The Problem of the Empty Slipper: Script Leak Moore John Reppion Chris Doherty Adam Cadwell 159

Lost Boys Cornelia Funke 169

The Thinking Machine Denise Hamilton 177

By Any Other Name Michael Dirda 199

He Who Grew Up Reading Sherlock Holmes Harlan Ellison 215

The Adventure of My Ignoble Ancestress Nancy Holder 225

The Closing Leslie S. Klinger 241

How I Came to Meet Sherlock Holmes Gahan Wilson 249

About the Contributors 255

Acknowledgments 261

Supplemental Copyright Page 262

Editorial Reviews

…Sara Paretsky contributes an excellent feminist pastiche, Gahan Wilson some amusing cartoons, Andrew Grant a whimsical social-media update of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Jeffery Deaver a well-constructed tale about a man who idolizes not Holmes but Moriarty…In general…this is a sharp, affectionate, light-footed collection.

The New York Times Book Review - Charles Finch

★ 09/08/2014
Devotees of the greatest of all fictional detectives will welcome this anthology from King and Klinger (A Study in Sherlock), who have assembled a murderers’ row of talent, including bestselling authors not usually associated with Holmes and Watson. Only two stories are traditional pastiches; the other 13 pay homage to the spirit of the originals in very different ways. Michael Connelly’s “The Crooked Man,” in which Harry Bosch consults a coroner named Art Doyle, cleverly riffs on Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Crooked Man.”A brilliant bipolar patient puts his gifts for Holmesian deduction to use while tracking a serial killer in Jeffrey Deaver’s “The Adventure of the Laughing Fisherman.” Cornelia Funke provides insights into Holmes’s youth in her moving “Lost Boys,” while an elderly Holmes plays a heroic role during WWII in John Lescroart’s stirring “Dunkirk.” Klinger himself weighs in with one of the more memorable entries, “The Closing,” which offers a sophisticated variation on one of the most tragic canonical adventures. According to the editors’ illuminating introduction, a similarly themed second volume is in the works. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"The game is afoot for an eclectic collection of writers, including Sara Paretsky, Harlan Ellison, Denise Hamilton and Nancy Holder."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Great fun for anyone who loves crime fiction. The collection is diverting, delightful, and best taken with a cup of hot tea."

Hallie Ephron

"There are some gems. This book was conceived in fun, written in fun and edited in fun. It should be read in that spirit. For 127 years since his first case and for 84 years since the death of his creator, Sherlock Holmes is still entertaining us."

Dallas Morning News

"Boasts all-new stories, some featuring Holmes himself, others inspired by him, by such ace contemporary writers as Michael Connelly, Sara Paretsky and Jeffery Deaver."

Tampa Bay Times

"Delightful. The tales, all exceedingly clever, are sometimes in classic Holmesian style and time period; others make only passing reference to the great detective; and some have ingenious twists."

Seattle Times

"As brilliant as it is entertaining."

Spartanburg Herald Journal

"An eclectic but accomplished group of novelists, primarily mystery and crime writers, take some intriguingly different looks at Holmes’ legacy. The legacy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work and his most famous character is on rich display here, and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes should be on the reading list of any Holmes fan."

BookReporter.com

"Sara Paretsky contributes an excellent feminist pastiche, Gahan Wilson some amusing cartoons, Andrew Grant a whimsical social-media update of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Jeffery Deaver a well-constructed tale about a man who idolizes not Holmes but Moriarty. A sharp, affectionate, light-footed collection."

New York Times Book Review

"Original and intriguing. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will find plenty to appreciate in this collection."

The Oklahoman

"The tales cover a wide variety of interpretations, from comedic to dark, and range from straight pastiches in Watson's voice to modern settings with Holmesian investigators. Surprising and twisty results."

Author Magazine

"Satisfy your Sherlock cravings with these superb stories."

Book Riot

"This companion volume to A Study in Sherlock features 16 writers and cartoonists whose imagination has been stirred by the great detective. The writers obviously had a lot of fun with these imaginative and effective pieces, and Holmes and his companions live again."

Providence Journal

As brilliant as it is entertaining.

The Spartanburg Herald Journal

Delightful. The tales, all exceedingly clever, are sometimes in classic Holmesian style and time period; others make only passing reference to the great detective; and some have ingenious twists.

The Seattle Times

2014-10-05
A notorious lawsuit over whether the Great Detective was in the public domain—he is, according to the court—held up this sequel to King and Klinger's collection A Study in Sherlock (2011), but it's well worth waiting for.The range of the 15 new stories here is remarkable. One of the best, Sara Paretsky's "The Curious Affair of the Italian Art Dealer," is the most conservative, taking true delight in approximating Watson's turns of phrase. Michael Sims retells "Silver Blaze" from the title character's perspective. Cornelia Funke displays Holmes' magnanimity toward a young thief who invades 221-B Baker St., and Nancy Holder provides a sad, spectral sequel to "The Beryl Coronet." John Lescroart shows an aging Holmes helping out in the Dunkirk evacuation. Since Holmes can never die, Michael Connelly reimagines Dr. Watson as a deputy coroner working with Harry Bosch's LAPD, and Jeffery Deaver, in a characteristically twisty tale, sets a Sherlock-ian wannabe against New York's East Side Slasher. Holmes is only one among several inspirations behind Laura Caldwell's "Art in the Blood," Denise Hamilton's "The Thinking Machine" and co-editor Klinger's "The Closing." Leah Moore and John Reppion resurrect Holmes in a fast-moving comic book, and Andrew Grant even more breathlessly abridges The Hound of the Baskervilles for social media. Harlan Ellison's wild fantasia, the strangest item here, is more Ray Bradbury than Conan Doyle. And in the wittiest story, Michael Dirda unmasks Doyle as a Strand house author whose byline conceals the identities of many contributors. Notable among its many competitors mainly for raising the question of what can legitimately count as Sherlock-ian pastiche. Even readers who aren't pleased with every answer will undoubtedly be stimulated to provide answers of their own, perhaps for the inevitable next collection.

Kirkus Reviews

This companion volume to A Study in Sherlock features 16 writers and cartoonists whose imagination has been stirred by the great detective. The writers obviously had a lot of fun with these imaginative and effective pieces, and Holmes and his companions live again.

The Providence Journal