Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography (2007)

Another fictional biography of the great detective, this one by Nick Rennison. Cover art is taken from an image of William Gillette.

He has been called a genius and a fraud, a hero and an addict. He advised kings in their glittering palaces, then disappeared into the darkest alleys of London’s criminal underworld. He was (and remains) a global icon, but who was this Sherlock Holmes? 

With an attention to detail that would make his subject envious, Nick Rennison gathers the clues of a life lived among the stars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from Oscar Wilde to Sigmund Freud, and uncovers startling, previously unknown information. How did a Cambridge drop-out and bit player on the London stage transform himself into a renowned “consulting detective”? Did he know the identity of “Jack the Ripper”? When did Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty first cross paths? To where did Sherlock Holmes disappear after his presumed “death” in 1891? 

Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography answers these questions and many more as it careens through the most infamous crimes and historic events of the era, all in pursuit of the real man behind the greatest detective in modern fiction—and, just perhaps, non-fiction.

Title: Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography
Author: Nick Rennison
Year: 2007
Publisher: Grove Press
Purchase: Amazon (U.S.) | Amazon (UK).

Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes (1986)

A fictional biography of Sherlock Holmes by the prolific Sherlockian writer Michael Hardwick.

Sherlock Holmes settled back into his chair, filled his pip with tobacco, and, with a nightcap libation in hand, found his mind drifting over the career that had made him the most famous detective in the world. Although his old friend Dr. Watson believed that he has chronicled faithfully many of his cases, the time had come to set the record straight.... 

This fictional biography by a Holmesian expert and biographer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the first totally convincing account of the great detective's life. A vanished world is magnificently evoked as Holmes recounts a career that began with methodical self-training in criminal investigation, an apprenticeship with the famous Pinkerton Agency in Chicago, a fateful meeting with Dr. Watson in the laboratory of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and the move to Baker Street, which began their long partnership in adventure. Holmes also reveals the sensational details of what really append at his confrontation with his archenemy Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls and during the three "missing" years before he tuned up again in Dr. Watson's rooms in London. 

Ingeniously based on Sherlockian scholarship, this book demonstrates the author's uncanny abilities to use the immortal characters and their surroundings with an understanding that has been praised as making the book worthy of a place alongside the great originals.

Title: Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes
Author: Michael Hardwick
Year: 1986
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Purchase: Amazon (U.S.) | Amazon (UK).

Sherlock Holmes (1975)

First published in 1962, this is the 1975 UK Panther paperback edition of William S. Baring-Gould's fictional biography of Sherlock Holmes with magnificent cover art by Richard Clifton-Dey. In the U.S. the book was released as Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street.

THE GREATEST SLEUTH EVER KNOWN

Sherlock Holmes has become a legend, his very name synonymous with brilliant crime detection. Here is the first comprehensive biography of the man, written with scrupulous accuracy, thoroughness and a warm, infectious enthusiasm. Tracing Holmes's career, W.S. Baring-Gould has revealed many hitherto unknown facts: his parentage and early life, his somewhat erratic years at Oxford, Cambridge ad Bart's, as well as an interlude on the stage on Britain and America. Holmes little-known relationships with other celebrities of the time – including King Edward VII, Karl Marx, Lewis Carroll and Bernard Shaw – are put in the perspective of his mysterious 'missing years.' For those long acquainted with Holmes's superb feats of detection and newcomers to the classic accounts of his exploits alike, Sherlock Holmes provides fascinating and unputdownable reading.

Title: Sherlock Holmes

Author: W. S. Baring-Gould

Year: 1975

Publisher: Panther

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

The Childhood of Sherlock Holmes (2000)

Mona Morstein's studious take on Sherlock's childhood as recalled by the family butler.

A butler who shared years of employment with the Holmes family draws a clear portrait of Sherlock as a child. Read about Sherlock’s precocious and unsettling older brother Mycroft. Revealed at last is the whole dysfunctional household that shaped the character of the great detective. We are enabled to interpret Holmes’ personality traits in a more sympathetic and lucid manner.

Title: The Childhood of Sherlock Holmes: The Butler's Tale
Author: Mona Morstien
Year: 2000
Publisher: Galde Press
Purchase: Amazon.

Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street (1963)

U.S. paperback edition of William S. Baring-Gould's fictional biography of Sherlock Holmes. The U.S. hardcover was released in 1962.

"The greatest detective of all time"

"A fascinating piece of work...new and startling... Did you know, for example, that the notorious Jack the Ripper was identified and brought to justice? Well, he was; and by no less a personage than the master sleuth, Holmes. And who was Jack? You are in for a real surprise...

"And did you know that Irene Adler bore Holmes a son, who now lives in New York and is a great detective in his own right? Read and discover for yourselves..." –Best Sellers

Title: Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street

Author: William S. Baring-Gould

Year: 1963

Publisher: Popular Library

Purchase: Amazon.

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.