The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Okay, this isn't a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, but I wanted to celebrate the 40th anniversary today of the first airing in the U.S. of the great Granda series starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes (it had premiered in the UK a year before). Still the best Holmes adaptations, IMO, and I love this Dell paperback from 1985 that tied-in with the series. Now that's a Holmes for the '80s!

"Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot!"

Here, in thirteen of his finest adventures––brought together for the first time in one paperback volume––Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous detective, helps governesses in distress, clears young men wrongly accused of dire crimes, and catches criminals in cases hopelessly bungled by Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. No sinister development can dissuade Holmes from pursuing each mystery to its brilliant conclusion––not even the malevolent cunning of Morality, his arch enemy, the Napoleon of Crime. 

Just as the Granada TV series carries us back, with stunning authenticity, into the fascinating Victorian era, these stories carry us into a world of mystery without parallel, setting a standard still unsurpassed in a century of detective fiction.

If you also love Jeremy Brett and the Granada series as well, I HIGHLY recommend The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast.

Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Year: 1985
Publisher: Dell
Purchase: Amazon.

Sherlock Holmes and the Houdini Birthright (1995)

Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini set out to save Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from fraudulent psychics.

Here's another Sherlock Holmes pastiche from the fertile pen of Val Andrew. Again two areas of mystery are linked: the exploits of Shelock Holmes and the secrets of master escapologist, Harry Houdini. Doctor Watson's collaborator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, finds himself drawn into the world of fake psychics and Houdini is anxious for Holmes to unmask the perpertrators who prey on the innocent believers.

Once he has been torn away from his beekeeping activities, Holmes's investigations lead him to some surprising locations including a Ruritanian castle. Sherlockians, historians and magic buffs will all be intrigued and delighted with this classic detective story which links fact and a little fiction to suggest what may have happened to Houdini after death.

Again .... the game is afoot.

Title: Sherlock Holmes and the Houdini Birthright
Author: Val Andrews
Year: 1995
Publisher: Breese Books
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Sherlock Holmes at Lincoln's Tomb (2021)

A young Sherlock Holmes teams joins Dr. Joseph Bell and Arthur Conan Doyle on an American adventure.

The recently unearthed diaries of the young Arthur Conan Doyle provide evidence, if not proof of the that Doyle knew Sherlock Holmes as early as 1878, when Holmes was working in the laboratory of Dr. Joseph Bell at the University of Edinburgh. Holmes, a brilliant scientist and an astute medical diagnostician had either dropped out or had been expelled from a London medical school. 

This, the first diary, records the adventures of Doyle and Holmes, when they accompany Dr. Bell to Chicago. Dr. Bell gives lectures and demonstrates his surgical technique with Doyle's assistance. Holmes deduces the cause of death in a victim who collapsed on the street and Doyle becomes involved with the local medical students. Together, Doyle and Holmes uncover a plot by ex-confederate officers to assassinate the president and take over the United States. 

The story demonstrates Holmes' amazing skills of observation, diagnosis, his ability to solve crimes and his dogged pursuit of criminals. During this adventure young Arthur Conan Doyle encounters his friend, Robert Louis Stevenson, is abducted by the James gang, falls in love with a red haired Scottish lass and survives a harrowing ride in a hot air balloon.

Title: Sherlock Holmes at Lincoln's Tomb
Author: John Raffensperger & Richard Krevolin
Year: 2021
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1973)

I'm pushing the boundaries of this blog's pastiche only concept to offer up an "enriched edition" of original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle edited by Harry Shefter. I just can't resist '70s paperbacks with great cover art, and this fits that bill!

Twelve of the most exciting adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his faithful assistant, Dr. Watson, are included in this collection. Generations of readers marveled at the extraordinary powers of deduction of this master detective––and his fame seems to mount with the passing years. 

A Scandal in Bohemia

The Red-Headed League

A Case of Identity

The Boscombe Valley Mystery

The Five Orange Pips

The Man with the Twisted Lip The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Reader's Supplement

The Adventure of the Speckled Band

The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

Title: The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Year: 1973
Publisher: Pocket Books
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

LINK: The Adventure of the Canonical Wonder Woman

As far as I know, there has yet to be a pastiche in which Sherlock Holmes meets Wonder Woman. But now the good folks at Sherlock Peoria speculate that the great detective may have already met the Amazon in the original canon itself!

 . . . Violet de Merville, young, rich, beautiful, accomplished, a wonder-woman in every way. 

This is clever theory, so click the headline to have a read at Sherlock Peoria.

Who Done Houdini? (2015)

Who Done Houdini? by Raymond John finds Sherlock Holmes investigating the death of Harry Houdini and defending Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who is a suspect in his murder! (Click to read: The real story of Houdini & Doyle.)

Detroit Free Press reporter Timothy Wiggins learns of Harry Houdini’s death on Halloween 1926 with more than casual interest. He had been at the great magician’s final performance the night before. Wiggins had grown up as a sort of magician himself on the streets of London, stealing to survive. But then he met the real-life Sherlock Holmes, who made him his chief Bay Street Irregular. Now, years later, Holmes notifies Wiggins he is in the U.S. at the request of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is being investigated as a possible murder suspect in Houdini’s death.  

 What follows is a mad dash to New York and Boston with a deranged Spiritualist medium on the tail of Holmes and his team of investigators: Wiggins, his feminist wife, and Rose Mackenburg, Houdini’s top investigator into phony Spiritualism, which was rampant at the time. In Boston, Sir Arthur introduces the team to Margie, the most highly regarded Spiritualist of the day. Her séance and the bizarre form of treasure hunt that follows leads to a stunning climax that will change everyone’s perception of Holmes’s character. 

Title: Who Done Houdini?
Author: Raymond John
Year: 2015
Publisher: North Star Press of St. Cloud
Purchase: Amazon

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987)

I'm once again slipping in a canonical entry because I love this Penguin paperback from 1987 with the great Jeremy Brett on the cover. Still my favorite Holmes, even in this age of Cumberbatch.

SHERLOCK HOLMES RETURNS IN SEVEN SPINE-TINGLING TALES OF DETECTION

With the faithful Watson at his side, the inimitable Sherlock Holmes faces some mind-boggling puzzles–and manages to come out on top every time! Holmes's clever investigations in "The Six Napoleons," "The Musgrave Ritual," "The Empty House," and the other intriguing cases replete with treachery, duplicity, and murderous evil display the unique powers of his eagle eye and brilliant brain.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a dramatic series on Mystery!, a PBS television series presented by WGBH-TV, Boston, made possible by a grant from Mobil Corporation.

Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Year: 1987
Publisher: Penguin
Purchase: Amazon

Memories of Sherlock Holmes (1949)

This is canon, not a continuation, but this cover is wild enough to be a pastiche! This is a 1949 Bantam paperback edition of Conan Doyle's Memories of Sherlock Holmes. Below is a description of the cover from the inside flap.

About THE COVER

The Reichenback [sic] Falls! In a homely Alpine village, set down among lonely mountain pass, Sherlock Holmes at last met Moriarty, King of the Underworld.

There, in the spray that steamed up from the boiling pit below, where the swollen torrent crashed down on the cold black rocks, balanced in a battle over the edge of the giant abyss, Holmes and Moriarty held their last contest, a fight to the death for one–or both.

Title: Memories of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Year: 1949
Publisher: Bantam Books
Purchase: Amazon

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part IV: 2016 Annual (2016)

The fourth book in what will now be an ongoing collection of new Holmes stories published by MX to help preserve the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Release date is May 22.

In 2015, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories burst upon the scene, featuring over sixty new traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures, all set within the correct time period, and written by many of today's leading Sherlockian authors from around the world. This first anthology, spread over three huge volumes, was the largest collection of its kind ever assembled in one place. Response was immediately and overwhelmingly positive, and there were soon calls for additional volumes. The result is this new collection, the next in an ongoing series, featuring twenty-two more Holmes investigations. 

Since his first appearance in print in 1887, the popularity of Sherlock Holmes has only increased. Although originally chronicled in just sixty exploits, the number of additional Holmes tales discovered since then is literally in the tens of thousands. Along with those original narratives published by Dr. Watson's first literary agent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, countless other people have managed to find their way to Watson's Tin Dispatch Box in order to reveal more exciting cases featuring the Great Detective. These accounts stretch from one of Holmes's earliest cases, later recounted to Watson as they sit by the fire in the Baker Street sitting room, to an adventure just before Holmes's retirement that affects both the ancient history and the very future of England. These and all the other excellent tales contained in this volume represent some of the finest new Holmesian storytelling to be found, and honor the man described by Watson as "the best and wisest . . . whom I have ever known." 

All royalties from this collection are being donated by the writers for the benefit of the preservation of Undershaw, one of the former homes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The "Part IV: 2016 Annual" features contributions by: Derrick Belanger, Deanna Baran, Daniel D. Victor, Mark Mower, Craig Janacek, Jayantika Ganguly, Denis O. Smith, Matthew Booth, J.R. Campbell, Bonnie MacBird, Arthur Hall, Bob Byrne, Andrew Lane, Roger Johnson, Hugh Ashton, David Stuart Davies, Vincent W. Wright, Daniel McGachey, Nicholas Utechin, Jeremy Holstein, David Marcum, and Marcia Wilson, as well as a poem by Andrea Mantin Levy, and forewords by David Marcum, Steven Rothman, Richard Doyle, Steve Emecz, and Melissa Farnham.

Title: The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part IV: 2016 Annual
Author: David Marcum
Year: 2016
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part III: 1896 to 1929 (2015)

The third book in a three-volume collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published to help preserve Undershaw, the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Part Three of a record breaking three-volume collection, bringing together over sixty of the world's leading Sherlock Holmes authors. All the stories are traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches. This volume covers the years from 1896 to 1929, including contributions from: Geri Schear, Paul D. Gilbert, Stuart Douglas, Lyn McConchie, Phil Growick, Seamus Duffy, Leslie FE Coombs, Mark Alberstat, GC Rosenquist, Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett, Andrew Lane, Peter K. Andersson, Matthew J. Elliott, Jim French, Bob Byrne, James Lovegrove, Tim Symonds, Larry Millett, Kim Krisco, C. Edward Davis, Joel and Carolyn Senter, (and two poems by Bonnie MacBird). The authors are donating all the royalties from the collection to preservation projects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw.

Title: The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part III: 1896 to 1929
Author: David Marcum
Year: 2015
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part II: 1890 to 1895 (2015)

The second of a new three-volume collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published to help preserve Undershaw, the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Part Two of a record breaking three-volume collection, bringing together over sixty of the world's leading Sherlock Holmes authors. All the stories are traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches. This volume covers the years from 1890 to 1895, including contributions from: Ann Margaret Lewis, Vincent W. Wright, William Patrick Maynard, Matthew Booth, J.R. Campbell, Robert V. Stapleton, Sam Wiebe, Jeremy Branton Holstein, Bill Crider, Peter Calamai, Lyndsay Faye, Marcia Wilson, Jack Grochot, Bert Coules. Christopher Redmond, Mike Hogan, Carl Heifetz, Wendy C. Fries, Dick Gillman (and a poem from Carole Nelson Douglas).The authors are donating all the royalties from the collection to preservation projects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw.

Title: The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part II: 1890 to 1895
Author: David Marcum
Year: 2015
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part I: 1881 to 1889 (2015)

The first of a new three-volume collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published to help preserve Undershaw, the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Part One of a record breaking three-volume collection, bringing together over sixty of the world's leading Sherlock Holmes authors. All the stories are traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiches. This volume covers the years from 1881 to 1889, including contributions from: John Hall, Hugh Ashton, Adrian Middleton, David Marcum, Jayantika Ganguly, Denis O. Smith, Amy Thomas, Kevin David Barratt, Luke Benjamen Kuhns, Summer Perkins, Deanna Baran, Shane Simmons, C.H. Dye, Mark Mower, Derrick Belanger , Daniel D. Victor, Steve Mountain, Stephen Wade, John Heywood, Will Thomas, Daniel McGachey, Martin Rosenstock, Craig Janacek, (and a poem from Michael Kurland). The authors are donating all the royalties from the collection to preservation projects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw.

Title: The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part I: 1881 to 1889
Author: David Marcum
Year: 2015
Publisher: MX Publishing
Purchase: Amazon.

Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space (1985)

Sherlock Holmes meets sci-fi. A collection of fantastical Holmes tales by well-known science fiction authors.

FANTASTIC SHERLOCK HOLMES 

In this outstanding collection of Sherlockian tales, the master of detection solves the most fantastic cases pf his career. Herein are answered questions which have plagued loyal readers for decades, including: What is the truth about the mysterious seance of Sumatra? What occurs when Holmes must pursue and extra-terrestrial? Is it possible that there is an alien Sherlock Holmes? What is the dreadful truth behind the disappearance of J. Adrian Fillmore? These and other matters are thoroughly and delightfully solved by a distinguished group of authors including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, Philip Jose Farmer, Sterling Lanier, Gene Wolfe, Edward Wellen and others, for your amusement and edification.

The Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Problem of Sore Bridge–Among Others by Philip Jose Farmer

The Adventure of the Global Traveler by Anne Lear

The Great Dormitory Mystery by S.N. Farber

The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound by Gordon R. Dickson

The Thing Waiting Outside by Barbara Williamson

A Father's Tale by Sterling E. Lanier

The Adventure of the Extraterrestrial by Mack Reynolds

A Scarletin Study by Philip Jose Farmer

Voiceover by Edward Wellen

The Adventure of the Metal Murderer by Fred Saberhagen

Slaves of Silver by Gene Wolfe

God of the Naked Unicorn by Richard Lupoff

Death in the Christmas Hour by James Powell

The Ultimate Crime by Isaac Asimov

Title: Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space
Author: Isaac Asimov, Martin Greenberg & Charles G. Waugh (editors)
Year: 1985 (first published 1984)
Publisher: Blue Jay Books
Purchase: Amazon.

The Demon Device (1981)

Not a Holmes story, but I think this still falls under our charter of "cases for which the world was not yet prepared." The Demon Device features Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself in action. First published in 1979, this beautiful 1981 Charter paperback sports sensational cover art and is illustrated throughout.

The time is World War I. The British government discovers the Germans are developing a deadly new secret weapon. Someone must be sent to find and destroy it and who would be a better candidate than Arthur Conan Doyle.

Doyle is a six-foot-two, two-hundered-pound giant, and expert balloonist, boxer and airplane pilot. And he certainly can solve a ride as well as his fictional hero. But his abilities are sorely tested by the dizzying kaleidoscope of perils he finds behind enemy lines. And his prudish Victorian morality is stretched to the breaking point by the tempestuous I.A., a mysterious, dazzling beauty with very clear ideas on how she can help the embattled Doyle.

Title: The Demon Device
Author: Robert Saffron
Year: 1981 (first published 1979)
Publisher: Charter
Purchase: Amazon.

A Study in Scarlet (2011)

This one is canonical, but much like the 1985 copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which I shared here, I love how this 2011 BBC Books edition of Doyle's first Holmes adventure, A Study In Scarlet, uses the reigning Holmes and Watson on the cover. In this case it's Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman from the hugely popular television series, Sherlock.

The hit BBC series Sherlock has introduced a new generation of fans to Sir Arthur Conon Doyle's legendary detective. The debate episode took as its inspiration Conan Doyle's first Holmes novel, and this new edition of A Study in Scarlet, with an introduction by Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, allows fans to discover how it all started.

A Study in Scarlet is a potent mix of murder, suspense, cryptic clues, red herrings and revenge. It introduces us to the world-famous characters of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Inspector Lestrade as they join forces for the first time to track a mysterious killer that stalks London's streets. 

Title: A Study in Scarlet
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Year: 2011
Publisher: BBC Books
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk

SHERLOCK HOLMES, NO. 1 (1975)

In 1975, D.C. Comics attempted to add Sherlock Holmes to their pantheon of superheroes with SHERLOCK HOLMES, NO. 1. This was an adaptation of The Final Problem and The Adventure of the Empty House with an emphasis on ACTION (of course). There was never an issue No. 2.

Title: SHERLOCK HOLMES, NO. 1

Author: Dennis J. O'Neil & E.R. Cruz

Year: 1975

Publisher: National Periodical (D.C. Comics)

Purchase: Amazon.

Sherlock Holmes: A Play (1974)

Was William Gillette's play Sherlock Holmes the very first Holmes pastiche? I'm afraid I'm not Sherlockian enough to answer that question, but it may have been the first officially sanctioned non-canonical adventure. When Gillette wrote to Doyle asking if he could marry off Holmes, the author responded, "You may marry him, or murder or do what you like with him."

Below is the play in a limited edition hardcover from 1974.

Based upon the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, William Gillette's play in a book edition, illustrated by Frederic Dorr Steel–with his Reminiscent Notes–and the Introduction by Vincent Starrett, was first published by Doubleday Doran in 1935, and although differing somewhat from the Samuel French Play Edition, 1922, which gives both William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as authors, subsequently became a coveted and scare book. The present edition is printed from the original Doubleday Doran plates, including illustrations and dust jacket.

Besides Gillette himself (below), the famous play has seen many notable actors playing Holmes, including: H. A. Saintsbury, John Barrymore (on film), John Wood, Leonard Nimoy, and Frank Langella. Gillette's own 1916 silent film adaptation, long thought lost, was discovered in 2014.

Title: Sherlock Holmes: A Play

Author: William Gillette

Year: 1974

Publisher: Helan Halbach

Purchase: Amazon.