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.

Revenge from the Grave (2022)

A new Holmes pastiche by noted Sherlockian David Stuart Davies. You can hear an excellent interview with Davis about his days working with Jeremy Brett at the terrific The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast.

 

A brand-new Sherlock Holmes mystery from acclaimed Sherlockian author David Stuart Davies, featuring the return of the sinister Moriarty gang... 

When Professor James Moriarty plunged over the Reichenbach Falls the world believed that Sherlock Holmes was also dead. Three years later, Holmes has returned – but so, too, has a deadly threat. With Moriarty’s criminal empire still very much alive, Holmes and Watson are forced to ask themselves if their greatest foe really did perish…

Title: Revenge from the Grave
Author: David Stuart Davies
Year: 2022
Publisher: Titan Books
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Crucifer of Blood (1979)

Paul Giovanni's semi-original Sherlock Holmes play is based largely on Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four.

Unpack your deerstalker cap, your calabash pipe and your pocket magnifying glass––the great detective is back! It seems that, among the effects of the renowned Dr. John Watson, was found a memoir which begins: 

"The dreadful case of the blood crucifer occurred in London in 1887 and formed one of the most painful and alarming episodes in my long association with Mr. Sherlock Holmes. We were young, and most of our career lay before us. If some other hand be tempted to present it to the public in narrative form, it will, I hope, become apparent why I considered it best to leave unrendered, the heart of this appalling story. 

It begun, some thirty years before, in India, during the Great Mutiny of the Red Fort of Agra..." 

Thus, playwright Paul Giovanni has stepped into the illustrious shoes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and presented an ever-increasing audience of Holmesian admirers with a new spine-chiller. 

From The Red Fort's hundred gates to an opium den in London's Limshouse district, Holmes' astounding deductive powers unravel the mystery of a bloody curse. Nefarious actions and delicious thrills abound.

When The Crucifer of Blood played in Los Angeles in 1980-81, it featured Charlton Heston as the great detective. But check out who is second billed as Dr. Watson!

Title: The Crucifer of Blood
Author: Paul Giovanni
Year: 1979
Publisher: Nelson Doubleday
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