Observations by Gaslight (2021)

Sherlockian Lyndsay Faye returns with a collection of Holmes stories told from various points of view.  Faye was recently interviewed on the excellent However Improbable podcast. 

A new collection of Sherlockian tales that shows the Great Detective and his partner, Watson, as their acquaintances saw them

Lyndsay Faye―international bestseller, translated into fifteen languages, and a two-time Edgar Award nominee―first appeared on the literary scene with Dust and Shadow, her now-classic novel pitting Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper, and later produced The Whole Art of Detection, her widely acclaimed collection of traditional Watsonian tales. Now Faye is back with Observations by Gaslight, a thrilling volume of both new and previously published short stories and novellas narrated by those who knew the Great Detective.

Beloved adventuress Irene Adler teams up with her former adversary in a near-deadly inquiry into a room full of eerily stopped grandfather clocks. Learn of the case that cemented the lasting friendship between Holmes and Inspector Lestrade, and of the tragic crime which haunted the Yarder into joining the police force. And witness Stanley Hopkins’ first meeting with the remote logician he idolizes, who will one day become his devoted mentor.

From familiar faces like landlady Mrs. Hudson to minor characters like Lomax the sub-librarian, Observations by Gaslight―entirely epistolary, told through diaries, telegrams, and even grocery lists―paints a masterful portrait of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as you have never seen them before.

Title: Observations by Gaslight
Author: Lyndsay Faye
Year: 2021
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Whole Art of Detection (2017)

A new collection of Holmes stories by Lyndsay Faye, author of Dust and Shadow.

Lyndsay Faye’s best Holmes tales, including two new works, are brought together in The Whole Art of Detection, a stunning collection that spans Holmes’s career, from self-taught young upstart to publicly lauded detective, both before and after his faked death over a Swiss waterfall in 1894. 

In “The Lowther Park Mystery,” the unsociable Holmes is forced to attend a garden party at the request of his politician brother and improvises a bit of theater to foil a conspiracy against the government. “The Adventure of the Thames Tunnel” brings Holmes’s attention to the baffling murder of a jewel thief in the middle of an underground railway passage. 

With Holmes and Watson encountering all manner of ungrateful relatives, phony psychologists, wronged wives, plaid-garbed villains, and even a peculiar species of deadly red leech, The Whole Art of Detection is a must-read for Sherlockians and any fan of historical crime fiction with a modern sensibility.

PART I: BEFORE BAKER STREET
The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness

The Adventure of the Magical Menagerie

The Adventure of the Vintner's Codex

PART II: THE EARLY YEARS

The Adventure of the Honest Wife

The Adventure of the Beggar's Feast

Memoranda upon the Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma

The Lowther Park Mystery

PART III: THE RETURN

An Empty House

The Adventure of the Memento Mori

Notes Regarding the Disappearance of Mr. James Phillimore

The Adventure of the Willow Basket

PART IV: THE LATER YEARS

The Adventure of the Lightless Maiden

The Adventure of the Thamas Tunnel

The Adventure of the Mad Baritone

Notes upon the Diadem Club Affair 

Title: The Whole Art of Detection
Author: Lyndsay Faye
Year: 2017
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Purchase: Amazon (U.S.) | Amazon (UK)

Dust and Shadow (2009)

Another Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper adventure, this one from Sherlockian and Ripperologist Lyndsay Faye.

From the gritty streets of nineteenth century London, the loyal and courageous Dr. Watson offers a tale unearthed after generations of lore: the harrowing story of Sherlock Holmes’s attempt to hunt down Jack the Ripper. 

As England’s greatest specialist in criminal detection, Sherlock Holmes is unwavering in his quest to capture the killer responsible for terrifying London’s East End. He hires an “unfortunate” known as Mary Ann Monk, the friend of a fellow streetwalker who was one of the Ripper’s earliest victims; and he relies heavily on the steadfast and devoted Dr. John H. Watson. When Holmes himself is wounded in Whitechapel during an attempt to catch the savage monster, the popular press launches an investigation of its own, questioning the great detective’s role in the very crimes he is so fervently struggling to prevent. Stripped of his credibility, Holmes is left with no choice but to break every rule in the desperate race to find the madman known as “the Knife” before it is too late. 

Title: Dust and Shadow
Author: Lyndsay Faye
Year: 2009
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Purchase: Amazon.

LINK: Author Lyndsay Faye on the Art of Pastichery and the Lost Sherlock Holmes Story

As this is a blog devoted to pastiche Holmes adventures, I thought I'd direct your attention to this excellent interview with author and BSI member, Lyndsay Faye, at my favorite Sherlockian website, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. Good stuff here.

"Pastiches shouldn't read like a stream of rehashed cliches. The story we are about to hear should be true--or at least sound it."

Click here or on the headline to have a read at I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.