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.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)

No, not Mycroft. It's Sigerson! This is the novelization of the 1975 film written, directed, and starring Gene Wilder.

Can the sexual insecurities of one young beauty determine the fate of England?
Of course. But how?

Elementary!

Huh? As you can see, this is no case for any ordinary detective.
This is a case for...

Sigerson Holmes? 

It's Sherlock's smarter brother (believe us, he's not ordinary) up to the family snuff in a riotous case of stolen documents and stolen love where one clue doesn't necessarily lead to another–but you're too busy laughing to care!

Title: The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Author: Gilbert Pealman
Year: 1975
Publisher: Ballantine
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Alan Arnold's novelization of the 1985 movie produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Nicholas Rowe as Holmes and Alan Cox as his friend and schoolmate John Watson.

On his first murder case, a brilliant schoolboy is swept into a perilous adventure! 

YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES

When his friend the eccentric professor mysteriously dies, sixteen year-old Holmes suspects of play. The eager detective drags his new friend Watson through London't dark alleys and over the rooftops, braving disaster––and even death––to capture a tricky, powerful foe!

It's a shame Pocket Books didn't use the actual movie poster art (below) for the cover of their novelization. Always loved it.

For a very good review of this novelization, check out Cult Film Club.

Title: Young Sherlock Holmes

Author: Alan Arnold

Year: 1985

Publisher: Pocket Books

Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Murder By Decree (1979)

Novelization of the 1979 film starring Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes and James Mason as Dr. Watson. A good Holmes vs. Jack The Ripper tale incorporating a popular Royal conspiracy theory of the day. Recently released as a Special Edition Blu-ray.

THE MOST INFAMOUS MURDERER IN THE ENTIRE CENTURY––

He terrorized a city.

He committed acts of unspeakable horror.

He ruled the shadows and the back alley.

He was called Jack the Ripper––

THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS INVESTIGATOR OF ALL TIME––

He commanded boundless admiration.

He possessed ruthless intelligence.

He pursued his suspects with unfailing instincts.

He was Sherlock Holmes.

Title: Murder By Decree

Author: Robert Weverka

Year: 1979

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Purchase: Amazon | Amazon.co.uk

A Study In Terror (1966)

One of the more novel novelizations is this adaptation the 1966 film A Study in Terror written by none other than Ellery Queen. The film starred John Neville as Holmes and Donald Houston as Dr. Watson and was released on this day in 1965.

SOLVED!  

The savage killer roamed the dark streets and alleys of London. No woman was safe from his swift, gory attacks as murder followed murder. No man could stop the menace or even guess the identity of the brute called . . . 

JACK THE RIPPER 

No man . . .  except Sherlock Holmes. 

Now it can be told––in this gripping modern thriller. Sherlock Holmes did stalk Jack the Ripper in 1888, and through a quirk of fate that is a mystery in itself, Ellery Queen follows in his footsteps in 1966. The two greatest detectives of all time match wits with each other––and together arrive at a solution that will stun you. 

WHO WAS JACK THE RIPPER? read the answer in this brand new, full authentic Sherlock Holmes adventure, by today's greatest living mystery writer, 

ELLERY QUEEN

Title: A Study in Terror
Author: Ellery Queen
Year: 1966
Publisher: Lancer
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1977)

This is the 1977 movie tie-in edition of Nicholas Meyer's bestselling Holmes pastiche, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. The movie starred Nicol Williamson as Sherlock Holmes, Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson and Alan Arkin as Sigmund Freud.

Little could Dr. Watson believe that the pathetic figure huddle before him was the great detective Sherlock Holmes. Alas it was his old friend Holmes, but a Holmes in bondage – not to any arch villain – but to a 7% solution of cocaine and sterile water. Driven by the drug to wild ravings, Holmes had to be duped into rehabilitation – before it was too late....

Title: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
Author: Nicholas Meyer
Year: 1977 (first published 1974)
Publisher: Ballantine
Purchase: Amazon.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1971)

Novelization for my all time favorite Sherlock Holmes film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), starring Robert Stephens as Holmes and Colin Blakely as Watson.

"...matters of a delicate and sometimes scandalous nature..."

At last revealed––some adventures of Sherlock Holmes that even Dr. Watson did not dare to publish during his lifetime! Fifty years after his death, a bank vault in London is opened to reveal new material about the most fascinating fictional detective of all time. In their hilarious and brilliant new film, Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond have recreated the world of Sherlock Holmes in an adventure never before imagined. What you don't know about Sherlock Holmes has made a great motion picture...and a delightful new novel.

Title: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Michael & Mollie Hardwick
Year: 1971 (first published 1970)
Publisher: Bantam Books
Purchase: Amazon.

SHERLOCK returns

Tonight sees the return of Benedict Cumberbatch's SHERLOCK. Season 4 consists of three stories: The Six Thatchers, The Lying Detective, and The Final Problem. SHERLOCK airs in the U.S. on PBS.

Elementary: Blood and Ink (2016)

The second tie-in novel based on the TV show Elementary.

The Chief Financial Officer of a secretive NYC hedge fund has been found murdered—stabbed through the eye with an expensive fountain pen. When Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson discover a link between the victim and a charismatic management guru with a doubtful past, it seems they may have their man. But is the guru being framed? 

As secrets are revealed and another victim is found murdered in the same grisly fashion, Holmes and Watson begin to uncover a murky world of money and deceit…

Title: Elementary: Blood and Ink
Author: Adam Christopher
Year: 2016
Publisher: Titan Books
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

SHERLOCK: The Abominable Bride (2016)

I know this is blog devoted to literary Sherlock Holmes pastiche, but how can I not give a shout-out to tonight's airing of SHERLOCK: The Abominable Bride on PBS Masterpiece Mystery (U.S.) and BBC One (UK). For this one-off special, Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock has been sent back to the Victorian era.

The title The Abominable Bride is a nod to one of the unrecorded adventures of Sherlock Holmes mentioned in the Conan Doyle story The Musgrave Ritual ("Ricoletti of the club-foot and his abominable wife"). So, yes, it is an adventure for which the world was not yet prepared...until tonight.

LINK: Interview with Nicholas Meyer

My favorite Sherlock Holmes website, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, has a terrific podcast interview with Nicholas Meyer, who wrote the seminal Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel, The Seven Per Cent Solution (which launched my interest in Holmes), as well as the screenplay for the film version.

Meyer is a excellent conversationalist and tells fascinating stories about his adventures in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Hollywood, so click the headline to have a listen at IHOSE.

The Return of Solar Pons (1975)

Solar Pons, "the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street," returns in another collection of stories by August Derleth. First published in 1958, this 1975 U.S. Pinnacle paperback includes an introduction by Edgar W. Smith. As you can see by the numbered cover, this was Pinnacle's 6th Pons publication.

Who is Solar Pons? Who, indeed, is Sherlock Holmes?

They are inventions of two superlative storytellers...the invincible Arthur Conan Doyle of London, the prodigious and prolific August Derleth of Wisconsin.

The whole world knows of the legendary Holmes and his Baker Street beat. But only a few of the most dyed-in-the-wool aficionados of detection have been privileged to make the acquaintance of Solar Pons and his Praed Street office.

Here then is Solar Pons at his best. Only Watson himself could distinguish between the footsteps of Pons or Holmes. If you've not yet joined us in the chase, you are about to discover new joy in a tradition that, alas, has disappeared. Come, the game is afoot!

The Adventure of the Lost Dutchman

The Adventure of the Devil's Footprints

The Adventure of the Dorrington Inheritance

The Adventure of the 'Triple Kent'

The Adventure of the Rydberg Numbers

The Adventure of the Grice-Paterson Curse

The Adventure of the Stone of Scone

The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm

The Adventure of the Penny Magenta

The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant

The Adventure of the Camberwell Beauty

The Adventure of the Little Hangman

The Adventure of the Swedenborg Signatures

By the way, if the cover art looks strangely familiar, here's why:

Title: The Return of Solar Pons
Author: August Derleth
Year: 1975 (first published 1958)
Publisher: Pinnacle
Purchase: Amazon.

Also see: The Adventures of Solar Pons (1976)

Christopher Lee, 1922-2015

Sir Christopher Lee has passed away at age 93. Lee played Sherlock Holmes in the 1962 film Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, and in two television movies, Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) and Incident at Victoria Falls (1992). He played Mycroft Holmes in the 1970 film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and played Sir Henry Baskerville in the 1959 Hammer production of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

You can read his full obituary at BBC.com.

Sherlock Holmes (1916) screens in San Francisco

William Gillette's recently discovered 1916 silent film version of his famous stage play Sherlock Holmes screened at the Castro Theatre in San Fransisco last Sunday. I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere has a full report and review. The film will be released on Blu-ray in October.

Read Sherlock Holmes in San Francisco: The Triumph of William Gillette at I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.

Pre-order Sherlock Holmes on Blu-ray at Amazon.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

The UK novelization of the great 1970 Billy Wilder film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely. (Click for U.S. edition.)

SHERLOCK HOLMES –
THE UNPUBLISHED FACTS.
Dramatic new revelations.
Dr. Watson's secret memoirs unearthed.

"In my lifetime I have recored more than sixty cases which demonstrated the singular gifts of my friend Sherlock Holmes, the best and wisest man that ever lived. But there were other adventures shared by us which, for reasons of discretion, I have decided to withhold from the public until a later date. They involve matters of a delicate and sometimes scandalous nature..."

Title: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Michael & Mollie Hardwick
Year: 1970
Publisher: Mayflower
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

A Slight Trick of the Mind (2006)

Mitch Cullin's novel about an elderly Sherlock Holmes will soon be released as a film starring Ian McKellen called Mr. Holmes (teaser poster below).

It is 1947, and the long-retired Sherlock Holmes, now 93, lives in a remote Sussex farmhouse with his housekeeper and her young son. He tends to his bees, writes in his journal, and grapples with the diminishing powers of his mind. But in the twilight of his life, as people continue to look to him for answers, Holmes revisits a case that may provide him with answers of his own to questions he didn’t even know he was asking–about life, about love, and about the limits of the mind’s ability to know. A novel of exceptional grace and literary sensitivity, A Slight Trick of the Mind is a brilliant imagining of our greatest fictional detective and a stunning inquiry into the mysteries of human connection.

Title: A Slight Trick of the Mind
Author: Mitch Cullin
Year: 2006
Publisher: Anchor
Purchase: Amazon.

The case of the non-canonical seduction

Here's another reason that I have no business starting a Sherlock Holmes blog, but I suppose I need to confess this upfront. My first experience of Holmes was not the Canon. In fact, I came to Doyle late. My first experience of Sherlock Holmes in print was a pastiche novel, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer.

In my defense, this is a great novel. It was a sensation of its day and a New York Times Bestseller. And while there had been Sherlock Holmes pastiche novels before this book, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution was the one that kicked off the tidal wave of Holmes mash-up pastiche adventures that continue to this day. (The mash-up here being Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud.)

Part of what made this book special was that Meyer wrote it as John Watson and presented it as a lost adventure with himself credited only as "editor." Today that is almost the standard way to present a Holmes pastiche, but this was a pretty original idea back in 1974 when the book came out. I'm not Holmes expert enough to know whether Meyer was the very first person to write a Holmes novel in the voice of John Watson, but he might have been. He also brilliantly turns the Moriarty story on its head and shows us Holmes as a drug addict, but you know all this.

Pictured above is my cherished signed first edition hardcover. No, it's not Doyle, but I think Meyer's book could be the most significant non-canonical work of them all. It certainly seduced me into the world of Baker Street.

Title: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
Author: Nicholas Meyer
Year: 1974
Publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co.
Purchase: Amazon.

Also see: The West End Horror (1976)