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 at Ferryman's Creek (1984)

Novelization for the never produced second Granada mini series about the young Sherlock Holmes. Click for the first adventure: The Mystery of the Manor House.

On the morning of his eighteenth birthday Sherlock Holmes receives a brief and mysterious letter from his brother Mycroft, suggesting a short holiday on the Lincolnshire coast and hinting at the possibility of adventure there . . . The young detective is soon embroiled in a tangle of sinister occurrences which it takes all his wit and ingenuity to unravel.

Who is the mysterious Martin Ashley and why does he always wear a glove on his left hand? Are Ashley's disappearance and the chain of near-disasters which follow it connected? Can it be that the ancient legend of the Thoresby-le-Marsh is coming fatally true once more?

This is the second exciting Young Sherlock novel by Gerald Frow. 

Title: Young Sherlock: The Adventure at Ferryman's Creek
Author: Gerald Frow
Year: 1984
Publisher: Dragon
Purchase: Amazon.

The Mystery of the Manor House (1982)

Novelization of the 1982 Granada mini series about the young Sherlock Holmes, which pre-dated the Spielberg film. A novelization for the never made second series, The Adventure at Ferryman's Creek, was also published.

You all know Mr Holmes–the greatest detective of them all. But where was this master criminologist before the great Baker Street days? Against what opponents did the boy detective first test his powers of detection? Granada now reveals the secret to you. 

Watch this thrilling television series and relive each exciting moment in this fast moving, action-packed book. Professor Moriarty–of course–is behind the skulduggery . . .

Title: Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House
Author: Gerald Frow
Year: 1982
Publisher: Carnival
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.