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

Eye of the Crow (2011)

Shane Peacock's first novel in his "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" series. The impressive cover art below is from an international edition.

His 1st Case

Sherlock Holmes, just 13, is a misfit. Friendless, bullied at school, he belongs nowhere and has only his wits. But what wits they are! His keen powers of observation are already apparent, though he is still a boy. He loves to amuse himself by constructing histories from the smallest detail for everyone he meets. Partly for fun, he focuses his attention on a sensational murder to see if he can solve it. But his game turns deadly serious when he finds himself the accused - and in London, they hang boys of 13.

Title: Eye of the Crow
Author: Shane Peacock
Year: 2011
Publisher: Belmont Tower Books
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.

Stone Cold (2014)

Andrew Lane's seventh novel in the rebranded "Young Sherlock" series. This time Holmes is at Oxford.

Following his last thrilling adventure Sherlock Holmes has been sent to live in Oxford to focus on his education. But something strange is happening in the university pathology labs. Body parts are being stolen from corpses and are being posted one by one to an address in London. What can these sinister goings-on mean, and what message is someone trying to send? In an attempt to find out, Sherlock follows the trail to a very sinister house deep in the countryside. Can he get to the bottom of another baffling mystery? Sherlock Holmes: think you know him? Think again.

Title: Young Sherlock: Stone Cold

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2014

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.

The Childhood of Sherlock Holmes (2000)

Mona Morstein's studious take on Sherlock's childhood as recalled by the family butler.

A butler who shared years of employment with the Holmes family draws a clear portrait of Sherlock as a child. Read about Sherlock’s precocious and unsettling older brother Mycroft. Revealed at last is the whole dysfunctional household that shaped the character of the great detective. We are enabled to interpret Holmes’ personality traits in a more sympathetic and lucid manner.

Title: The Childhood of Sherlock Holmes: The Butler's Tale
Author: Mona Morstien
Year: 2000
Publisher: Galde Press
Purchase: Amazon.

Knife Edge (2014)

Andrew Lane's sixth Young Sherlock Holmes novel finds Sherlock in Ireland. Below is an early export edition that used the original series cover art. By the time of the general release, a new series look was adopted.

A SINISTER PSYCHIC

A DARK BEAST

A SERVANT FRIGHTENED TO DEATH

Something sinister is afoot in the house in the west of Ireland in which Sherlock is staying. There are frightened whisperings among the servants and the house's owners are clearly scared. But who - or what? - has terrified them so much that nobody will speak out? Young Sherlock must bring all his powers of deduction to unravelling his greatest mystery yet. 

Another fast-paced, brilliantly plotted adventure as teenage Sherlock investigates a new crime and comes up against a fresh crop of sinister, clever criminals.

Title: Young Sherlock Holmes: Knife Edge

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2014

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

Snake Bite (2012)

Andrew Lane's fifth Young Sherlock Holmes novel finds Sherlock kidnapped and taken to China aboard the Gloria Scott.

A BRUTAL KIDNAPPING

A SHADOWY PURSUER

AN IMPOSSIBLE MURDER

Kidnapped and taken to China, Sherlock is plunged into mystery. How can three men be killed by the same poisonous snake at the same time, but in different pasts of town? Who wants them dead, and why? The answers seem to lie in a message that is hidden in a web-like diagram. But deciphering it leads to a more dangerous conundrum: what has all this got to do with a plot to blow up an American warship?

Title: Young Sherlock Holmes: Snake Bite

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2012

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

Fire Storm (2014)

The fourth "Young Sherlock Holmes" adventure from Andrew Lane, Fire Storm, was first relased in the UK in 2011. This 2014 U.S. paperback rebrands the series as "Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins."

SHERLOCK FIGHTS FOR HIS LIFE AS HE SEARCHES FOR HIS MISSING FRIENDS

Teenage Sherlock's captivating sidekick Virginia and her father have vanished. Their house looks as if nobody has ever lived in it; the neighbors claim never to have heard of them. Sherlock begins to doubt his sanity, until a clever clue points him to Scotland. Following that clue leads him into a mystery that involves kidnapping, body-snatchers, and a man who claims he can raise the dead. Only the budding detective Sherlock can untangle the dangerous web that traps his friends.  

THINK YOU KNOW SHERLOCK HOLMES? THINK AGAIN!

Title: Fire Storm

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2014 (first published 2011)

Publisher: Square Fish

Purchase: Amazon.com

Black Ice (2011)

Andrew Lane's third Young Sherlock Holmes novel had Sherlock traveling to Russia with brother Mycroft.

A LOCKED ROOM

A DEAD BODY

A MAN WIELDING A KNIFE

When Sherlock's brother is discovered holding a knife and leaning over a corpse, it seems a clear-cut case of murder. But Sherlock isn't so sure.

In a mystery that will take him from London to Moscow in a thrilling search for clues, can Sherlock deduce the truth and discover the real culprit . . . or will Mycroft hang.

Andrew Lane's first three Young Sherlock Holmes novels were released as limited signed hardcovers by Goldsboro Books in the UK (below).

Other books in the series are: Death Cloud (2010), Red Leech (2010), Fire Storm (2011), Snake Bite (2012), Knife Edge (2013), Stone Cold (2014) and Night Break (2015).

Title: Young Sherlock Holmes: Black Ice

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2011

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

Night Break (2015)

The eight (and final?) installment in Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes series.

Sherlock's mother has died, his father has disappeared in India and his sister is acting strangely. The Holmes family seems to be falling apart, and not even brother Mycroft can keep it together. But while Sherlock is worrying about all of this, a man living nearby vanishes in his own house while Sherlock and Mycroft are visiting. Where did he go, and what is the connection with a massive canal being built in Egypt? The answer will rock the world, and tear the Holmes family apart!

Another fast-paced, brilliantly plotted adventure in Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock series as the teenage Sherlock Holmes investigates a new crime and comes up against a fresh crop of sinister, clever crooks.

Other books in the series are: Death Cloud (2010), Red Leech (2010), Black Ice (2011), Fire Storm (2011), Snake Bite (2012), Knife Edge (2013), and Stone Cold (2014).

Title: Young Sherlock: Night Break

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2015

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk

UPDATE: As to the future of this series, I received this tweeted response from author Andrew Lane:

@MacKidsBooks don't want any, John, but my agent and I are considering options. I've started work on #9 regardless. Title is 'Wild Hunt'... https://t.co/NzbnHEmJm7

— Andrew Lane (@AndyLaneAuthor) February 4, 2017

Becoming Holmes (2014)

Not to be confused with Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes books, this unofficial series about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" ran for six books between 2009 and 2014. As the cover states, this was his last adventure.

It is the summer of 1870 in London, and death seems to be everywhere; at least it feels that way to Sherlock Holmes. Almost seventeen now, he cannot shake the blackness that has descended upon him. And somewhere out there in the darkness, Sherlock's great enemy, the villainous Malefactor, is spinning his web of evil, planning who knows what. 

Only one thing can rouse the young detective from the depths of despair: the possibility of justice. Through information gleaned from his brother, Mycroft, Holmes uncovers a new and terrible plot unleashed by his nemesis. Prepared to do anything to stop Malefactor, Sherlock sets out to destroy his rival and bring him and his henchmen down, once and for all. Everything in the brilliant boy's life changes as death knocks again.... In this shocking and spine-tingling conclusion to the series, Sherlock Holmes transforms, becoming the immortal master of criminal detection.

Title: Becoming Holmes
Author: Shane Peacock
Year: 2014
Publisher: Tundra Books
Purchase: Amazon.

Red Leech (2010)

Andrew Lane's second Young Sherlock Holmes novel had Sherlock traveling to America during the Civil War. Unlike the first book, this time the title nicely tied into the canon. In the The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, Watson makes mention of "the repulsive story of the red leech." Unfortunately, in the U.S. the book was retitled Rebel Fire.

A DEAD MAN WALKING

A SCARRED FACE

A CRIME THSAT SHATTERED A COUNTRY

Sherlock Holmes knows that adults keep secrets. But he didn't expect to find the world's most famous assassin apparently living in Surrey when he's meant to be dead – and his own brother somehow involved.

When no one will tell you the truth, sometimes you have to risk all to discover it for yourself. So begins an adventure that will lead Sherlock to America, to the centre of a deadly web – where life and death are cheap, and the truth has a price no sane person would pay . . .

Title: Young Sherlock Holmes: Red Leech

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2010

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.

Also see: Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud

Death Cloud (2010)

The "Young Sherlock Holmes" concept was revived in 2010 with a new series of YA novels penned by Andrew Lane and officially sanctioned by the Conan Doyle Estate. The title of Lane's first book was to have been, The Colossal Schemes of Baron Maupertuis, a nice tie-in with Conan Doyle and the canon. However, the book was ultimately called Death Cloud.

TWO DEAD BODIES

ONE UNFORGETTABLE HERO

THE BEGINNING OF A LEGEND

When fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes discovers a pustule-covered body, it's the start of a new life. Sherlock's fearless mind and thirst for adventure lead him on a heart-stopping journey – from the quiet countryside to London's dockland underworld, through fire, kidnap and espionage, to the heart of a terrifying plot that holds Britain's future in its grasp.

Young Sherlock Holmes will need every ounce of courage, determination and strength to defeat an enemy of exquisitely evil intent.

Other books in the continuing series are: Red Leech (2010), Black Ice (2011), Fire Storm (2011), Snake Bite (2012), Knife Edge (2013), and Stone Cold (2014). With the success of BBC's SHERLOCK, the series was rebranded as "Young Sherlock" in 2014.

Title: Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud

Author: Andrew Lane

Year: 2010

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Purchase: Amazon.co.uk.