Sherlock Holmes: A Play (1974)

Was William Gillette's play Sherlock Holmes the very first Holmes pastiche? I'm afraid I'm not Sherlockian enough to answer that question, but it may have been the first officially sanctioned non-canonical adventure. When Gillette wrote to Doyle asking if he could marry off Holmes, the author responded, "You may marry him, or murder or do what you like with him."

Below is the play in a limited edition hardcover from 1974.

Based upon the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, William Gillette's play in a book edition, illustrated by Frederic Dorr Steel–with his Reminiscent Notes–and the Introduction by Vincent Starrett, was first published by Doubleday Doran in 1935, and although differing somewhat from the Samuel French Play Edition, 1922, which gives both William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as authors, subsequently became a coveted and scare book. The present edition is printed from the original Doubleday Doran plates, including illustrations and dust jacket.

Besides Gillette himself (below), the famous play has seen many notable actors playing Holmes, including: H. A. Saintsbury, John Barrymore (on film), John Wood, Leonard Nimoy, and Frank Langella. Gillette's own 1916 silent film adaptation, long thought lost, was discovered in 2014.

Title: Sherlock Holmes: A Play

Author: William Gillette

Year: 1974

Publisher: Helan Halbach

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.

R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy in a 1975-6 revival of William Gillette's play, Sherlock Holmes.

The House of Silk (2011)

Anthony Horowitz's first official Sherlock Holmes novel was released with great fanfare in 2011. In my opinion, it's a contender for the best Holmes pastiche of them all. Horowitz went on to pen a second novel about Holmes' nemesis Moriarty.

THE GAME'S AFOOT...

It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks.

Intrigued by the man's tale, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston. As the pair delve deeper into the case, they stumble across a whispered phrase 'the House of Silk': a mysterious entity and foe more deadly than any Holmes has encountered, and a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society itself...

With devilish plotting and excellent characterisation, bestselling author Anthony Horowitz delivers a first-rate Sherlock Holmes mystery for a modern readership whilst remaining utterly true to the spirit of the original Conan Doyle books. Sherlock Holmes is back with all the nuance, pace and powers of deduction that make him the world's greatest and most celebrated detective.

Title: The House of Silk

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Year: 2011

Publisher: Orion

Purchase: Amazon.

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.

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1987)

For the Sherlock Holmes centennial in 1987, the Conan Doyle Estate authorized this collection of new short stories written by prominent authors, including Stephen King. Pictured here is the first hardcover edition.

This year marks the 100th birthday of the first appearance in print of the most popular detective of all time. This volume of new Sherlock Holmes stories, written by some of the finest contemporary practitioners of the mystery story, is a centennial celebration of that event. This is the only official book authorized by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Infernal Machine by Jon Lellenberg

The Final Toast by John Lutz

The Phantom Chamber by Gary Alan Ruse

The Return of the Speckled Band by Edward D. Hoch

The Adventure of the Unique Holmes by Jon L. Breen

Sherlock Holmes and "The Woman" by Michael Harrison

The Shadows on the Lawn by Barry Jones

The Adventure of the Gowanus Abduction by Joyce Harrington

Dr. and Mrs. Watson at Home by Loren D. Estleman

The Two Footmen by Michael Gilbert

Sherlock Holmes and the Muffin by Dorothy B. Hughes

The Curious Computer by Peter Lovesey

The Adventure of the Persistent Marksman by Lillian de la Torre

The House that Jack Built by Edward Wellen

The Doctors Case by Stephen King

Afterword: Moriarty and the Real Underworld by John Gardner

Title: The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Editors: Martin Harry Greenberg & Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh
Year: 1987
Publisher: Carroll & Graft
Purchase: Amazon.com | 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 West End Horror (1976)

Nicholas Meyer's follow-up to his best-selling first Holmes novel, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.

March, 1895. London. A month of singular occurrences in the West End. First there was the bizarre murder of theatre critic Jonathan McCarthy; the police were baffled. Then came the lawsuit against the Marquess of Queenbury for libel; the public was scandalized. And what of the ingenue at the Savoy, discovered with her throat slashed? Or the police surgeon who disappeared talking with him two corpses from the mortuary?

Some of the theatre district's most fashionable and creative luminaries (as well as a number of more marginal participants) were involved or affected by these events: a penniless stage critic and writer named Bernard Shaw; Ellen Terry, the gifted actress and loveliest woman in London; Gilbert and Sullivan; a suspicious box office clerk named Bram Stoker; and aging matinee idol, Henry Irving; an unscrupulous publisher calling himself Frank Harris; and a controversial wit by the name of Oscar Wilde. 

Scotland Yard is mystified by what appear to be unrelated cases, but to Holmes the matter is elementary: a maniac is on the loose.

Title: The West End Horror
Author: Nicholas Meyer
Year: 1976
Publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co.
Purchase: Amazon.

The Adventure of the Ectoplasmic Man (1985)

One of several books that teams Sherlock Holmes with the world's greatest escapologist, Harry Houdini.

Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini? The World's greatest detective and the king of magic–together? 

Yes, together, astounding all England and confounding the crooks who would commit "the crime of the century." Here, for the first time, are the details of this legendary case. 

Even while London is applauding Houdini for such incredible feats as "Walking Through A Brick Wall" and "The Ancient Hindu Water Torture Cell Escape," his devoted wife, Bess, fears for his safety. A rival magician is plotting against him. When Houdini is framed for espionage and incarcerated, Holmes vows to clear his name. 

So begins one of Sherlock Holmes's most colorful adventures. You'll meet such exotic characters as the beautiful and mysterious Countess Valenka, who attempts to blackmail the Prince of Wales, and Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's brother, whose bulk is matched only by his intellect (said to be even more formidable than Sherlock's). 

You'll see Houdini reduce his body to ectoplasm–and Holmes deduce how he did it. You'll witness Houdini perpetrate the most astonishing escape of his career–from Scotland Yard! And, best of all, you'll see Holmes in action: his celebrated deductive technique, his uncanny talent for confounding disguise, and his hitherto unrevealed skill of flying aeroplanes. 

The Adventure of the Ectoplasmic Man is a magical entertainment, glittering with suspense, comedy, and romance. It is a must for Sherlock Holmes fans, and for all lovers of adventure and mystery in a grand style.

Title: The Adventure of the Ectoplasmic Man

Author: Daniel Stashower

Year: 1985

Publisher: William Morrow & Co.

Purchase: Amazon.

The quest for a second Solution

As I revealed in my last post, my first experience of Sherlock Holmes in print was not the Canon, but a pastiche, The Seven Per-Cent-Solution by Nicholas Meyer. Of course, in the 1970s this was a pretty good choice of pastiche, so I might not be as ashamed of this as I'm pretending to be.

After reading the Meyer, I did begin to pick up the Doyle collections and started to give the Canon a proper read. But I craved another post-modern pastiche novel in the style of Solution. Luckily, because of the success of the Meyer book (which was also made into a film), my local Waldenbooks had quite a few of these to choose from. The first two I came away with were The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin and Exit Sherlock Holmes by Robert Lee Hall.

What drew me to these two paperbacks was the cover art. These are exactly the kinds of covers a budding young Sherlockian would be attracted to (I still like them). Also, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story promised an encounter with Jack The Ripper, so that was pretty irresistible.

While these did not live up to the level of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, I still enjoyed them both. They are well-written adventures with their own revisionist "twists." (SPOILERS AHEAD.) In The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, the great detective turns out to actually be Jack The Ripper(!). In Exit Sherlock Holmes he's revealed to be a time traveler.

While I didn't really care for the twist in Last (Holmes cannot be a murderer), the time travel element in Exit Sherlock Holmes is handled better than you would expect, and I've always though this novel would make an interesting Sherlock Holmes film.

Title: The Last Sherlock Holmes Story
Author: Michael Dibdin
Year: 1979
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Purchase: Amazon.

Title: Exit Sherlock Holmes
Author: Robert Lee Hall
Year: 1979
Publisher: Playboy Press
Purchase: Amazon.