The best of Sherlock Holmes pastiches

[Bob Cassady]

Re: Inquiry: The top 100 best Sherlock Holmes pastiche, film or otherwise? (Info: mostly Wikipedia)
These are some of my picks. What are yours?
Books: Author: Nichols Meyer, The Seven Percent Solution
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution is the title of a 1974 novel by Nicholas Meyer. It is written as a pastiche of a Sherlock Holmes adventure, and was adapted for the cinema in 1976. The novel's full title is The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.
Comment: I found a DVD of the film for just under $800. I would like to know more about this film.
Books: Author: Larry Millett
Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon (1996) ISBN 0-670-87039-0
Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders (1998) ISBN 0-670-87944-4 & ISBN 0-14-028089-8
Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery (1999) ISBN 0-670-88821-4 & ISBN 0-14-029645-X
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance (2001)
The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes (2002) ISBN 0-14-200340-9
The Mystery of the Jeweled Cross (short story, 2002) ISBN 1-879832-40-2 & ISBN 1-879832-38-0
Made for TV: Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes was a BBC television drama series originally broadcast in 2000. It was a fictional detective series inspired by the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based the character of Sherlock Holmes on his tutor at the University of Edinburgh Dr Joseph Bell, and that Bell did occasionally do forensic work for the Edinburgh police. Sequels
Murder Rooms - The Dark Beginnings Of Sherlock Holmes
Murder Rooms - The Kingdom Of Bones
Murder Rooms - The White Knight Stratagem
Murder Rooms - The Photographer's Chair
Murder Rooms - The Patient's Eyes

Books: The Canary Trainer by Nicholas Meyer
The Canary Trainer: From the Memoirs of John H. Watson is a 1993 Sherlock Holmes pastiche by Nicholas Meyer. Like The Seven Percent Solution and The West End Horror, The Canary Trainer was published as a "lost manuscript" of the late Dr. John H. Watson. Although in "The Adventure of Black Peter", an original Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes story from 1904, Watson mentions that his companion recently arrested "Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer, which removed a plague-spot from the East-End of London"; this Wilson is not related to the titular character of Meyer's novel; Meyer's "trainer" is Erik, the principal figure of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera.

[ClaudeParish]

Have any of you read August Derleth's "Solar Pons" series?

I think there were eleven books and it was his version of Holmes. He apparently couldn't get the rights to do Holmes stories, so he made up the character, Solar Pons.

[Will Thomas]

I think Derleth's series is high quality and inventive. I also like the way he subtly brings in his interest in Lovecraft.

[Bob Cassady]

With a little luck we will hear from others on this one. I look forward to reading Solar Pons. Just reading the history behind August Derleth's stories is a story in itself. He is the original author but someone else got involved with him later and changed some of his stories. The Solar Pons Omnibus was all Mr. Derleth's original work and about four years ago I set out to find a copy. One of them had a price tag of $250. Recently another attempt was made and the person that owned the book for $250 had raised the price to $700. There are less expensive copies available in different conditions I know. The single story books at Barnes & Noble have them listed under a different author. From what I have read August Derleth's stories are very respectful pastiches of the Master. It would be wonderful if someone has had experience with Solar Pons enough to write a detailed review for SHSN. The parallels to ACD's work is suppose to be very clearly deliberate, case for case. Big subject this one!
Cactus Bob

[Bob Cassady]

For Steve Hockensmith fans. I just received this from Barnes & Noble. This is a first chance read!
Cactus Bob

The Crack in The Lens
by Steve Hockensmith

Since you previously used your Membership to purchase a book by Steve Hockensmith, we wanted to let you know that the author's new book, The Crack in The Lens, is now available.

[Lee A. Matthias]

I just wanted everyone to know that my novel "The Pandora Plague," (www.pandoraplague.com) is just out from BookSurge and available at Amazon via the link on the website above. Here is the jacket description and comments from "The Armchair Detective" magazine:

The theft of an unusual pocket-watch brings famed magician, Harry Houdini, together with the world's foremost consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. When it leads to the appearance of a mysterious locked strong-box, it becomes a case that rocks the British Empire to its core.

When the magician is blackmailed in order to best the box's lock, Holmes and his ally, Dr. John Watson, expose a plot against the crown, itself. Only Holmes's immense intellect, combined with the "Official" resources of his equally brilliant brother, Mycroft Holmes, can penetrate the mystery in time.

In the tradition of Nicholas Meyer's "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution," and "The West End Horror," author Lee A. Matthias recreates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's magnificent style and characters in "The Pandora Plague," a rip roaring adventure full of magic, mystery, and murder.

A period feast, filled with luminaries of the era, bursting with the raucous energy of a time when the world was throwing off the romanticism of the Victorian Age for the power and dangerous potential of science, new philosophies, and the machine.

Sherlock Holmes is at his peak. The brash, young Houdini challenges all who stand in his way. And Watson, Holmes's chronicler and friend, returns us to a time when the gas was always lit, the Persian slipper always filled with shag, and the game was, once, and at long last... afoot.

"...builds considerable suspense..."

"a...pastiche...fun for both non-Sherlockian specialists and Holmesian devotees."

"Matthias describes Houdini's feats of magic, both on and off stage, most skillfully."

---"The Armchair Detective"

Check it out!

Lee A. Matthias

[Will Thomas]

Congratulations, Lee. Must track this down.

[Bob Cassady]

To add:
After one of the discussions concerning Solar Pons I think I remember that the author of Solar Pons had actually contacted ACD with his idea to carry on the stories of the Master after ACD had threatened to stop his writing again. ACD replied that he did not care to have someone else continue his work. August Derleth then continued on to the writings we see today. Add to this story if you can.
New Sherlock Holmes Adventures
This next book was chosen because of today’s economy. It contains a number of well written short stories by a number of authors and costs maybe $7 at B&N. Published by Castle Books it should be found in any of the new or used stores.

I hope we are not neglecting our Canon.
Then there is a series of books that keep appearing in a number of places around the internets by Laurie R King that look very good and they get good reviews. They are on my “to do” list.
The Language of Bees [1]
by Laurie R. King
Bantam, 448 pp.
CLR Rating:
The Continuing Adventures of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
For a review: http://calitreview.com/4543
More later! Please comment or add to this list when you can. It opens up a world of reading.
To Melanie Stacey I would like to ask how you found the Murder Rooms. It seems to be a well kept secret.
Cactus Bob

[Will Thomas]

I see my latest, THE BLACK HAND, just got nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America. Wish me luck, chaps.