The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures (87 page)

Starrett, Vincent.
The Unique Hamlet,
Chicago, private, 1920. A recognized classic with all the hall marks of an authentic case. This is reprinted in Ellery Queen’s
Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes
and in Starrett’s own
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
(University of Chicago Press, 1960).

Symons, Julian. “How a Hermit was Disturbed in his Retirement” in
The Great Detectives,
London, Orbis, 1981; New York, Abrams, 1981; also reprinted as “The Adventure of Hillerman Hall”. Wherein an aged Holmes is visited by a young Miss Marple. Obviously apocryphal, but delightful none the less.

Taylor, John.
The Unopened Casebook of Sherlock Holmes,
London, BBC Books, 1993. Six apocryphal stories adapted by the author from his BBC radio series. “The Wandering Corpse”, “The Battersea Worm”, “The Paddington Witch,”, “The Phantom Organ”, “The Devil’s Tunnel” and “The Horror of Hanging Wood”.

Thomson, June.
The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes,
London: Constable, 1990. Seven stories based on the unchronicled cases, all prefixed “The Case of …”: “The Vanishing Head-Waiter”, “The Amateur Mendicants”, “The Remarkable Worm”. “The Exalted Client”, “The Notorious Canary Trainer”, “The Itinerant Yeggman” and “The Abandoned Lighthouse”. This and the next two volumes contain some of the best Sherlockian pastiches and have the ring of authenticity, though several are clearly apocryphal.

Thomson, June.
The Secret Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes,
London: Constable, 1992. Seven more stories: “The Paradol Chamber”, “The Hammersmith Wonder”, “The Maplestead Magpie”, “The Harley Street Specialist”, “The Old Russian Woman”, “The Camberwell Poisoning” and “The Sumatran Rat”.

Thomson, June.
The Secret Journals of Sherlock Holmes,
London: Constable, 1993. Seven further cases: “The Millionaire’s Persecution”, “The Colonel’s Madness”, “The Addleton Tragedy”, “The Friesland Outrage”, “The Shopkeeper’s Terror”, “The Smith-Mortimer Succession” and “The Maupertuis Scandal”.

Thomson June
Holmes and Watson.
London, Constable, 1995. A well considered biography of the duo based solely on the writings of Watson.

Whitaker, Arthur. “The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted”,
Cosmpolitan,
August 1948; also reprinted as “The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker”. A story once mistakenly believed to have been by Conan Doyle but which is clearly apocryphal.

Williamson, J.N. (editor).
The Illustrious Client’s Case-Book
(edited with H.B. Williams), Indianapolis, Illustrious Clients, 1948, and
The Illustrious Client’s Second Case-Book,
Indianapolis, Illustrious Clients, 1949. A collection of pastiches of spurious authenticity. Include recreations of “The Terrible Death of Crosby the Banker” and “The Adventure of the Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant.”

Wilson, Alan. “The Adventure of the Tired Captain”,
Sherlock Holmes Journal,
Winter 1958–Spring 1959; and “The Adventure of the Paradol Chamber”,
Sherlock Holmes Journal,
Spring–Winter 1961. Two faithful and possibly authentic recreations of unrecorded cases.

Wolfe, Sebastian (editor).
The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes,
London, Xanadu, 1989. Anthology of fourteen apocryphal pastiches, parodies and spoofs. All are reprints except “The Affair of the Midnight Midget” by Ardath Mayhar.

The Contributors

Stephen Baxter, “
The Adventure of the Inertial Adjustor
“. Since his first novel,
Raft
, in 1991, Stephen Baxter (b. 1957) has established himself in the front rank of British writers of science fiction. His related novels include
Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring
and the collection
Vacuum Diagrams
. One of his most popular books was
The Time Ships
, a sequel to H.G. Wells’s
The Time Machine
and it is Baxter’s interest in Wells that resulted in his story in this collection, which is a fully fledged murder mystery and not science fiction.

John Betancourt, “
The Adventure of the Amateur Mendicant Society
“. John Betancourt (b. 1963) is an American author and publisher whose Wildside Press is dedicated to producing quality books of fantasy and supernatural fiction. His own books have been mostly science fiction or fantasy, though
Rememory
contained a strong mystery element. Other novels include
Rogue Pirate, The Blind Archer
and
Johnny Zed
, plus the story collection
Slab’s Tavern and Other Uncanny Tales
. He is currently working on a series of fantastic adventure novels featuring the Greek hero Hercules, starting with
The Wrath of Poseidon
.

Eric Brown, “
The Vanishing of the Atkinsons
“. Brown (b. 1960) is best known for his science fiction, much of which has appeared in the British magazine
Interzone
. Several of his best stories have been collected as
The Time-Lapsed Man
and
Blue Shifting
. His novels include
Meridian Days
and
Engineman
.

Simon Clark, “
The Adventure of the Fallen Star
“. Clark (b. 1958) has rapidly established himself as a writer of serious horror novels, the books exploring much deeper aspects of the human psyche than the titles –
Nailed by the Heart, Blood Crazy, Darker
and
King Blood
– convey. Born and bred in Yorkshire where he still lives with his wife and two children, Clark worked for several years in local government before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.

Basil Copper, “
The Adventure of the Persecuted Painter
“. Copper (b. 1924) is a prolific writer of thrillers and supernatural fiction. He is as popular amongst devotees of hard-boiled American detective fiction, with his long-running Mike Faraday series of novels, as he is amongst the gothic-horror brigade with his excellent brooding novels
Necropolis
and
The Black Death
. Closer to Holmes, Copper continued the adventures of Solar Pons started by August Derleth in 1929 in emulation of Sherlock Holmes. Copper’s Pons is, if anything, even closer to the character of Holmes, perhaps because Copper has a deeper affinity with the fogbound streets of Victorian London. His Pons collections are
The Dossier of Solar Pons, The Further Adventures of Solar Pons, The Secret Files of Solar Pons, Some Uncollected Cases of Solar Pons, The Exploits of Solar Pons
and
The Recollections of Solar Pons.

Peter Crowther, “
The Adventure of the Touch of God
“. Crowther (b. 1949) is a prolific British writer and editor who hails from Yorkshire, the home of many contributors to this volume. He made a name with his series of anthologies based on superstitions which began with the award-winning
Narrow Houses
, and he has also produced an anthology of stories about angels,
Heaven Sent
. His recent work includes the well-received novel
Escardy Gap
, written with James Lovegrove, and the anthologies
Destination Unknown
and
Tales in Time
. His first story collection,
The Longest Single Note
, is in the works.

David Stuart Davies, “
The Darlington Substitution Scandal
“. Davies is a noted Sherlockian, co-founder and Co-President of The Northern Musgraves Sherlock Holmes Society and editor of its journal the
Sherlock Holmes Gazette
. He has written two Sherlock Holmes novels,
The Tangled Skein
and
Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair
, plus the assiduously researched survey
Holmes of the Movies
, and his biography of Jeremy Brett,
Bending the Willow
.

Michael Doyle, “
The Legacy of Rachel Howells
“. To answer the obvious question, Michael Doyle (b. 1930) is not related to Sir Arthur, at least not so far as he’s been able to trace, though there does seem to be a family resemblance. Although born and educated in England, Doyle settled in Canada in 1956 and has Canadian nationality. He is by profession an export trade consultant and is recognized as one of the world authorities on international trade and letters of credit. He shares Conan Doyle’s interest in boxing and has even written a monograph called
A Study in Sparring
about Sherlock Holmes, the Prize Ring and the Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight.

Martin Edwards, “
The Case of the Suicidal Lawyer
“. Martin Edwards (b. 1955) is a practicing solicitor and has used his experience as the background for his series of novels about Liverpool solicitor and amateur detective Harry Devlin. The series began with
All the Lonely People
and there’s been a novel a year ever since. Edwards has also edited the crime anthology
Northern Blood
and others in a regionally related series.

Zakaria Erzinçlioglu, “
The Adventure of the Bulgarian Diplomat
“. Dr Erzinçlioglu is a practising forensic scientist. He has been working on criminal cases (mostly murder) for over twenty years, investigating over five hundred in Britain and abroad. He was formerly Senior Research Associate at Cambridge University and, subsequently, Director of the Forensic Science Research Centre at Durham University. He is now an Honorary Lecturer at London University. He is working on
Evidence
, a book which looks at the interpretation of evidence in criminal trials and historical events.

L. B. Greenwood, “
Five Minutes Past Midnight
“. Lillian Beth Greenwood (b. 1932) is a Canadian writer who lives not too far from Michael Doyle and Barbara Roden. Her first novel,
The Street Sparrows
, is a historical set in the Victorian era – she describes it as a female version of Oliver Twist. She has also written three Sherlock Holmes novels listed in the appendix, and is a member of the Vancouver Holmes organization known as the Stormy Petrels.

Lois H. Gresh, “
The Adventure of the Parisian Gentleman
” with Robert Weinberg. Gresh works in the computer industry as a programmer and systems analyst and has written hundreds of technical manuals and related texts. She is the proprietor of Technohell, Inc., which designs and codes corporate websites, software and systems. Oh what fun Holmes would have had with the Internet! She has sold many short science fiction and horror stories and her first novel,
The Termination Node
, written with Weinberg, is in the works. It’s the first of a series of near-future computer technothrillers.

Claire Griffen, “
The Case of the Incumbent Invalid
“. Claire Griffen is a new writer who has previously appeared in
Classical Whodunnits
and the magazine
Boggle
. She is Australian, and spent several years as an actress and dramatist before turning to writing fantasy and mystery stories. She wrote a Sherlock Holmes play in 1986 which saw several performances with an Adelaide theatre repertory company.

Edward D. Hoch, “
Vittoria, the Circus Belle
“. Edward Hoch (b. 1930) is a phenomenally prolific American short-story writer with over seven hundred to his credit. He has created many fascinating detectives, including Captain Leopold, Dr Sam Hawthorne, Nick Velvet, Ben Snow and Simon Ark. His stories appear regularly in
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
and
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
but only a few have made it into individual story collections. Well worth tracking down is his Captain Leopold volume,
Leopold’s Way
, his Simon Ark series,
The Judges of Hades, City of Brass
and
The Quests of Simon Ark
, the Nick Velvet books
The Spy and the Thief
and
The Thefts of Nick Velvet
, whilst a few of his Sam Hawthorne stories have been collected as
Diagnosis: Impossible
. His more general mystery fiction will be found in
The Night My Friend
. Hoch has written several Sherlock Holmes stories including “The Return of the Speckled Band” in
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
, “The Manor House Case” in
Resurrected Holmes
and “The Christmas Client” in
Holmes for the Holidays
.

Roger Johnson, “
The Adventure of the Grace Chalice
“. Johnson (b. 1947) is a noted Sherlock Holmes afficianado and writer of ghost stories. It was through Sherlock Holmes that Roger met his wife, Jean. He was the founder of the Newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society and writes regularly on matters Sherlockian. A small private press produced his first collection of ghost stories,
Deep Things Out of Darkness
in 1987, and a more extensive volume,
A Ghostly Crew
, is under production.

H.R.F. Keating, “
The Adventure of the Suffering Ruler
“. Keating (b. 1926) is the renowned author of the novels featuring Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID, which began with
The Perfect Murder
in 1964 and is still going strong. He was won many awards and has compiled the invaluable reference works of the crime and mystery fiction field
Whodunit?, Agatha Christie: First Lady of Crime
and
Crime Writers: Reflections on Crime Fiction
. He has also written
Sherlock Holmes: the Man and His World
and two Holmes pastiches, this story and “A Trifling Affair”.

David Langford, “
The Repulsive Story of the Red Leech
“. Langford (b. 1953) is a popular writer of science fiction, not averse to the occasional spoof. His first book-length work,
An Account of a Meeting with Denizens of Another World, 1871
, issued under the alias of William Robert Loosley fooled many people into believing it was a genuine Victorian account of a close encounter with aliens. His science-fiction novels include
The Space Eater
and
Earthdoom!
(with John Grant) plus the clever satire on the scientific establishment
The Leaky Establishment
, drawn from Langford’s own direct experiences.