Talking about the collection of Nero Wolfe pastiches and parodies, The Misadventures of Nero Wolfe, last week reminded me of a book that has sat neglected on my shelves for five or six years now. This one is titled In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon and it was published in 2014. I think I was probably inspired to purchase it because its fifteen stories include ones by some of the writers whose work I've enjoyed reading for several decades. That's why I bought it; I just wish I had an answer for why I never read it.
Anyway, the six authors that immediately caught my eye were: Michael Connelly, Sara Paretsky, Jeffery Deaver, Cornelia Funke, Harlan Ellison, and John Lescroart. Of these half-dozen, I'm particularly fond of Connelly and his Harry Bosch books, so when I saw that Connelly's "The Crooked Man" was the first story in the collection and that it was a Harry Bosch short story, I knew I had to have the collection.
"The Crooked Man" opens with Harry and his partner, Jerry Edgar, being called to an early-morning murder scene in what seems to be the most prestigious gated-community in all of Los Angeles, one that sits on top of a mountain looking down on the rest of the city - in more ways than one. There, the detectives find a Hollywood studio exec sprawled out dead on the floor of his library and displaying a massive head wound. They also find, much to Bosch's delight, coroner Art Doyle, a man so well known for correctly assessing death scenes that everyone calls him Sherlock. And that's when the real fun begins for Sherlock Holmes fans.
Before this fifteen-page story is over, "Sherlock" will have successfully led Bosch to a solution of the murder, identified the culprit, and even diagnosed a hidden illness that Bosch has attributed to his fast approaching old-age (Bosch is about to turn 60 in this story).
"The Crooked Man" was particular fun for me because it gave me another glimpse into Harry Bosch's world, but I'm intrigued now about the other stories, so I'll be reading the other fourteen soon. I am pleased to see that the collection even includes the first graphic short story I've ever seen, one by Leah Moore and John Reppion called "The Problem of the Empty Slipper." Too, Gahan Wilson's contribution to the collection includes three of his classic cartoons, all of them, of course, related to Sherlock Holmes.
Maybe In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon had to sit on my shelves until the moment I would most appreciate it. Now feels like the perfect time.
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| Editor Laurie R. King (also edited by Leslie S. Klinger) |
That Harry Bosch story sounds awesome! I hope all the rest of the stories in this collection are as fun.
ReplyDeleteI have high hopes, as usual, mainly because the list of authors is pretty impressive.
DeleteI seem to be in a bit of a Holmes mood at the moment as I'm currently reading Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadow by James Lovegrove. It's a mix of Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu universe. Quite good fun. Like you, I like collections of Holmes stories written by other authors, the one I have is New Sherlock Holmes Adventures edited by Mike Ashley who now does a lot of the British Library sci-fi collections. I love the sound of yours, Sam so will take a look at that on Goodreads in a moment.
ReplyDeleteI'm always in the mood for Holmes or something inspired by those characters, Cath. The book looks pretty good to me, and I'm going to try to work another story into a post sometime in the next little while. As usual, I just can't read fast enough to get to everything that catches my wandering eye.
DeleteHave you ever read Laurie King's pastiche series featuring Sherlock? It's a fun read. This collection sounds very interesting. Paretsky and Connelly are favorites of mine as well so maybe I should look it up. The Bosch story does sound right on target.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I picked up one of those from the library a few days ago when it caught my eye. I haven't read it yet, but I've looked through it a bit, and I like her style.
DeleteIt's called "The Murder of Mary Russell."
I have only read a small amount of the Holmes books by Conan Doyle. And I don't think I have any stories that are pastiches, because I thought I should read some of the original ones first. This anthology does sound interesting and "The Crooked Man" by Connelly sounds very good.
ReplyDeleteI think it sometimes helps to have read the Doyle books and stories first, but I get the biggest kick out of seeing Holmes placed in more modern settings or mixed with other fictional and real-world characters that Doyle never dreamed about. Once you have a pretty clear understanding of the Sherlock Holmes character, it's pretty easy to enjoy this kind of thing.
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