Echoes of Sherlock Holmes

August 15, 2016
King and Klinger’s strong third Sherlockian anthology (after 2014’s In the Company of Sherlock Holmes) features 17 stories from leading authors who draw on Conan Doyle’s work for inspiration. The end result is a rich variety of entries, including Tony Lee and Bevis Musson’s “Mrs. Hudson Investigates,” a post-Reichenbach mystery in comic book format. David Morrell sensitively examines Conan Doyle’s obsession with spiritualism in “The Spiritualist,” in which the writer has an unexpected encounter in London’s Psychic Book Shop, Library and Museum. John Connolly displays his gift for subtle satire in “Holmes on the Range,” set in his Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository, a home for fictional characters who have “assumed an objective reality” (including Holmes and Watson). Another high point is William Kent Krueger’s “The Painted Smile,” in which a therapist treats a child determined to have his identification with Holmes taken seriously. Other contributors include Anne Perry, Hallie Ephron, and Gary Phillips.

There is much to please lovers of Sherlock Holmes in this second collection of short stories that relate to the great detective. Six performers narrate 18 stories by different authors, a conceit that works well for the most part. While some stories are better than others, most are excellent. And though it can be jarring to adapt to a new voice with each story, the narrators are an able bunch, and the device of changing voices highlights the variation among the stories. Included are a wonderful piece about what happens to characters (for example, Holmes and Watson) when their authors die; an argument between Holmes and Conan Doyle; and the intrepid wit of a 21st- century girl who is inspired by "The Man." It's all good fun. A.C.S. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine