Sherlock Holmes in America

February 9, 2009
Fans of Sherlock Holmes pastiches will welcome the 14 new stories, all set in the U.S., in this solid anthology from Greenberg, Lellenberg and Stashower (Murder, My Dear Watson
). Newcomer Lyndsay Faye, author of Dust and Shadow
(Reviews, Jan. 12), offers one of the volume's highlights, “The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness.” In this version of one of Watson's legendary untold tales, Holmes cleverly solves the case in an armchair after the doctor describes a mystery he encountered in San Francisco. Robert Pohle makes good use of some ambiguities in A Study in Scarlet
to craft a fitting sequel to Doyle's first Holmes story in “The Flowers of Utah,” while Gillian Linscott has the detective ascertain which violin belonged to Davy Crockett in “The Case of Colonel Crockett's Violin.” Other contributors include Steve Hockensmith, Loren D. Estleman and Bill Crider.

March 1, 2009
Think the Great Detective never set foot in the United States? Think again.

Fans' reactions to the 14 new stories commissioned by the editors of The Ghosts of Baker Street (2006) will depend on what they're looking for. If you've never been able to picture Sherlock Holmes in Boston or Chicago or San Diego, Matthew Pearl and Bill Crider and Carolyn Wheat fill in the blanks, and Victoria Thompson and Paula Cohen take him to New York. If you hanker for tales of Holmes in the Wild West, Lyndsay Faye, Loren D. Estleman and Steve Hockensmith are happy to oblige. Apart from setting new scenes for Holmes, the stories abound in inventive concepts. Gillian Linscott sets Holmes on the trail of Davy Crockett's violin, missing from the Alamo, and Jon L. Breen introduces him to American football. Robert Pohle provides a sequel to A Study in Scarlet, and Michael Walsh a bridge between The Valley of Fear and"His Last Bow." Lloyd Rose spins a tale told by the young Mycroft Holmes, and co-editor Stashower a Holmesian adventure starring Dashiell Hammett. Most of the plots, however, fall short of the concept and scene, with mysteries either transparent (Faye, Thompson, Pearl) or foolish and inconsequential (Hockensmith's burlesque of a ham actor, Crider's encounter between Holmes and Buffalo Bill).

The volume closes with Walsh's irrelevant essay on Doyle's anti-Irish streak; Christopher Redmond's account of the author's first visit to America; and Doyle's own speech"The Romance of America," which sets a stylistic standard no other contribution can match.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)