Holmes for the holidays [Hardcover]

Martin Harry Greenberg (Editor), Jon L. Lellenberg (Editor), Carol-Lynn Waugh (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996

Master sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. Watson, return in a collection of fourteen original stories, all set during the Christmas holiday season, by Anne Perry, Carole Nelson Douglas, Loren D. Estleman, Reginald Hill, Bill Crider, and other notable authors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran anthologists Greenberg (Great Modern Police Stories) and Waugh (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) have joined with Doyle/Holmes scholar Lellenberg (Quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) to gather 14 new Holmes cases by contemporary writers involving Christmastime mysteries. Contributors include some of the mystery field's brightest stars, including Anne Perry, Loren Estleman, Jon Breen, Reginald Hill, Carole Nelson Douglas and Carolyn Wheat. Their affection for the style and feel of a Holmes short story is evident. Hill's Holmes, in "The Italian Sherlock Holmes," even sounds like Doyle's creation: "...my methods misapplied are as capable of causing serious damage as a surgeon's scalpel in the hands of a schoolboy." Both Wheat's "Adventure of the Angel's Trumpet" and J.N. Williamson's "Adventure of the Man Who Never Laughed" are delightfully sinister and macabre. In all, this is a fine collection in which even the weakest story pays worthy homage to Doyle and will please the ardent Holmes fan.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The stories in this collection, contributed by well-known British and American mystery writers, tell various Holmes and Watson Christmas adventures. Authors include Anne Perry, Reginald Hill, Bill Crider, Carolyn Wheat, and others. Good selections from quality contributors.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425154734
• ISBN-13: 978-0425154731
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #737,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy of an eggnog toast, October 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Holmes for Holidays (Paperback)

Most of these pastiches range from good to very good. And I personally loved "The Yuletide Affair," which is a Watson case. Most of the others were enjoyable also. Unfortunately, two writers decided to incorporate "A Christmas Carol" into their stories which got redundant quickly. "A Scandal in Winter" was also a demerit to this book. If not for those three stories, I would have given five stars instead of four.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Christmas stories for the mystery lover!!!, November 9, 2006

By 

Caroline Stoessel ":)" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Holmes for Holidays (Paperback)

If you've ever loved a short story, a mystery, and christmas, this is the book for you!
Sherlock Holmes is always a classic. I highly reccommend this holiday mystery anthology.
My personal favorite is , "The Yuletide Affair." By John Stoessel. Short, yet very sweet and heartwarming. Happy Holidays, book lovers!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Collection, for the Most Part, November 6, 2007

By 

Mousinator "~Mousinator~" (none) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holmes for Holidays (Paperback)

I liked reading different people's viewpoints of Holmes in this fun collection. Some of the stories featured a cheerful, almost Santa Claus version of Holmes. There is room for many takes on Sherlock Holmes' personality, as this book admirably portrays.

The best stories in the collection, or at least my favorite ones, were "A Scandal in Winter," and "The Italian Sherlock Holmes" because of their depth and amazing use of atmosphere. I don't want to give away the plots, but I thought about both of them for days afterwards. To me, they seemed word-perfect.

I disliked "The Adventure of the Angel's Trumpet," probably just personal taste, but it seemed too dark, and it smacked of a courtroom drama, which is not, in my book, what Sherlock Holmes was about.

I found "The Christmas Client" featuring Lewis Carroll extremely distasteful. It did not seem like an appropriate story for a Christmas collection. In my opinion, the story portrayed Carroll as a slimy, possible child-soft-porner, but Holmes and Watson didn't see it and didn't react to it. The clever twist at the end was overshadowed by this troubling element. Perhaps others will view the story differently. For me, it was ruined. "The Adventure in Border Country" had disturbing themes as well, but it was handled differently and the story did not trouble me.

I expected more from two of the famous authors in this collection. Since I know they can write so well, I was disappointed to feel I was reading "A" story they cranked out for the collection, and not "THE" best of all possible Holmes stories they could have written. (Perhaps I expected too much from them.) As well, the two stories featuring an adult Tiny Tim were great fun, although their plots seemed remarkably similar. (Great minds think alike, I suppose!)

Anyway, all quibbles aside, this is a good collection with a lot of Christmas-and-Sherlock fun, and you should definitely check it out! You may find different favorites than I did, and different ones you dislike, but it is worth checking out for any fan of new Sherlock Holmes stories.