Sherlock Holmes in America [Hardcover]

Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Jon L. Lellenberg (Editor), Daniel Stashower (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2009

Holmes and Watson in America. Original short stories. A literary gem? Elementary, of course!

Sherlock Holmes makes his American debut in this fascinating and extraordinary collection of never-before-published crime and mystery stories by bestselling American writers. The world's greatest detective and his famous sidekick Watson are on their first trip across the Atlantic as they fight crime all over nineteenth-century North America. From the bustling neighborhoods of New York City and Washington, D.C., to sunny yet sinister cities like San Francisco on the West Coast, the world's best-loved British sleuth will face some of the most cunning criminals America has to offer, and meet some of America's most famous figures along the way.

Each original story is written in the extraordinary tradition of Doyle's best work, yet each comes with a unique American twist that is sure to satisfy and exhilarate both Sherlock Holmes purists and those who always wished that Holmes could nab the nefarious closer to home.

This is a must-read for any mystery fan and for those who have followed Holmes' illustrious career over the waterfall and back again.

12 b/w illustrations

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

It seems there is a never-ending supply of new material to provide Sherlock Holmes addicts with their latest fix. This one is interesting because its setting, the U.S., is a place in which (as Holmes fans know) the master detective has always had a great deal of interest. This volume, edited by veteran genre anthologist Greenberg, brings together more than a dozen stories set in such American locales as New York, St. Louis, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, and Youngblood, Arizona. Holmes takes on a variety of cases, from a missing violin to chicanery in the world of sports, meeting along the way such notables as Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Harry Houdini, and Teddy Roosevelt. The stories, by such well-known writers as Loren Estleman, Matthew Pearl, Bill Crider, and Jon Breen, are uniformly very good, with occasional flashes of genius. And, best of all, they aren’t pastiches or painfully faithful re-creations of Conan Doyle’s writing style; each is told in the writer’s own voice but still captures the spirit of the Holmes stories. A thoroughly entertaining collection. --David Pitt

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (March 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602393524
• ISBN-13: 978-1602393523
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,141,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More American Holmes, July 14, 2009

By 

Philip K. Jones (St. Clair Shores, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes in America (Hardcover)

This anthology consists of an Introduction, fourteen stories, three essays (one by A. C. D.) and notes about the editors. Each tale is preceded by a short note about the author. The Introduction calls this "a collection of new stories ... in which Holmes and Watson strike out for the United States" and that more or less describes the theme of the book.

The fourteen tales included begin with an account of "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness," by Lyndsay Faye, as cited in ENGR. In this tale. Watson tells Holmes of a mystery he encountered in San Francisco years before and Holmes provides an explanation. It serves as a good introduction to the book's theme in addition to being an interesting narrative. Lloyd Rose's "Ghosts and the Machine" recounts a visit, with their father, of the youthful Mycroft and Sherlock to America. They encounter Colonel Henry Olcott investigating some `Psychic' events shortly before he met Madame Blavtsky and they founded the Theosophical Society. The Holmes boys were not impressed by the events but did find Colonel Olcott admirable.

Steve Hockensmith's "Excerpts from an Unpublished Memoir..." gives us an interesting glimpse at Sherlock's career on the stage. Robert Pohle's "The Flowers of Utah" tells of a trip Holmes and Watson took to Utah financed by by an English Mormon following events in STUD, "to solve the case, once and for all." Their findings, of course, upset the Doctor's comfortable view of the resolution of that tale. Lauren Estleman's "The Adventure of the Coughing Dentist" introduces Holmes and Watson to another pair of prominent companions, Wyatt Earp and `Doc' Holliday. Then, Victoria Thompson tells us of Holmes solution to the disappearance of a prominent Minister's daughter at the request of Theodore Roosevelt, then Commissioner of the New York City Police Department in her "The Minister's Missing Daughter."

Gillian Linscott's "The Case of Colonel Crocket's Violin" treats us to the sight of Holmes being asked to identify the `real' violin of Davy Crocket from three possible competitors. Bill Crider renews Holmes' acquaintance with `Buffalo Bill' Cody, Frank Butler and Annie Oakley in "The Adventure of the White City" at the Columbian Exhibition, where Holmes shows an amazing grasp of recent events in the `Wild West.' In her "Recalled to Life," Paula Cohen tells us of a fascinating sidelight to one of the tasks Sherlock performed at Mycroft's request during `The Great Hiatus.' Daniel Stashower spins another tale of `The Great Houdini' as detective in his "The Seven Walnuts." As usual, brother `Dash' steers Harry into finding the truth, this time by asking him to write to Holmes about a disputed point.

In Matthew Pearl's "The Adventure of the Boston Dromio," Holmes and Watson investigate the murder charges against the Doctor who saved Watson's life in Afghanistan. Carolyn Wheat describes a unique method of murder in "The Case of the Rival Queens" while Holmes and Watson explore a Theosophist community. Jon L. Breen teams Holmes with a former acquaintance, Clive Armitage, in "The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarters." He also treats us to a close-up view of Amos Alonzo Stagg, an icon of College Football. In "The Song at Twilight, Michael Walsh tells us the long-awaited story of the creation of Altamont, the beginning of "His Last Bow."

In general, the tales are well done. There are few outright contradictions of the Canon and most of the `Americanisms' are appropriate. Unfortunately, none seem to stand out either. The most powerfully written tale was also the least `Sherlockian,' while few offered any new insights into either Holmes or Watson. The historical characters were either unpleasent or, for the most part, uninteresting, although Estleman's Earp and Holliday seem to be an exception to this generalization. In fact, Thompson's `minister's daughter,' who never appears in person, seems to be the most interesting character in the lot.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine Collection, March 27, 2009

By 

Bookmeister - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes in America (Hardcover)

Some of these stories are spot-on with Doyle's style, although as the title shows, none happen in Merry Old England. A couple pastiches have alternative narrators, but all in all, if you like the original flavor of Holmes stories, than you will greatly enjoy this. It is refreshing that a few of the authors actually put in some deductive methods, which many modern SH authors are remiss in doing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just for one reading!, June 19, 2011

By 

RIJU GANGULY "perceptive reader" (India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes in America (Paperback)

Enough to send you raving back to tha canon to savour the exquisite taste of sanity. Good for one (and singularly singular) read only. Therefore, my humble recommendation would be to get it from nearby library.