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David Marcum This, the second collection of Holmes pastiches by Nick Cardillo, is once again a treat for those who want to read about the True Holmes, set in the correct time, and with Holmes and Watson behaving correctly – as heroes. Cardillo wrote his first Holmes pastiche while still in high school – and it was soon published in a volumes of “The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories”. He’s since gone on to write a number of others that have appeared in various anthologies. Many of these were collected in his first well-reviewed book, “The Feats of...

David Marcum Kim Krisco began writing stories about an older retired Sherlock Holmes, but he soon pivoted to tales about Holmes’s Irregulars, now adults, and how their association with Holmes as children affected them. Soon, one particular Irregular became the focus of Krisco’s narratives – Tessa Wiggins. Along the way, her stories have passed beyond mere mysteries into something unique.  MX has collected all three volumes detailing Tessa’s appearances, “Irregular Lives”, “The Celtic Phoenix”, and “The Magnificent Madness of Tessa Wiggins”. The first is a series of flashback stories about how a group of Irregulars, including Tessa, were first recruited...

David Marcum Kim Krisco began writing Sherlock Holmes adventures with the short story collection, “Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Years”, five cases of the great detective in retirement. This was followed by a short story, “Blood Brothers”, which was included in Part III of “The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories”. This tale featuring the best-known of the Baker Street Irregulars, Wiggins, set Krisco on his future Sherlockian path. Pasticheurs find many paths into the Sherlockian sandbox. Mr. Krisco’s started with this sole story about Wiggins, and it’s now grown to three volumes – and hopefully more on the horizon....

Bootmakers of Toronto This is the first installment of a three-volume collection on crime and criminals in the Canon and beyond. Volume 1 explores early European criminologists and their work in such areas as profiling, toxicology and fingerprinting. Also examined is the influence of emerging forensic science on the studies, early investigations and methods of Sherlock Holmes. This includes delving into real-life criminals – notorious murderers, burglars and poisoners – mentioned in the stories or who otherwise influenced the tales. While the focus is on the Canon, some of Conan Doyle’s other writing is referenced for their criminal elements. Poison,...

David Marcum Orlando Pearson has written a number of Holmes short stories as part of his “The Redacted Sherlock Holmes” series – some set in the correct chronological time period, and others in a never-land where Holmes and Watson are transplanted to different eras, regardless of their birth-dates or ages, and sometimes involved in events that would have occurred after they were very old or even dead. This volume, “Dark Arts, Dark Acts”, is Pearson’s first Holmes novel, and it’s one of the latter-type stories, putting Holmes and Watson in 1940. The story opens with an explanation from Watson stating...