AfterWords: Conanical Correspondence from the World of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson

by Thomas Campbell

Every solved case leaves loose ends—and letters to be written.

When Sherlock Holmes closed a case, life didn't simply stop. A grateful client would put pen to paper. A grieving family would send condolences. A convicted criminal would scratch out bitter words from his cell. A witness would feel compelled to set the record straight. These afterwords—the human responses that naturally follow extraordinary events—are what Arthur Conan Doyle never showed us.

AfterWords presents what happened the correspondence that would inevitably have followed each of Holmes's sixty recorded adventures. Here are the thank-you notes and angry letters, the updates and clarifications, the expressions of gratitude and demands for justice that such dramatic interventions would naturally provoke.

Mrs. Hudson had thoughts about her famous tenants. Inspector Lestrade occasionally needed to vent his frustrations. Rescued clients felt compelled to express their gratitude, while some mourned losses that even Holmes couldn't prevent. Criminals and their families harbored deep resentment. Witnesses sought recognition for their courage or honesty.

This collection contains over 150 pieces of such correspondence—each flowing directly from the events Doyle recorded, each representing the routine human need to reach out after significant events touch our lives. There is nothing extraordinary about these letters themselves. They are simply what people they write, they seek connection, they look for understanding or closure.

Together, these afterwords complete the picture of each case, revealing not just what Holmes solved, but how those solutions rippled through the lives he touched. Because the story never really ends with Watson's final sentence—it continues in the words that people feel compelled to write afterward.

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2025

About the author

Thomas Campbell was a Scottish poet. He was a founder and the first President of the Clarence Club and a co-founder of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, he was also one of the initiators of a plan to found what became University College London. In 1799, he wrote The Pleasures of Hope, a traditional 18th-century didactic poem in heroic couplets. He also produced several stirring patriotic war songs—Ye Mariners of England, The Soldier's Dream, Hohenlinden and in 1801, The Battle of Mad and Strange Turkish Princes.