The Complete Sherlock Holmes discussion

I read all of these this past winter. It has been a long time since reading the last page of a series, knowing it is over and there will never be anymore of it, has given me such a sense of disconsolate loneliness.

It's a slow build if you read them in the sequence published in this edition, but by the time you reach the second volume you are so attached to Holmes and Watson, to their relationship, and to Baker Street that it's just not fair to reach the limits of their world and realize it is finite.

Did you feel this way, too?

Accepting that they will never be canonical, nor quite as good as the originals, I've just begun branching out into Sherlock stories written by authors other than Doyle, and it's both pleasantly comforting and terribly sad to read someone else's mimicry of the originals. Is this just me?

Abby wrote: "I read all of these this past winter. It has been a long time since reading the last page of a series, knowing it is over and there will never be anymore of it, has given me such a sense of discons..."

I agree with you about other writers attempting to pick up the mantel of a fallen author. For the most part it just doesn't work. I think that perhaps Sherlock Holmes has been most sucessfully aped character, and some of the books are actually quite enjoyable. But other charaters have not fared so well, ie: James Bond rewritten by Kingsly Aimes. I shutter to think what is going to happen to Spencer now that Robert B. Parker is gone.

I was never interested in Sherlock stories not written by Conan Doyle, but are they any good? Are their "voices" the same?

Laura wrote: "I was never interested in Sherlock stories not written by Conan Doyle, but are they any good? Are their "voices" the same?"

Among the best mimics are Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr with their joint venture 'The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes' - a collection of short stories based on the cases mentioned in passing in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories.

Michael wrote: " I shutter to think what is going to happen to Spenser....."

Me too, I haven't dared to pick up the Atkins' Spenser. But I might....and remember, Robert B.Parker himself took up the pen to flesh out scraps left by Chandler...

I've tried a few of the mimic books-- The Final Solution (very sad because it's written when Holmes is very, very old and losing some of his mindpower) and the Young Sherlock Holmes series (I stopped reading it because too many people die in gruesome ways). Neither can even begin to match the spirit of the original stories.

I was brought up on Sherlock Holmes and couldn't understand, reading them, why the police forces didn't learn from the great man and use his methods more.

The whole world of Victorian London is perfect for the type of stories and cases that came to Sherlock's attention. Although we have recently had a BBC TV series based on the character in the modern era, I can help thinking there was no better time to have a super sleuth than at the birthday of the police service.

I think this is why my writing contains references to the Victorian era and the types of architecture found at the time. A fascinating time indeed.

Haven't picked up any Sherlock clones yet, 'cept for Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war, which is based on the script for an old German movie about a detective who poses as Sherlock.

I did like Robert Ryan's foreword to the complete edition I've got, made me interested in the author's John Watson adventures beginning with Dead Man's Land.

I have to admit, I re-read these over and over, and marvel at everything: the characters, the plots, the settings, just everything. There is nothing like a Sherlock Holmes story on a cold night, feet at the fire, and we read: Come, Watson! The game is afoot!

My father bought me the complete collection for Christmas when I was a teenager. I read them all and fell in love with the characters and with short stories in general. I've always been a fan of Holmes and his world, but I've never read anything about the setting and characters by other authors other than "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman, which you can read for free right here: http://neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Sh...