The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Edited by John Joseph Adams.

Sherlock Holmes is back!

Sherlock Holmes, the world's first – and most famous – consulting detective, came to the world's attention more than 120 years ago through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels and stories. But Conan Doyle didn't reveal all of the Great Detective's adventures...

Here are some of the best Holmes pastiches of the last 30 years, twenty-eight tales of mystery and the imagination detailing Holmes's further exploits, as told by many of today's greatest storytellers, including Stephen King, Anne Perry, Anthony Burgess, Neil Gaiman, Naomi Novik, Stephen Baxter, Tanith Lee, Michael Moorcock, and many more.

These are the improbable adventures of Sherlock Holmes, where nothing is impossible, and nothing can be ruled out. In these cases, Holmes investigates ghosts, curses, aliens, dinosaurs, shapeshifters, and evil gods. But is it the supernatural, or is there a perfectly rational explanation?

You won't be sure, and neither will Holmes and Watson as they match wits with pirates, assassins, con artists, and criminal masterminds of all stripes, including some familiar foes, such as their old nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

In these pages you'll also find our heroes crossing paths with H. G. Wells, Lewis Carroll, and even Arthur Conan Doyle himself, and you'll be astounded to learn the truth behind cases previously alluded to by Watson but never before documented until now.

These are tales that take us from the familiar quarters at 221B Baker Street to alternate realities, from the gaslit streets of London to the far future and beyond.

Whether it's mystery, fantasy, horror, or science fiction, no puzzle is too challenging for the Great Detective. The game is afoot!

This reprint anthology showcases the best Holmes short fiction from the last 30 years, featuring stories by:

Contents

Introduction by John Joseph Adams
1. The Doctor's Case (1987) by Stephen King
2. The Singular Habits of Wasps (1994) by Geoffrey A. Landis
3. You See But You Do Not Observe (1995) by Robert J. Sawyer
4. The Adventure of the Field Theorems (1995) by Vonda N. McIntyre
5. The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey (2001) by Peter Tremayne
6. A Study in Emerald (2003) by Neil Gaiman
7. The Adventure of the Antiquarian's Niece (2003) by Barbara Hambly
8. The Horror of the Many Faces (2003) by Tim Lebbon
9. The Adventure of the Death-Fetch (1994) by Darrell Schweitzer
10. The Adventure of the Other Detective (2001) by Bradley H. Sinor
11. The Adventure of the Dorset Street Lodger (1995) by Michael Moorcock
12. The Adventure of the Inertial Adjustor (1997) by Stephen Baxter
13. Merridew of Abominable Memory (2008) by Chris Roberson
14. The Things That Shall Come Upon Them (2008) by Barbara Roden
15. A Sherlockiana Primer (2009) by Christopher Roden
16. The Case of the Bloodless Sock (2001) by Anne Perry
17. A Scandal in Montreal [Sherlock Holmes (Hoch)] (2008) by Edward D. Hoch
18. The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland (2005) by Mary Robinette Kowal
19. The Adventure of the Mummy's Curse (2006) by H. Paul Jeffers
20. Murder to Music (1989) by Anthony Burgess
21. The Affair of the 46th Birthday (2009) by Amy Myers
22. The Vale of the White Horse (2003) by Sharyn McCrumb
23. The Adventure of the Lost World (2004) by Dominic Green
24. Dynamics of a Hanging (2005) by Tony Pi
25. Commonplaces (2009) by Naomi Novik
26. The Adventure of the Pirates of Devil's Cape (2009) by Rob Rogers
27. The Adventure of the Green Skull (2008) by Mark Valentine
28. The Human Mystery (1999) by Tanith Lee
29. Mrs Hudson's Case (1997) by Laurie R. King