Book Review: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
Otto Pinzlered.
Fri., Dec. 25, 2015
The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
Edited by Otto PenzlerPantheon, 816 pp., $40
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the shade of Arthur Conan Doyle (ardent spiritualist that he was, he's bound to survive on some astral plane) must be the most flattered soul in the afterlife. The Great Detective is such an inspired creation – his phenomenal attention to detail and deductive faculties so highly developed as to make Holmes mythic – that he's drawn others to write about him, whether continuing his adventures or lampooning them, since about a minute after A Study in Scarlet hit print. That's one of the lessons gleaned from this stupendous collection of tales starring Sherlock and his many clones. Editor Otto Penzler has included spoofs of Doyle's detective from as early as the 1890s and 1900s, and from the likes of James M. Barrie, A.A. Milne, O. Henry, and Bret Harte. (By the way, have you met Sheerluck Combs? Shamrock Jolnes? Hemlock Jones? Holmlock Shears? They're all here, and more.)
Another lesson is how illustrious the ranks of the literary Holmes-bodies are. Among the bookstore brand names who have tried their hand at channeling the Baker Street sleuth: P.G. Wodehouse, Anthony Burgess, Kingsley Amis, Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, and Neil Gaiman. All have tales included, and you can see that a writer's position on the ladder of literary achievement is no guarantee of his success at penning a satisfying Sherlockian parody or pastiche. (Lookin' at you, Burgess.) Still, even when a tale doesn't fully capture the style or character of the source stories, you sense the gravitational pull of Doyle's creation on the imitator. If nothing else, the selections in this truly big book – massive enough to club a Hound of the Baskervilles into submission – form a detailed mosaic of what makes the Holmes tales work: Sherlock, yes, but also all the characters surrounding him, their histories and interplay, and the way in which the mysteries are posed and solved.
The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories is more than just an illumination of the originals by reflected light, though. It's a ripping good read, rich with ingenious mysteries, compelling character studies, and sly send-ups that are their own reward. And much of the fun it offers fans of the canon are discoveries about its characters that come from sending them places Doyle didn't: Sherlock as babysitter, solving the riddle of Red Riding Hood; Holmes so impressed with a girl that he'd play Father Christmas for her; Holmes face to face with the Devil himself; the Great Detective laid low by a nemesis more nefarious than the Napoleon of Crime: cats, to which he's allergic. All this and more awaits you in the 82 tales of this anthology – if you're as game as its authors