The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories edited by Otto Penzler

The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
edited by Otto Penzler [828 DoyYp] 

This massive anthology of shorter Sherlock Holmes works is merely the latest in a series of creative anthologies edited by Otto Penzler for Vintage Crime/Black Lizard books. Previous volumes have included The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (previously reviewed here), and The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries). For this Sherlock Holmes collection, Penzler has gather 83 short works from authors both best-selling and obscure. He opens with two short-short works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself (although he does not include the newly-discovered new story by Doyle that was unearthed in somebody’s attic in 2015. Stories included in this collection range from serious, written in classic Doyle Holmes style, to parodies and pastiches, having fun with the characters and tropes of the Holmesian canon.

There are many Holmes collections or anthologies out there, and often you see the same stories in many of those books. I can’t say I’ve ever seen this many different stories featuring Holmes in any collection previously, and Penzler has certainly included some of the rare, lesser-seen tales. If you are a true lover of the world of Sherlock Holmes, or even if you’re just a basic mystery fiction fan, I highly recommend this volume, although obviously nothing substitutes for Doyle’s 56 stories and 4 novels for authenticity!

[ publisher’s official The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories web page] | [ Wikipedia page on Sherlock Holmes ]

Check out more Sherlock Holmes related titles in our Elementary booklist on BookGuide!

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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