'The famous detective returns in a thrilling anthology of Sherlock short stories, all penned by masters of the genre, such as Peter Swanson, Cara Black, James Lovegrove and more. A brand-new collection of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories which spans Holmes's entire career, from the early days in Baker Street to retirement on the South Downs.
'Penned by masters of the genre, these Sherlock stories feature a woman haunted by the ghost of a rival actress, Moriarty's son looking for revenge, Oscar Wilde's lost manuscript, a woman framing her husband for murder, Mycroft's encounter with Moriarty and Colonel Moran, and many more!'
One of the things that I really like about Sherlock Holmes stories is that they can work in almost any format. There have been short stories, novellas, novels, and stories that span multiple volumes and hundreds of pages. The character and his crime solving methods fit wonderfully into almost any style. And whilst it's great that there are so many books being published where the worlds most famous detective solves a case over hundreds of pages it can sometimes be nice to get back to the short stories. And Sherlock Holmes: A Detective's Life is a great new collection that has a huge variety on offer.
The book has twelve stories set across Holmes' life, and we go from him and Watson only recently having become friends, to them being longtime crime-fighting partners, to the final days of Holmes' life as he retires for his twilight years.
The first story in this collection is 'The Adventure of the Spiritualist Detective' by Stuart Douglas. This is set not long after Watson has moved in with Holmes, and the text makes it clear that whilst the two o them have worked together a few times before this, it's still at a point where Watson is trying to pin down the kind of person Holmes is. As such, when the two of them are called in to investigate a strange haunting presence in the home of a well connected spiritualist it strikes Watson as unusual when Holmes begins talking about ghosts and the afterlife as if he believes in them. It's especially unusual when Holmes declares the home to be haunted and flees the property.
I really enjoyed this as the first story, because it instantly made the reader feel like these stories could potentially do anything. Fans will know that whilst Arthur Conan Doyle believed in spiritualism, Holmes very much does not; so him ranting and raving about ghosts makes you instantly unsure what's happening here. The story does some fun things with expectations, and delivers a pretty solid start to the book.
'The Tragic Affair at the Millennium Manor' by David Marcum is a slightly spooky affair, where a young woman returns to England after some time in India and begins to believe that her missing fiance is stalking her in her remote home. There's talk about two brothers vying for her affection, a remote cottage, and something awful hiding in the trees that makes this a particularly stand out tale early on in the book. It feels like one of those classic stories where the detective duo head off to a remote estate to look into a case, and where nothing is how it first appears. It's a slightly gruesome tale, and one that I loved reading in bed in the dark thanks to some particularly chilling moments.
Amy Thomas' story 'An Encounter With Darkness' differs from the other stories in this set because it's one of a few that aren't written from the point of view of Doctor Watson, and is instead told by Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's brother. In this story Mycroft brings Sherlock into a scheme that he's been working on for a while, using his younger brother to help him make steps into infiltrating the criminal underworld under the control of James Moriarty.
Moriarty is one of the most iconic villains in literature, and possibly the most famous character in the Sherlock Holmes mythos after Sherlock and Watson, as such, using him can sometimes be a daunting thing. You want to make sure that you get him right, and that you don't overuse him either. For those trying to write stories where it could fit in with the Conan Doyle tales, you also have to be careful not to mess with that lore. Thomas does an amazing job here by having Moriatry being this sinister background presence that haunts this story and looms over proceeding. It's a great tale that I found myself wishing could have gone on for longer.
'The Wild Man of Olmolungring' by Cavan Scott is another story that bucks the trend by having it told from a more unusual point of view; this time being from the diary of Sir Ernest Henning. Henning's tale follows his adventures in the Himalayas, where he and his team of explorers search for evidence of the Wild Man, the Yetti. Whilst on the mountain the group runs into a strange Scandinavian man alone up on the mountain in a snowstorm. When one of the expedition is attacked in the middle of the night the group begins to think that they might be close to finding their prize, but the newcomer believes otherwise.
This story stands out as one of the most unusual of the bunch, and doesn't follow many of the traditions of the typical Holmes story. It's in a completely different setting, has a new narrator, and doesn't seem to feature any of the characters that we know. However, there's a very definite Holmes story here underneath it all; and one that will probably surprise a lot of readers.
These stories aren't just set during the height of Holmes' career, however, as there are some that follow the consulting detective after his retirement, when he leaves London to make a home for himself in the countryside. 'The Adventure of the Third Cab' by James Lovegrove is the first of these stories, and sees Watson going to visit Holmes for one of his first times; but doing so with a strange set of instructions. Following Holmes' detailed list exactly, Watson ends up stranded in the middle of nowhere with more questions than he started with.
This is perhaps one of the more laid-back mysteries in the entire book, and it leads to a story that feels quite peaceful and calm more than anything else. It reflects the kind of life that Holmes has made for himself now, one where he can still get involved in a mystery or two, but ones that don't have lives hanging in the balance, or begin with a body being found. It has the feeling of a man who's retired but can't quite give up his old life, and works wonderfully for Holmes at this age.
The final story in the collection is 'Peril at Carroway House' by Eric Brown, and sees Watson going to visit a much older Holmes, one who is now living in a small apartment in Eastbourne. Holmes, who is in a wheelchair, has brought Watson in to help with a case that he feels is brewing on the horizon; and being proven correct as always, Holmes is soon approached by a young woman asking for his help. A young woman who is the daughter of Irene Adler.
This felt like a perfect story to end this collection on. It showed Holmes at his oldest, at a point in his life where he's left his crime solving ways behind, yet gets dragged back in because he's approached by someone with a strong connection to his past. However, this story is more complex than it first appears, and heads into some unexpected territory that whilst surprising, is extremely welcome.
Sherlock Holmes: A Detective's Life is a wonderful collection of short stories, all of which are enjoyable and entertaining, that show a variety of cases, a wonderful selection of mysteries, and Holmes at various points in his life. And no matter how these stories differ, how surprising and strange they are, how old or young Holmes is, each of them captures something about the character and the original tales that makes them so wonderfully popular and beloved.
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