Book Review: A Study in Sherlock, ed. by Laurie King & Leslie Klinger

Originally written for Shelf Awareness for Readers.Reprinted here with permission. Receive bi-weekly Shelf Awareness for Readers in your inbox by registering here.

Even as Arthur Conan Doyle was writing the original stories of Sherlock Holmes, other writers began to take their turn with the famous detective; by now "the canon" (as Doyle's stories are known) has inspired too many stories, fan fictions and spin-offs to count. Laurie King, author of the Mary Russel and Sherlock Holmes series, and Leslie Klinger, editor of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, have set out to add yet another volume to this library--and have done so successfully. Their latest title, A Study in Sherlock, proves to be an exciting anthology of all-new Holmesian tales both whimsical and factual, inspired and inspiring.

Some of the stories in A Study in Sherlock retell a canonical tale from a different perspective, while others venture into the mythos that surrounds Holmes' life as described by Doyle--some even take on the rumor that he is still alive. Some dive wholeheartedly into Holmes' character, while others take inspiration from something as trivial as his hat; some are told in classic narrative, while others are illustrated, or written as blog posts. There's even a Twitter conversation.

A Study in Sherlock succeeds precisely because of this variety, and due credit should be given both to the editors who allowed such inspiration and to the authors who rose to the challenge. With contributions from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Laura Lippman and Jacqueline Winspear, A Study in Sherlock offers readers a healthy dose of well-crafted fiction that proves downright fun to read. If you weren't intrigued by Holmes before you read this, trust that you will be afterwards.

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Thoughts from other bookworms:
A Walk With a Book
The Baker Street Journal
Publisher's Weekly

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You might also like:
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Vol 1, ed. by Leslie Klinger (see also Vol. 2 & Vol. 3)
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

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A Study in Sherlock | ed. Leslie Klinger and Laurie King | Bantam | 9780812982466 | $15.00 Trade Paperback | 400 pages | October 2011 | Buy from an independent bookstore near you