Being "In The Company of Sherlock Holmes"

The cover of this physical book caught my eye and I'm glad it did, as I ended up buying it, even though I'm trying to stop adding more books to the ever-growing reading stack I already have waiting at home. I was in the mood for some mystery, and the promise of detective stories inspired by the Holmes canon was irresistible. And the stories selected by the editors, Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger not only met the Holmesian motif but even exceeded in most cases. The 15 stories were an easy and enjoyable read (it is so satisfying to be able to go through a complete story in one pass, without delays or interruptions).

In this case, instead of trying to give a short summary or review of the book, I will list the names of the authors of the stories I enjoyed the most, as this could be a useful guide for future selection. They appear in the same order as they are in the book, with no implied rank.

1. Michael Connelly - "The Crooked Man"

2. Sara Paretsky - "The Curious Affair of the Italian Art Dealer". As an aside, this was one of my favourite stories. And it had the added bonus that thanks to it, I learned about another crime novelist, who was quite successful and popular at around the same time: Anna Katherine Green (who was Woodrow Wilson's favourite popular writer), so there is a double potential follow up for the future.

3. Michael Sims - "The Memoirs of Silver Blaze". The story's point-of-view was very interesting and unexpected.

4. Laura Caldwell - "Art in the Blood"

5. John Lescroart - "Dunkirk". This was a very touching story and a nice indirect homage to Holmes at the end.

6. Cornelia Funke - "Lost Boys"

7. Denise Hamilton - "The Thinking Machine"

8. Michael Dirda - "By Any Other Name". I have also added to my ever growing list of books to read, one of his: "On Conan Doyle", given its great reviews and subject matter.

9. Nancy Holder - "The Adventure of my Ignoble Ancestress". Since I've been involved lately in finding and documenting my ancestors, this was close to my heart.

10. Leslie S. Klinger - "The Closing"

11. Gahan Wilson - "How I Came to Meet Sherlock Holmes"

In summary, it was a very good collection of short stories, with many different takes on the famous detective's world. Thanks to this book I also learned about the Baker Street Irregulars, a literary society "dedicated to the study of  Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Victorian world". It is the oldest Sherlockian society in the world and membership in this group comes only by invitation, which consists mainly of well-recognized writers and academics who have excelled in this field.

Finally, the best part of this book is that it has set a legal precedent for the future, as the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are now part of the public domain. In the Introduction, the "Free Sherlock" movement is explained in some detail. It was a good victory not only for this book, but for any future ones that may come.

- My overall rating: I really liked it. I think you might like it too.

Further readings about this book:

1. Kirkus review.
2. Historical Novel Society review.
3. The Oklahoman review.
4. Amazon review.
5. New York Times article: "Sherlock Holmes Is in the Public Domain, American Judge Rules".