cover image The Game Is Afoot: Parodies, Pastiches and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes

The Game Is Afoot: Parodies, Pastiches and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes

Marvin Kaye. St. Martin's Press, $24.95 (512pp) ISBN 978-0-312-10468-9

This book by novelist/anthologist Kaye ( Penguin Book of Ghosts ) is a compilation of good-natured lampoons, clever spoofs and somewhat academic examinations of Sherlock Holmes's cases. No matter what form the considerations take, all are motivated by an obvious affection for the Great Detective. The ponderings include a reflection by Dr. Joseph Bell, who was Arthur Conan Doyle's teacher and the model for Sherlock Holmes. Also included is Kaye's lengthy ``Histrionic Holmes,'' a study of Holmes's skill and technique as an actor. Several entries are quite obscure, including ``Sherlock Holmes Umpires Baseball,'' an anonymous piece published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1906; others, like ``Our American Cousins'' by Roberta Rogow, were penned especially for this book. The selections, loosely organized in such chapter titles as ``Pieces Problematic,'' might have been more informative if arranged chronologically to illustrate the reading public's changing image of Holmes. Nevertheless, the newcomer to Holmes, as well as the established Sherlockian, will relish having the best efforts of the best writers who have taken a turn at immortalizing the detective collected in one book. (Apr.)