Echoes of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon

King and Klinger’s strong third Sherlockian anthology (after 2014’s In the Company of Sherlock Holmes) features 17 stories from leading authors who draw on Conan Doyle’s work for inspiration. The end result is a rich variety of entries, including Tony Lee and Bevis Musson’s “Mrs. Hudson Investigates,” a post-Reichenbach mystery in comic book format. David Morrell sensitively examines Conan Doyle’s obsession with spiritualism in “The Spiritualist,” in which the writer has an unexpected encounter in London’s Psychic Book Shop, Library and Museum. John Connolly displays his gift for subtle satire in “Holmes on the Range,” set in his Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository, a home for fictional characters who have “assumed an objective reality” (including Holmes and Watson). Another high point is William Kent Krueger’s “The Painted Smile,” in which a therapist treats a child determined to have his identification with Holmes taken seriously. Other contributors include Anne Perry, Hallie Ephron, and Gary Phillips. (Oct.)