Sherlock Holmes: A Detective’s Life

The 12 gifted contributors to Rosenstock’s outstanding second all-original anthology (after 2019’s Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Seven) each depict a different chapter in Holmes’s life. Standouts include the opener, Stuart Douglas’s “The Adventure of the Spiritualist Detective,” set so early in Holmes and Watson’s relationship that the doctor is having second thoughts about continuing to share their Baker Street rooms. Those doubts are triggered by Holmes’s illogical acceptance of a female client who complains that a male stranger has accessed her home, leaving behind a partially drunk bottle of beer and the odor of cooked kippers. The entries proceed chronologically from there. The last selection, Eric Brown’s “Peril at Carroway House,” finds a wheelchair-using Holmes abandoning retirement in Sussex in 1926 and tackling a case featuring Irene Adler’s daughter. Some of the best tales are particularly faithful to the originals, such as David Marcum’s “The Tragic Affair at the Millennium Manor” and Philip Purser-Hallard’s “The Elementary Problem.” Sherlockians will enjoy watching the beloved detective’s character evolve over the years. (Sept.)