The Collected Papers of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 6: Muniments

Marcum solidifies his reputation as one of the best emulators of Conan Doyle in this outstanding collection of 21 stories. His pastiches provide pitch-perfect depictions of Holmes and Watson, and plausibly expand upon the characterizations from the originals, as exemplified in “The Fashionably Dressed Girl,” which uses just a brief reference in the first-published Holmes story, “A Study in Scarlet,” as the starting point to explore Watson’s first days rooming with the detective. “Some Additional Notes Regarding Mr. Melas” is a satisfying sequel to Conan Doyle’s “The Greek Interpreter,” set toward the end of Holmes’s career, which makes use of some unanswered questions from that story to devise an espionage-inflected mystery. Marcum flexes his versatility in “Jonathan Sparler, Resurrectionist,” where the über-rational Holmes teams up with a paranormal investigator to discredit a charlatan claiming he can revive the dead so their surviving loved ones can speak with them. Sherlockians eager for faithful recreations of their beloved characters will hope Marcum continues to produce such high-quality tales. Mere fan fiction this is not. (May)