The Ghosts in Baker Street : New Tales of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes once declared: “This world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.” And when Dr. Mortimer asked if the legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles was not of interest, Holmes said only: “To a collector of fairy-tales.” And yet Conan Doyle, fascinated by psychic phenomena his entire life, and author of many horror and supernatural stories, did give Holmes a few problems of the otherworldly sort, even if they ended in rational explanations.Featuring an all-star cast of Doyle devotees that includes Caleb Carr and Daniel Stashower, hosts of Baker Street is the third collection of original mystery stories featuring the literary world’s greatest detective (Murder in Baker Street; Murder, My Dear Watson)—and these stories bring Holmes and Watson up against the supernatural. This latest installment in the New Tales of Sherlock Holmes series—edited by Martin H. Greenberg, one of crime fiction's most awarded editors and anthologists—brings the reader more adventures where the ultimate disbelieving detective tackles mysteries with a distinctly strange flavor, featuring crimes and situations that may possibly be not of this world.

From Publishers Weekly

Pitting the deductive skills of the great rationalist Sherlock Holmes against mysteries that may have an otherworldly source intrigued the detective's creator, as most notably shown by The Hound of the Baskervilles, and has inspired a legion of pastiche writers. This all-original anthology from the distinguished trio of Greenberg, Lellenberg and Stashower is an improvement over a similar volume, Michael Reaves and John Pelan's Shadows over Baker Street (2003), which attempted to combine the sleuth with the eldritch horrors of H.P. Lovecraft. Few of the 10 stories in this follow-up, however, raise even a momentary chill. The highlight, Gillian Linscott's "The Adventure of the Late Orang Outang," captures Conan Doyle's style, even if the mystery is less than baffling. Sherlockians may find the three essays at the end of interest (one is by Caleb Carr), but many readers might have preferred that the editors had instead included stories from such Watson emulators as Barrie Roberts and Denis Smith, both of whom have written superb Holmes tales with supernatural overtones. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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