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BAKER STREET IRREGULARS
by Michael A Ventrella and Jonathan Maberry, eds.
Diversion Books, March 2017
304 pages
$16.99
ISBN: 1626818401


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Everyone loves Sherlock Holmes. But would you love Sherlock Holmes if he were a robot or an alien? In the introduction to this anthology, editor Michael A. Ventrella writes: "The character of Sherlock is so iconic that he can be rearranged in many different formats and still be recognizable." He goes on to say that the 13 stories in the anthology showcase "alternate Sherlock stories."

Do they ever!

The anthology opens with "Locked," by Mike Strauss, in which Sherlock is a host of a reality show that solves crimes; the host's signature line is "You've been 'locked!" In this tale, John Watson is the brains while Sherlock Holmes is the program's not-too-bright star. Mary Morstan is here too, as the show's assistant producer. It's a fun, light read.

In several of the stories, Sherlock is a woman, such as in "Identity: An Adventure of Shirley Holmes and Jack Watson." Author Keith R.A. DeCandido still has Watson, a fourth-year medical student, as the narrator, but Shirley Holmes is a young woman who lives on the upper west side of Manhattan. In "Delta Phi," by Heidi McLaughlin, Lock Holmes is a young woman in college. Watson is a fellow student smitten by Lock.

Then the stories really get strange. Sherlock is a doglike alien, a biosynthed "extrapoloid," a violinist in Beethoven's orchestra, a parrot, and even a vampire—the last thanks to Irene Adler, who transformed him into an immortal being at the Reichenbach Falls.

One of my favorites was "The Adventure of the Melted Saint" by Gail Z. Martin, an author known for writing fantasy novels. She takes characters from one of her books—the proprietors of an antique and curio shop who also have supernatural powers—and pairs them with Shelly Holmes, a transgendered South Carolina woman with a vape pipe and a deep love of the fictional character Sherlock. Her Watson is a sad-eyed bloodhound. Shelly ably solves a historical case.

Jonathan Maberry, a New York Times best-selling author and five-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, brings us a story in which the name Sherlock is not mentioned—but two nuns use his crime-solving techniques in "The Hammer of God."

Arthur Conan Doyle's creation has been reinterpreted time and again, and Ventrella and Maberry continue to push the envelope with this anthology. For the most part, these short stories were entertaining. Some, I will admit, were more mystifying than mind-bending. If you are a diehard traditional Sherlock fan, you may want to skip BAKER STREET IRREGULARS. But if you have a taste for the offbeat, then it's elementary—these tales are for you.

§ Lourdes Venard is an independent editor who divides her time between New York and Maui.

Reviewed by Lourdes Venard, April 2017

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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