With apologies for missing a few posts, dear readers.  We have now returned to The Land of Reliable Internet!

This poster was spotted in a number of London Underground stations this past week–namely, a young person, who I think to be a young lady, sitting in a large leather chair in a fancy waistcoat and jacket, looking very pleased.  The ad is for “The Sherlock Holmes Experience”…at Madame Tussauds Museum.

Now, first and foremost, Madame Tussauds is within walking distance of Baker Street, so, as a purist, I would argue that if you want a ‘Sherlock Holmes Experience’, you should go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street, but that is beside the point…

Seeing this poster made me realize just how popular Sherlock Holmes has become once again.  When I was a younin’ (you know, before cell phones and the high-speed internet and the wheel), and told people that I wasn’t as impressed by The Hound of the Baskervilles as I was by The Sign of the Four, or that I cried while reading “The Final Problem” and “The Case of the Dying Detective”, I got funny looks.  When I told people that my favorite part of going to London was visiting Baker Street, I was asked “Oh, is that, like, a real place?  How funny (you are!)!”  Now, thanks to Mr. Cumberbatch and Sherlock, in addition to Mr. Downey, Jr. and Sherlock Holmes, among a number of other things, to be a Holmesian is to be cool once again.  And while I would highly, highly, encourage everyone to read the original books, because they are terrific, or listen to the audiobooks, as read by David Timson, because they might actually improve upon the originals at times, it’s also pretty interesting to see how Holmes has made it into the 21st century, and shows no signs of tiring.

Part of the reason for this is because Holmes is such a perfect character to be spoofed, pastiched, and re-invented time and time and time again.  Fun fact: Did you know that the first Sherlock Holmes pastiche was written by James Barrie, who was a good friend of Conan Doyle’s?  Barrie and Doyle wrote a play together  that bombed spectacularly (partly because it wasn’t about Holmes, and no one wanted Doyle to write anything else), and, as a result, Barrie wrote “The Adventure of the Two Collaborators“, in which an irate writer confronts Holmes, who has managed to confound his attempts at fame.  It actually gets pretty creepy at the end, as the writer threatens Holmes with destruction unles he goes to see the play:

 

“I would rather melt into air,” replied Holmes, proudly taking another chair. “But I can tell you why the public don’t go to your piece without sitting the thing out myself.”

“Why?”

“Because,” replied Holmes calmly, “they prefer to stay away.”

A dead silence followed that extraordinary remark. For a moment the two intruders gazed with awe upon the man who had unravelled their mystery so wonderfully. Then drawing their knives —

Holmes grew less and less, until nothing was left save a ring of smoke which slowly circled to the ceiling.

The last words of great men are often noteworthy. These were the last words of Sherlock Holmes: “Fool, fool! I have kept you in luxury for years. By my help you have ridden extensively in cabs, where no author was ever seen before. Henceforth you will ride in buses!”

The brute sunk into a chair aghast.

The other author did not turn a hair.

Plenty of other pastiches and parodies followed this one, and the Sherlockian genre is alive and well today, as witnessed by the sheer number of Holmesian references on our own shelves.  Here are just a few titles to get you into the spirit of things.  But, you know, we also have the originals.  Just so you know….

A Study in Brimstone: I will admit, it takes a lot to get me to laugh at a book, and even more to get me to laugh at a parody, especially if it is a parody of something as sacred to me as Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson.  But G.S. Denning’s new book had me giggling so loudly that I may have frightened another reader (for which, hearty apologies).  This book may not be for everyone, but if you are one of those good people who have read Doyle’s stories time and again, have passages inscribed on your heart, and who roll your eyes when someone uses the word “Elementary” inappropriately, then this book is comedic gem.  Whereas Sherlock Holmes is a genuis, Warlock Holmes is a rather hopeless, hapless git, whose only use is being a beacon for dark magic, demons, and other nasty supernatural entities.  If it weren’t for his stalwart companion, Watson, he would probably be in prison–actually, one of my favorite aspects of this book is how much credit it gives to Watson throughout for helping Holmes survive in the real world.  I know this won’t be everyone’s brand of humor, but it was absolutely mine.  And I hope it’s yours, so I have someone with whom I can giggle.

 A Study in Charlotte: This teen novel is set in a Connecticut boarding school, where two students named Holmes and Watson set about solving a murder mystery.  You know what makes it great?  Holmes is a young woman named Charlotte.  Charlotte has all of Holmes’ observational skills, gifts for math and science, and anti-social tendencies towards rudeness.  Which is simply sensational, not only because of the somewhat problematic way in which woman are treated in the original Holmes works, but because those problematic assumptions are still with us today.  But Charlotte is a gem of a character, with strength and nerve and akwardness aplenty, making this book–and the series to come, something that every Holmes fan should check out.

 Mycroft Holmes: It turns out, Holmes fans are a worldwide group, representing not only Library Staff and patrons, but internationally-renown NBA stars, as well!  It turns out that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been a long-time fan of The Great Detective, and used Holmes’ own skills to overcome opponents on the basketball court.  And now that he is retired, he took it upon himself, with help of writer Anna Waterhouse, to write a novel about Sherlock’s big brother, Mycroft.  I love this for so many reasons: first, because anyone who loves Holmes is cool with me.  Second, everyone forgets about Mycroft, who is a fascinating character, even if he only shows up twice in the whole canon.  Third, Abdul-Jabbar takes Mycroft off the shores of England and involves him in a case in Trindad, which not only gives him a terrific back-story, but also involves so much historic detail, real-world issues, economic, racial, and social, that are so often overlooked in our study of Holmes, and fourth, it’s a pretty darn good book, with some great character development, plotting, and atmosphere, making this a super selection for any fellow Holmesian devotee.