The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (George Newnes, 1905); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (ABC, 2017)
Stephen Fry takes seriously the task of voicing Conan Doyle’s stories, yet with faint echoes of his own comedic characters seeping through (in contrast sufficient to add further gravitas to the great detective). Sherlock Holmes resumes practice post-Reichenbach, as superior as ever.
Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries
by John Taylor; audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch (AudioGO, 2010)
Although contrived in places, these four Sherlock Holmes pastiches are of sufficient quality that they feel like original Conan Doyle stories. Benedict Cumberbatch, at the time having just concluded series one of Sherlock, narrates from Watson’s perspective without unduly distracting the listener.
The Bone is Pointed
by Arthur W. Upfield (Angus & Robertson, 1938); audiobook read by Peter Hosking (Bolinda, 2010)
This mystery doesn’t take much solving, but neither did many of Arthur Conan Doyle’s. As with Sherlock Holmes, it is the character of half-caste Aboriginal detective Napoleon Bonaparte that bewitches the reader, plus in this case Upfield’s vivid descriptions of outback Australia.
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle (John Murray, 1927); audiobook read by Derek Jacobi (Bolinda, 2015)
Derek Jacobi proves a narrator par excellence in bringing to life cases from late in the career of Sherlock Holmes; but then, that most enduringly beloved detective has always excelled as much from good delivery as from ingenuity or complexity of mystery.
The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, M.D.
by Nicholas Meyer (E. P. Dutton, 1976)
Unlike so many of the wannabe Sherlock Holmes writers now unleashed upon the world, Meyer captured much of Arthur Conan Doyle’s tone and style, his pastiche cheapened only by an unseemly predilection for shoehorning Holmes and Watson into meeting famous historical personages.
Sherlock Holmes: His Last Bow
by Arthur Conan Doyle (John Murray, 1917); audiobook read by Derek Jacobi (BBC, 2010)
There are few more beguiling characters in literature than Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, the great detective here (as ever) charming with his interpretation of clues beyond the reader’s access, in narratives no writer today would dare submit. The feat is most singular.
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The White Worm
by Sam Siciliano (Titan, 2016)
With the moratorium lifted and a massive readership in waiting, wannabe Sherlock Holmes writers the world over are trying to legitimise their fan fiction. Sadly, The White Worm reads nothing like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in terms of style, content or characterisation.
Sherlock, Series 3
by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (BBC, 2014)
Having cherry-picked the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories, Gatiss and Moffat in series three give themselves even more latitude for creative adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s material, scripting three adventures that rely very much on the telling. Freeman and Cumberbatch remain resplendent.
Sherlock, Season 1
(BBC, 2010)
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman combine brilliantly in this dark, funny, fast-moving and at times stylistically surreal modernisation of Sherlock Holmes. Perfectly cast and ingeniously scripted in deference to its feature-length format, this is easily some of the best television ever made.
Murder Rooms (The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes)
by David Pirie (BBC, 2000-2001)
This cleverly written historical drama depicts a young Arthur Conan Doyle playing Watson to nascent Holmes figure Dr Joseph Bell (Doyle’s real-life tutor at Edinburgh University). Replete with Holmes-esque observational deductions, the feature-length mysteries are intriguing… but moreish at only six episodes.