The Grand Sherlock Holmes Anthology Has Arrived!

It’s here!  The largest and newest collection of Sherlock Holmes Stories has finally arrived and you can get it at your favorite bookseller.

 60 authors contributed to the 1200 page anthology bound in three hardback volumes. My donated story is titled Blood Brothers and will be found in Volume III:

“Blood Brothers” takes place in 1913, after Holmes is supposedly retired. Of course, we know this is not possible, as was made clear in Sherlock Holmes – The Golden Years, with its five new “post-retirement” stories.

All royalties will go towards renovating Undershaw, the former home of Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle which will also serve as a school for children with learning disabilities. The new owners of the building Stepping Stones are restoring it back to its former glory, including the restoration of Conan Doyle’s study. One of the pledges from Stepping Stones to their Sherlockian supporters is that outside term time they will be making the house accessible to fans as much as possible; allowing them to visit the study and look out the very windows Conan Doyle did when he wrote stories such as The Hound of The Baskervilles.

Undershaw is where Conan Doyle wrote many of the original Sherlock Holmes stories. The building fell into disrepair over the years. Then, in 2009, developers tried to carve up the house for apartments or condos, a determined group of Sherlock Holmes fans fought the plan all the way to the high court. The group won an injunction in the high court. The developer appealed but that was finally quashed.

The anthology project is the brainchild of author David Marcum, who has written several collections of Holmes stories himself including The Papers of Sherlock Holmes. He has enlisted authors from all over the world.

"The response has been incredible," says publisher Steve Emecz. “David insisted all the stories should be new, but traditional in format so they are all set sometime between 1881 and 1929 and feature Holmes and Watson in their original Victorian setting. I don’t think we will ever see a collection on a scale like this again. The authors are so passionate about Undershaw and its new role as a special school, which is why so many have taken part".

The three volumes are available -- separately or together -- at most booksellers. They will look great on your bookshelf.