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Elementary - Sherlock Holmes Stars Mystery Booklist
Page Modified: June 1, 2007
Fiction (all genres) featuring Sherlockian characters or Arthur Conan Doyle.
A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically by author. Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.
Holmes
- Arthur and George
Author: Barnes, Julian
Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 030726310x Date: 2006
Kirkus
LJ
PW
Booklist
A masterful novel about low crime and high spirituality, guilt and innocence, identity, nationality and race, this tale is a profound and witty meditation on the fateful differences between what is believed, what is known, and what can be proven. Two men's lives become interwoven and each becomes the other's salvation.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 1.21.06 - The Haunting of Torre Abbey
Author: Bugge, Carole
Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312245572 Date: 2000
Kirkus
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson abandon their usual methods to find a murderer at Torre Abbey, a 12th-century monastery in Devon with a long history of hauntings.
- A Slight Trick of the Mind
Author: Cullin, Mitch
Publisher: Doubleday $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385513283 Date: 2005
PW
Cullin goes behind Sherlock Holmes's cool, unflappable surface to reveal for the first time the inner world of an obsessively private man. Cullin weaves together Holmes's hidden past and private struggles to transform him into an ordinary man, confronting and acquiescing to emotions he's resisted his entire life.
Updated 2.14.05 - Holmes on the Range

Author: Hockensmith, Steve
Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312347804 Date: 2006
LJ
PW
Booklist
Somewhere due west of Deadwood, a pair of unlikely cowboy sleuths investigate murder just like their hero, Sherlock Holmes, who they come to know by scouring "Harper's Weekly" for the detective stories.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Cross Genres
Updated 11.7.05 - The Game
Author: King, Laurie R.
Publisher: Bantam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0553801945 Date: 2004
Booklist
PW
From the award-winning author of Justice Hall and Folly comes a new novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.
Updated 1.26.04 - Justice Hall
Author: King, Laurie R.
Publisher: Bantam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0553111132 Date: 2002
PW
The sixth episode in King's novels that celebrates and reinvents Mary Russell and her famous spouse Sherlock Holmes.
Updated 2/18/02 - The Moor: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and
Sherlock Holmes
Author: King, Laurie R.
Publisher: St Martin's Price: $23.95 ISBN: 03121694345 Date: 1998
Kirkus
BL
When Mary Russell is summoned by her partner and husband Sherlock Holmes to the scene of his most celebrated case, that of the Hound of the Baskervilles, there is more to the matter than a phantom hound. Sightings of a spectral coach carrying a long-dead noblewoman over the moonlit moor have heralded a corpse surrounded by oversized paw prints. As Russell and Holmes anticipate, a rational explanation lies beneath the supernatural events--but one far darker than they ever imagined.
- A Letter of Mary
Author: King, Laurie R.
Publisher: St Martin's List Price: $23.95 ISBN: 0312146701 Date: 1997
PW
From Edgar Award-winning author Laurie R. King, this national bestseller has met unprecedented acclaim from critics as diverse as The New York Times Book Review: " a lively adventure in the very best of intellectual company". The case of an amateur archaeologist whose discoveries in the Holy Land may have resulted in her murder, this novel finds the inimitable duo of Russell and Holmes in superlative form.
- A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Author: King, Laurie R.
Publisher: St Martins $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312135653 Date: 1995
PW
This eagerly awaited sequel to The Beekeeper's Apprentice finds Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes' young apprentice, is about to come into a considerable inheritance, but she still enjoys nighttime prowls through London's grimy streets. There, she encounters an old friend, who introduces Mary to a temple led by an enigmatic woman. Suddenly, Mary's friend suffers a near-fatal accident, or so it seems. Russell and Holmes launch a quiet investigation--one that may bring the newly rich Russell closer to heaven than she would like.
Updated 8.2.04 - The Beekeeper's Apprentice: Or, on the Segregation of the QUeen
Author: King, Laurie R.
Publisher: St Martins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312104235 Date: 1994
Booklist
The spellbinding Mary Russell series continues as Mary and her famous spouse Sherlock Holmes travel to one of Britain's stateliest homes to uncover a secret whose roots reach deep into the very soul of England.
Updated 7.6.04 - The Great Game: A Professor Moriarty
Novel
Author: Kurland, Michael
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 031220891x Date: 2001
PW
A conspiracy of high-level assassinations threatens to destabilize all of Europe in 1891, and only Professor Moriarty stands in the way. Using his agents around the world, Moriarty must outwit his most cunning opponent ever while the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
Updated 7/27/01 - Sherlock in Love
Author: Naslund, Sena Jeter
Publisher: David R. Godine $ 21.95 ISBN: 087929778 Date: 1993
Kirkus
In haunting prose, author Naslund conjures up wintry London and an enchanted Bavaria, where Watson and Holmes search for a missing Stradivarius, track Holmes one true love and navigate Europe while its future hangs in the balance.
Updated 7.26.04 - A Samba for Sherlock
Author: Soares, Jo
Publisher: Pantheon List Price: $23 ISBN: 0679400656 Date: 1997
BL
Sherlock Holmes is summoned from London to Rio in 1886 to investigate the theft of a Stradivarius violin - a gift from the Emperor of Brazil to his favorite lady friend. A bestseller in Brazil, and published to wide acclaim in Europe, this brilliant literary thriller is now poised to capture the imagination of American readers.
- The Man from Beyond
Author: Brownstein, Gabriel
Publisher: Norton $ 23.95 ISBN: 0393051528 Date: 2005
Booklist
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle arrives in New York on a spiritualist crusade, defending the powers of the mysterious medium Margery. His good friend Harry Houdini is a skeptic, and when Doyle claims Margery's powers are superior to Houdini's, the magician goes on the attack.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars | Magic & Magicians | Spiritualist Stars
Updated 8.15.05 - The Patient's Eyes
Author: Pirie, David
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312290950 Date: 2002
Booklist
PW
This compelling new Victorian mystery reveals the untold story behind the creation of the world's most celebrated detective: Sherlock Holmes.
Updated 5/5/02 - The Problem of the Missing Miss
Author: Rogow, Roberta
Publisher: St. Martin's List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0312185537 Date: 1998
PW
Kirkus
When the daughter of a lord is kidnapped, the unlikely pair of Charles (aka Lewis Carroll) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle join forces to save her. This first novel by a children's librarian makes wonderful use of the two 19th century British authors and gives us a good story enhanced by the quirky characters of the two famous literary men.
From Murder at the Flatiron Building
Suggested Reading: Sherlockian Stars | Debuts | Author Author
- Escapade
Author: Satterthwait, Walter
Publisher: St Martins $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312130686 Date: 1995
Kirkus
It's the summer of 1921. At a weekend party in an English country manor, the discovery of a dead body in a locked room pits the minds of a brilliant escape artist and a famous detective novelist against that of a fiendishly clever murderer. Will an American private eye beat two 20th century heroes to the punch and find the killer--before he finds them? Martin's Press.
Updated 7.26.04
Doyle:
For All Ages
- The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery

Author: Springer, Nancy
Publisher: Philomel $ 10.99 ISBN: 0399243046 Date: 2006
Booklist
Kirkus
A new series featuring Sherlock Holmes' much-younger sister Enola begins. When her mother disappears, Enola is determined to find her and sets out to the heart of London. There Enola becomes involved in the kidnapping of a young marquess.
Ages: 9-12 Category: Fiction | Mystery | Action & Adventure
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