The Game Is Afoot: Parodies, Pastiches and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes

by Marvin Kaye

This long awaited volume finally brings to light several cases of the world's most renowned detective originally suppressed to avoid causing scandal and embarrassment to the Crown, to public figures, or to Sherlock Holmes himself. Now, finally, the truth is revealed about Holmes' exploits involving such figures as Ida Tarbell, Consuelo Vanderbilt, P.G. Wodehouse, and James McNeil Whistler. Related by diverse hands, including Watson, Inspector Lestrade, and Holmes himself, detailing untold incidents involving the Titanic, Holmes' rematch with Irene Adler, the childhoods of both Holmes and Watson, and one unfortunate result of Holmes' facility with disguise, this cornucopia of Sherlockiana will delight fans young and not-so-young.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Mystery Thriller

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Marvin Nathan Kaye was an American mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror author, anthologist, and editor. He was also a magician and theater actor. Kaye was a World Fantasy Award winner and served as co-publisher and editor of Weird Tales Magazine.

Reviews

[Jennifer Petkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to relate how much I enjoyed The Game is Afoot: Parodies, Pastiches and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Marvin Kaye. This 1994 anthology is packed with Holmes pastiches and analyses that I have to imagine was well received when it was released in the early days of the world wide web.

Back in those stone tablet days, it might be difficult, unless you were a Baker Street Irregular or belonged to a scion society or subscribed to the Baker Street Journal, to find all the obscure pastiches contained in this anthology. A casual Sherlockian might have read The Adventure of the Circular Room by August Derleth, but how many people would know Sherlock Holmes Umpires Baseball, written anonymously and published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1906.

Of course, some of the early pastiches aren’t very good, but the good ones leaven the bad and all are short. Well known contributors include Derleth previously mentioned, Craig Shaw Gardner, John Dickson Carr, Anthony Boucher, Vincent Starrett and Manly Wade Wellman. Slightly more unusual contributors include O. Henry, Daniel Pinkwater, ZaSu Pitts (ZaSu Pitts!) and even Arthur Conan Doyle himself.

A few of the ponderings were ponderous and unfortunately this includes Kaye’s own contribution, The Histrionic Holmes, which examines Holmes’ likely theatrical background. It’s an interesting take, just a bit long and probably didn’t need to be quite as exhaustive. I did appreciate his listing of the six “performances” of Doctor Watson; and I thought Kaye’s speculation about one of Holmes’ greatest performances, which links him to Doyle’s Professor Challenger story The Lost World, to be inspired.

I heartily recommend adding this book to your collection. It’s incredible value for money, even though it does mean squinting your eyes at night—the type is small to contain so many interesting stories. My husband bought this for me at The Hermitage Book Shop in Denver, but you can still order it from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this slowly over a fairly long period of time. The parodies and pastiches were fantastic. The ponderings were a bit much for me. I love most anything Holmesian from a story perspective. When people start to dissect a specific throw away line of Arthur Conan Doyle's, spending innumerable hours researching what it might mean, it all becomes a bit much for me. In other words, I imagine that there are two types of Sherlock Holmes fans; the slightly weird and the all too weird.

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the true fan of Sherlock in all guises. The various authors take the famous character through new tales, some faithful to the Conan Doyle character and others that are a stretch. The research chapters almost make Sherlock real.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide variety of pastiches of all sorts, including one set in Oz, and other writings about Holmes. An enjoyable way to revisit Baker Street and follow Holmes and Watson on extra-canonical adventures.

[Tinquerbelle]

1) Sherlock Holmes; Steele, Frederic Dorr
2) The Recollections of Captain Wilkie; Doyle, Arthur Conan
3) The Original of Sherlock Holmes; Jones, Dr. Harold Emery
4) Mr. Sherlock Holmes; Bell, Dr. Joseph
5) The Singular Adventure of the Unexpected Doorscraper; Grahame, Kenneth
6) The Adventure of the Two Collaborators; Barrie, James M.
7) The Mystery of Pinkham's Diamond Stud; Bangs, John Kendrick
8) The Umbrosa Burglary; Lehmann, R.C.
9) A La Sherlock Holmes; Loomis, Charles
10) The Sign of the "400"; Munkittrick, R.K.
11) The Adventure of the Clothes-Line; Wells, Carolyn
12) Sherlock Holmes Umpires Baseball; anonymous
13) The Adventure of the Circular Room; Derleth, August
14) The Adventure of the Marked Man; Palmer, Stuart
15) The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts; Roberts, S.C.
16) The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet; Starrett, Vincent
17) The Enchanted Garden; Heard, H.F.
18) But Our Hero Was not Dead; Wellman, Manly Wade
19) Sherlock Holmes and the Drood Mystery; Pearson, Edmund
20) In the Island of Uffa; Anderson, Poul
21) The Tibetan Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; Russell, Amanda
22) The Histrionic Holmes; Kaye, Marvin
23) How Holmes Came to Play the Violin; Barzun, Jacques
24) The Really Final Solution; Pollota, Nick
25) The Unmasking of Sherlock Holmes; Chapman, Arthur
26) The Succored Beauty; Kahn, William B.
27) The Adventure of the Second Swag; Sharp, Luke
28) An Irreducible Detective Story; Leacock, Stephen
29) The Adventures of Shamrock Jones; O. Henry
30) The Stolen Cigar Case; Harte, Bret
31) A Letter from Mycroft Holmes; White, Jon
32) The Murder of Conan Doyle; Russell, Ray
33) The Adventure of the Conk-Singleton Papers; Carr, John Dickson
34) Journal of a Ghurka Physician; Pinkwater; Capt. Daniel M.
35) The Struldberg Reaction; Sutherland, JOhn
36) The Moriarty Gambit; Leiber, Fritz
37) The Adventure of the Missing Countess; Koons, Jon
38) The Gibraltar Letter: Benady, Sam
39) The Strange Case of the Tongue-Tied Tenor; Bugge, Carole
40) The Problem of the Purple Maculas; Iraldi, James C.
41) Our American Cousins; Rogow, Roberta
42) The Field Bazaar; Doyle, Arthur Conan
43) Sussex Interview; Stone, P.M.
44) From the Diary of Sherlock Holmes; Baring, Maurice
45) Mrs. Hudson Speaks; Pitts, ZaSu
46) The Adventure of the Bogle-Wolf; Boucher, Anthony
47) Sherlock Holmes in Oz; Berman, Ruth
48) The Sinister Cheesecake; Gardner, Craig Shaw
49) The Dilemma of the Distressed Savoyard; Sellars, Crighton
50) The Adventure of the Death-Fetch; Schweitzer, Darrell
51) The Theft of the Persian Slipper; Hoch, Edward D.
52) The Dynamics of an Asteroid; Bloch, Robert
53) "Daydream"; Rathbone, Basil

[Ogden Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the stories are just as good as the original Conan Doyle short stories. The parodies are a little bit hit and miss with some of them pretty awful. Overall, a fun collection.

[Nathan Woll · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. I read it when I was younger, and I remember liking it. Maybe I liked Sherlock Holmes more back then.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories with the Great Detective reimagined as an ancient Egyptian woman scribe, some alien creatures, a hipster, and more. Some good and some not so good. I skipped the science fiction ones.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am, admittedly, a geek. I have quite a few geek tendencies buried within. Some people see more of them than others. This book, however, make me feel even geekier than I actually am. And here's the secret - I loved every minute of it! I have read all of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories and enjoyed them. I'm absolutely in love with the new BBC series. I do not know all the detailed trivia and don't catch every reference in popular culture but I have probably a greater interest than some. Reading this collection opened my eyes to a world of people who study Holmes, research him, write scholarly publications about him. It is fascinating and engaging and fun. I like that my chosen profession casts a bit of a wider net but pretending to play in the sandbox with these folks for a few weeks has been lots of fun.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is fascinating book. I stumbled across this book not really knowing what it was. However as soon as I picked it up and read the back I knew I had found something different. This book is a collection of, as the title says "parodies, pastiches and pondering" but what it really means are, facts and comments as well as works of fiction by and about Conan Doyle and his creation Sherlock Holmes.
The book takes you on a varied route through the life and times of both the author and the character all the way up to modern times and what influences and interpretations there have been even up to modern cinema (although the latest versions have been omitted since the revival of Sherlock Holmes is still going on today).
I would recommend this book for to both fan and initiate since there is something here for everyone although its not something you can plough through in one go.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Editor Marvin Kaye writes in The Game is Afoot that he thinks Jeremy Brett's interpretation of Sherlock Holmes is "an outrage and an abomination." Well, I think The Game is Afoot is an outrage and an abomination to Sherlock Holmes fans -- and not just because of the unprovoked slight on Brett.



The book is 512 pages long with only about 50 pages worth the read. The rest is just noise. The book is in tiny print (ouch) and grouped oddly. Stories with the same plots are placed one right after the other. It also includes the complete text of the Editor's own self-published book (oh, please.) After slogging through The Game is Afoot even the most hard-core Holmes fan will become thoroughly sick and tired of Sherlock Holmes.

[Leelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only OK. The parodies were the worst part. This book is really for the SUPER-SERIOUS Sherlock homes fan. Which I am not. I enjoy the books and I enjoy the movies and TV shows. But I am not really so concerned with the minutia that seems to fascinate the author and editor here. BUt is all of that stuff floats your boat? This is definitely the book for you.

[Amy Craddock · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of bizarre stories but the one by Basil Rathbone is worth the price of the book!

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

a collection of stories and remakes of old sherlock holmes stories.