Score

What about Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye? Another take on Holmes versus Jack the Ripper, and I thought it was excellent.

Is The Alienist qualified to be in this list? As far as I can remember it had nothing to do with Holmes, at least no direct connection. Have I missed something in the book?

ooh add giant rat of sumatra in the further adventures of Holmes series. it's really good!

Sara wrote: "Is The Alienist qualified to be in this list? As far as I can remember it had nothing to do with Holmes, at least no direct connection. Have I missed something in the book?"

I maintain the database of Sherlockian pastiches, parodies and related fiction. "The Alienist is NOT one of the 9,694 entries in that database. Philip K. Jones

Bre wrote: "ooh add giant rat of sumatra in the further adventures of Holmes series. it's really good!"

To the best of my knowledge, there are more than sixty versions of that tale available, including one featuring The Hardy Boys. Which one is the best? Have you read them all? Philip K. jones

Jacqui wrote: "What about Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye? Another take on Holmes versus Jack the Ripper, and I thought it was excellent."

In my opinion, it is the best representation of Holmes vs Saucy Jack of the more than one hundred available. Philip K. Jones

Just as a note, I have copies of more than 7,500 Sherlockian fiction tales and I have read most of them. My own favorite is "The Case of the Missing Kitten" which Dorothy Sayers wrote for the BBC celebration of Holmes' 100th birthday. It features a very young Lord Peter Wimsey, who takes a very important problem to Mr. Holmes. In so far as I know, it is only available in her book, "Sayers on Holmes." Philip K. Jones

As a final note: I am an active reviewer of Sherlockian fiction. I have posted and/or published reviews of well over 100 items of Sherlockian fiction and I do not feel I can maintain my credibility as a reviewer if I rank items on such a list as this. Many of my reviews of these books are posted on Amazon.com, Alibris and Barnes and Noble and you are welcome to read my appraisals on those websites.

Philip K. Jones, An Ill-dressed Vagabond.

Sara wrote: "Is The Alienist qualified to be in this list? As far as I can remember it had nothing to do with Holmes, at least no direct connection. Have I missed something in the book?"

I agree. I don't recall The Alienist having anything to do with Holmes.

See Message #2 and my reply. His only Sherlockian book is "The Italian Secretary," which is actually quite good, except that it allows ghosts.

Quite right Philip: no ghosts need apply. Except they do slip in now and then. I had three of the tricksy beggars infest a short story of mine.

Here's one that I'm going to track down :

Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" is not a Holmes novel.

David Stuart Davies' "The Veiled Detective" is listed twice.

"The Alienist" is mistakenly on the list because its author, Caleb Carr, also wrote "The Italian Secretary", which does belong on the list.