|summary=Victorian detective novels set in Britain are fairly common, and some of the most well-known and popular crime series fall into this category. The Murdoch stories, however, come from a different angle, being placed (for the most part) in Canada, with its snowy wastes, its logging camps and pioneering spirit. Loyalty to the Queen is as ardent here as back home in 'the old country', but there is a rawness and a sense of space to these novels which is due in large part to their setting.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689878</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Charles Dickens
|title=The Mystery of Edwin Drood
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=
If you have never come across 'Drood' before, there are certain significant factors which make this a 'must read'. It is Dickens' last work, and he died without completing it. Given that this is a detective story, one of the very first in that tradition, it is doubly intriguing, because although we are clearly being fed clues and hints throughout, at the point where the text ends we aren't even fully sure even if a crime has been committed. So as the basis for endless speculation about what really happens this novel could hardly be bettered. We certainly have potential villains and victims, but we also have a number of likely red herrings; complex threads of romantic interest, but again it is by no means clear exactly which way these will resolve; and a shadowy detective figure, whose speculations certainly have no sense of conclusion.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849904278</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Ruffle
|title=Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Legacy
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Dr Watson is happy to be returning to Lyme Regis, and the woman he loves. He gets more than he bargained for, though, as he is quickly embroiled in a series of killings which bear strange resemblances to some of the cases he and Holmes have been involved in. The great detective joins him, with Lestrade following to assist in their investigations, and the trio realise that they are dealing with a haunting figure from their past...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780921004</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Ruffle
|title=Sherlock Holmes and the Lyme Regis Horror - Expanded 2nd Edition
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Taking a rare holiday on the Dorsetshire coast, Dr Watson manages to persuade Sherlock Holmes to join him. Delighted to spend time with his old friend Godfrey Jacobs, and charmed by widowed boarding house proprietor Mrs Heidler, the good doctor is set for a pleasant and relaxing stay – until mysterious events occur, pointing to an unimaginable evil, and the game’s afoot once more!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780920563</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Margaret Park Bridges
|title=My Dear Watson
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=''My Dear Watson'' is written by the hand of Holmes, Lucy Holmes, whom the world came to know as Sherlock. Yes, the well-loved detective is a female cross-dresser but with good reason. The young Lucy, having watched her mother die tragically, rushed off to live with her brother, Mycroft, at university. In order to stay, undetected (no pun intended), she had to dress as a man. Being slight and gamine, this wasn’t difficult and, after a while, she preferred the lifestyle. Watson hasn’t seen through the disguise, continuing to live with Holmes between marriages as they combat the odds and solve crimes in (or despite) the police.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780920768</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate Williams
|title=The Pleasures of Men
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Catherine Sorgeiul is a woman with burdens. Living with her uncle in London’s East End during the reign of Queen Victoria, hers is a life that seems empty – yet in fact is full of things she is trying to push away.
Filling her days has become a problem, so when a series of grisly murders begins, Catherine is drawn to the mystery of the Man of Crows in a way that seems bound to change her life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241951399</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ben Pastor
|title=Liar Moon
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Near Verona, northern Italy, autumn 1943: Captain Martin Bora is a German military policeman, known to have conducted previous murder investigations. He is asked to look into the death of one Vittorio Lisi, a prominent local fascist who was run over in his wheelchair on his own estate by a car. The number one suspect is his widow Claretta.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738826</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gerry O'Hara
|title=Sherlock Holmes and The Affair In Transylvania
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=I normally start reviews with a brief plot summary, but it seems almost besides the point to do so for a book entitled 'Sherlock Holmes and the Affair in Transylvania'. From those seven words, the reader will have no doubt guessed that this is a Holmes meets Dracula story, and so we may as well move straight on to the burning question – is it any good?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780920369</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=D E Meredith
|title=The Devil's Ribbon
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=In the London of 1858, the Irish are the poorest of the poor, despised and feared by the English. They were forced to emigrate from their fatherland because of the famine which decimated the population, and now the majority of them live in filthy, germ-ridden rookeries. Cholera is killing them off in their hundreds, and blame for their terrible conditions is laid squarely at the feet of their English masters, together with those Irishmen who have so far forgotten their home that they cooperate with the oppressors. And as the hottest summer on record drags on, and the tenth anniversary of the potato blight and its horrific consequences approach, the mood in the slums is ripe for violence and murder.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0312557698</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Thomas Bruce Wheeler
|title=The London of Sherlock Holmes - Over 400 Computer Generated Street Level Photos
|rating=3
|genre=Travel
|summary=Should I trust a book that has a typo on the FRONT cover? Would I purchase a book that practically says, as its first words, the e-book version is better than this paper thing? This, despite setting up very much the wrong impression, is a gateway into the world of Sherlock Holmes - but does, as I say, blatantly show itself up as flawed, while the electronic version could count as a very worthwhile app for the Conan Doyle buff.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780922094</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Andrew Lane
|title=Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle has authorised Andrew Lane to write a series of books about the early years of Sherlock Holmes, and if this book is typical then they made an excellent choice. Through these stories we see the development of the complex and sometimes contradictory aspects of Sherlock's personality, set in the context of the most thrilling adventures and courageous acts of derring-do a young person could desire.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230758509</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anthony Hays
|title=The Killing Way
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Post-Roman invasion and Great Britain shows the signs of a beleagured nation. And straight away Hays gives us an historical flavour - Saxons, Picts and names such as 'Ambrosius Aurelianus' are mentioned early on in the book.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857890050</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Guy Adams
|title=Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=A body is discovered in London. The young gentleman concerned, a Mr Hilary De Montfort, had enjoyed a good life: no money problems for example and as far as anyone can ascertain, no enemies either. The motive is therefore fuzzy at best. The state of his body when it was discovered was bizarre - it looked as if he'd been hurled from a great height, even although he'd been discovered in an open space around Grosvenor Square. And in the words of Dr Watson himself (it is he who narrates in the main) ' ... as varied as our capital might be, it will always be found wanting of mountain ranges.'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857682822</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tracy Revels
|title=Shadowblood: A Novel Of Sherlock Holmes
|rating=5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=For those picking up a Tracy Revels novel for the first time, she writes Sherlock Holmes fiction with the twist that Holmes is a supernatural being, coming from the Shadows. In the hugely enjoyable romp [[Shadowfall: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes by Tracy Revels|Shadowfall]], Watson discovered this, and was plunged headlong into an adventure involving Titania, Spring-Heeled Jack, voodoo, and various other dark and mysterious beings. That one ended with the good doctor losing his memory of the story – but I was always hoping that was merely a temporary measure, and indeed, it’s not long here before he starts to recall Holmes’ true nature.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780920474</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John O'Connell
|title=The Baskerville Legacy: A Novel
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=
1900, and a man on a ship coming back from the Boer War to edit the Daily Express meets one of his heroes in the form of Arthur Conan Doyle. With similar experiences and interests yet different enough to bounce off each other they take up the idea of collaborating on a plot. When they do fix on time to do so, it leads to literary prospects, which lead to a week's research together on Dartmoor, which leads to ''The Hound of the Baskervilles''. But perhaps in a way that only one of them intended.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907595465</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Dicky Neely and Paul R Spiring (Editor)
|title=The Case of the Grave Accusation: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure
|rating=3
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Much in the way that legend says that King Arthur will return when his country needs him, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson have returned because an accusation has been made against their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The charge is that the great man plagiarised ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' from his great friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson – and then went on to commit adultery, blackmail and murder in order to conceal what he had done. Holmes' rooms in Baker Street have not changed a great deal – if one can overlook the addition of a desktop computer and better plumbing – but it's not long before the pair are off to Dartmoor to discover the truth.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218819</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Buchan
|title=The Thirty-nine Steps
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Ask anyone about 'The Thrity-nine Steps' and I guarantee they'll be able to tell you it's a spy story with Richard Hannay at its heart. Most people will be able to tell you how it starts. But when you ask, 'Yes, but what ARE the 39 Steps?' most people will falter.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971985</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tracy Revels
|title=Shadowfall: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=You remember Sherlock Holmes, yes? Deerstalker, pipe, leetle grey cells… (Oh, sorry, that was Poirot, but same kind of deductive ability), naked winged-woman on, or at least floating above, the sofa in Baker Street… wait a minute? Seriously?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218258</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gerard Kelly
|title=The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=I'll spare people the details of Holmes and Watson as crime-solvers – I'm assuming anyone likely to pick this one up is probably familiar with the Victorian duo. This is generally very faithful to the Arthur Conan Doyle originals and the best stories in this set of thirteen sound authentic enough to take their place alongside some of the canon.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218673</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate Workman
|title=Rendezvous at the Populaire : A Novel of Sherlock Holmes
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=After chasing his arch-enemy Moriarty without success on a cold night in November 1882, Sherlock Holmes is left maimed and unable to walk without the use of a cane. Despondent, he decides to give up his career as a detective – but is talked into taking an extra special case, as a Madame Giry comes across the Channel to beg his help with the mysterious 'ghost' which is terrorising the Opera Populaire…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218703</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Carole Bugge
|title=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Star of India
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=A woman with a distinguished scent about her appears flustered at a concert recital. A famous landlady gets kidnapped while on an innocent holiday to the west country. A malformed, brilliant modern-day alchemist gets murdered. There is only one person, who famously went over a certain Alpine waterfall, who could piece all this and more into a threat to the Royalty and Empire itself. But there is also only one person, who famously seemed to have stayed dead in going over the same Alpine waterfall, with the strength of mind to put the whole game into play.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857681214</amazonuk>
}}
