Books News

Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels, introductions from BBC series Gatiss and Moffat

By April MacIntyre May 2, 2012, 4:33 GMT

The place is London, the year, 2010. Army doctor John Watson, just home from the Afghanistan war is about to meet someone who will profoundly change the course of his life. That person is the brilliant sociopathic Sherlock Holmes.  A modern re-imagining of a classic literary character. ...more

BBC America brings season 2 of "Sherlock" back to the smallscreen, and Random House and BBC have delivered new books to introduce a new generation to the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was born in Edinburgh in 1859.

He trained as a doctor at Edinburgh University and it was during this time that he witnessed methods of diagnosis that would later inspire Sherlock Holmes' uncanny methods of deduction.

A Study in Scarlet was Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, published in 1887, but it was The Sign of Four, published in 1890, that catapulted him to worldwide fame.

From 1891 he wrote short stories about the immortal detective for The Strand magazine. He attempted to kill off Sherlock Holmes in 1893, in The Final Problem, but was forced to revive him after thousands of complaints.

Conan Doyle died in 1930 having written two more Sherlock Holmes novels, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear, both serialized in The Strand, and a total of 56 short stories.

Now comes Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, with an introduction by "Sherlock" creator Steven Moffat.
 
The hit BBC series Sherlock offers a fresh, contemporary take on the classic Arthur Conan Doyle stories.  The pilot episode took as its inspiration the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet -- and this new edition of Conan Doyle's novel will allow Sherlock fans to discover, or re-discover, the power of that classic story.
 
A Study in Scarlet
Sherlock: A Study in Scarlet Paperback ISBN: 9781849903660 Published: 01/11/2011 Imprint: BBC Books Extent: 224 pages

The hit BBC series Sherlock offers a fresh, contemporary take on the classic Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and has helped introduce a whole new generation of fans to the legendary detective. The pilot episode took as its inspiration the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet - and this new edition of Conan Doyle's novel will allow Sherlock fans to discover, or re-discover, the power of that classic story. A Study in Scarlet is the genre-defining work with which popular crime fiction was born. A potent mix of serial murder, suspense, cryptic clues, red herrings and revenge, the novel introduces us to the world-famous characters of Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson and Inspector Lestrade and sees Sherlock and Dr Watson meet and join forces for the first time as they track a mysterious killer that stalks London's streets.In addition to the original text, this edition also has an introduction by Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, who tells how it inspired the script for his episode.
 
In addition to the original text, this edition also has an introduction by Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, who tells how it inspired the script for his episode.

Hound of the Baskervilles:
 
In this classic novel first published in The Strand in 1901, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are called to the haunting and beautiful moors of Dartmoor and the home of the Baskerville family, who seem to have fallen victim to a family curse. A terrifying specter in the shape of a great hound was once said to have hunted an ancestor across the moors, and the recent, mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville suggests that the hound has returned. But is this really a supernatural curse or is a much more dastardly and earthly plot afoot? Sherlock and Dr Watson must solve the riddle of the hound before another murder is committed.
 
The Sign of Four:
Sherlock and Dr Watson receive a visit from Mary Morsten, who offers up a particularly cryptic puzzle for them to solve. Her father went missing six years ago, and since then, she has received a pearl for every year he has not reappeared. Now, the treasure's sender has requested a meeting, and Mary would like Sherlock and Watson to accompany her. Finding the mystery benefactor is only the start of this adventure that puts Sherlock and Watson hot on the trail of cold-blooded killers and thieves—and a lost Indian fortune.tie-in edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock Holmes novel, with a new introduction from the team behind the hit BBC series
Sherlock: Sign of Four Paperback ISBN: 9781849904049 Published: 01/04/2012 Imprint: BBC Books Extent: 224 pages Subject: Crime & mystery $19.95 RRP Buy Now
 
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's second collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories, first published in 1894, includes the infamous "The Final Problem"—one of the author's favorite Sherlock tales and the detective's deadliest challenge. In this ultimate thriller, Sherlock meets his match: the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty. As Moriarty pushes Sherlock to his intellectual limits, this game of cat and mouse tests not only their wits, but also their mortality.