At this festive season of the year, what can give better cheer to a mystery lover than reflection on the myriad new incarnations of Sherlock Holmes to which we’ve been privy in 2018? Here’s to the Great Detective and the Good Doctor, and to all the creators who keep bringing us such marvelous new tales. Following is an enthusiastic, but by no means exhaustive, tribute to some of the fresh material for which we’re deeply thankful.
Miss Sherlock Takes Tokyo
As much as we enjoy the strong female characters bountifully scattered throughout the canon, there are no limitations when it comes to reimagining our heroes, and I was particularly thrilled by HBO Asia and Hulu Japan’s decision to produce a new series starring Yuko Takeuchi as Sherlock Holmes (Sara Shelly Fubata), and Shihori Kanjiya as Dr. Watson (Dr. Wato Tachibana). The sleek production design is a post-BBC Sherlock thing of beauty, and modern-day Tokyo looks as gorgeous as Victorian London ever did. All things Sherlockian are popular in Japan (I have very fond memories of Sherlock Hound, for example), and it’s a particular joy to see the passion they put into this sharp, funny, clever series.
A Mission to Bring Every Gnome Home
The sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet was released in March to the tune of $90 million in gross sales and was also notable for being the first completely animated film from Paramount Animation. Gnomes are being kidnapped by a pie mascot named Moriarty, and it’s up to Sherlock Gnomes and Gnome Watson to save the day. As a member of the Baker Street Babes podcast, I stand by our motto that “all Holmes is good Holmes,” and if we need to amend that to “all gnomes are good gnomes,” I’m on board. It was a charming movie with a star-studded cast including James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, and Johnny Depp.
What’s a Watson Without His Holmes?
Brittany Cavallaro tapped into something electric with gender-swapped YA favorite A Study in Charlotte, and 2018 saw the continuation of her consistently excellent Charlotte Holmes series with The Case for Jamie. While our two alarmingly angsty and arresting protagonists spend much of this novel separately navel-gazing, the prose is delicious and the adventure compelling. We can chalk this one up to the equivalent of Harry Potter’s “what if I just spent all of this school year brooding” installment, and raptly look forward to further tales of Charlotte and Jaime.
2018 Edgar Awards Honors
The Sherlockian community kicked all manner of tail at the annual black-tie awards ceremony at the Grand Hyatt hosted by Mystery Writers of America (as per usual, I was there, and coated in a thick layer of sequins). Members of the Baker Street Irregulars were represented in multiple categories. SJ Rozan was nominated for “Chin Yong-Yun Stays Home” in the Best Short Story category; Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation by Brad Ricca was up for Best Fact Crime; and Best Critical/Biographical boasted two of our merry band, Michael Sims for Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes, and Mattias Bostrom for From Holmes to Sherlock: the Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon.
Family Guy for the Win
Nothing makes us prouder than Sherlock Holmes turning up in unlikely pop culture locales, and the March 25th episode of Family Guy was a treat, starring Stewie as Holmes and Brian as Watson. “I Rathboned someone’s Cumberbatch” are not words we ever expected to hear in a row, I for one am also a hundred percent onboard for a steampunk prostitute disguise, and references to the classic 1940s films abounded.
Ten Men A-Dancing
The tale of the Cubitt family and the sinister coded dancing figures that haunt their marriage (“The Adventure of the Dancing Men”) is a classic, one that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ranked at #3 in his list of favorites, and which appears consistently in the top ten in reader rankings. The original manuscript came up for auction on April 18th and sold for a staggering but eminently worthwhile $312,500 at Heritage Auctions. I am confident that it was purchased as a Christmas gift for me, since the name of the winning bidder was not disclosed, and I want to thank my husband in advance for buying me such a meaningful holiday gift.
Doyle and the George Edalji Case
I was thrilled to attend the book launch this year at the appropriately opulent Oscar Wilde bar here in Manhattan for Margalit Fox’s Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer. Fox has for years been a contributor to The New York Times, and she does a phenomenal job exploring Doyle’s obsession with the Oscar Slater case, in which an immigrant Jew was sentenced to excruciating hard labor for a grisly murder he could not possibly have committed. Doyle eventually freed Slater by using meticulously Sherlockian methods, and this fine volume was named one of USA Today’s “five new books you don’t want to miss!”
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Read an excerpt from Margalit Fox’s Conan Doyle for the Defense on CrimeReads
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Elementary, My Dear Joan
It’s tough to believe that CBS’s excellent procedural drama Elementary headed into its sixth season this year, but Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu keep churning out consistently quality material for our insatiable Sherlockian appetites. This season ramped up the drama with Holmes recovering from post-concussion syndrome, and the death of his elder brother Mycroft Holmes.
In Memoriam, Musical Category
Credit where it’s due, I am a forgetful soul and have been referencing the always outstanding blog/podcast I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere as I make this list, to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. But if it had not been for Irregular extraordinaire Scott Monty’s post back in November on that site, I would not have been aware of the passing of music legend Melvin Ragin, AKA “Wah Wah Watson,” despite being a fan of his stylings. Nicknamed for his extensive use of the wah wah pedal when playing session guitar with the likes of The Temptations, Gladys Knight, The Jackson 5, and The Supremes, Watson’s 1976 solo album pictured him shirtless, in a gold necklace, deerstalker and smoking a meerschaum—a fashion statement I had not previously witnessed, and one which I now enthusiastically endorse.
Sherlockiana, Done James Bond Style
HB Lyle’s debut novel The Irregular, starring Baker Street Irregular Wiggins as a former soldier turned secret agent, was called “a twist-filled adventure” by the Wall Street Journal, and I can personally vouch for this being true. Its sequel, The Red Ribbon, was equally well-reviewed and was named a Financial Times thriller of the year in 2018. While you can read it as a stand-alone, I would recommend going whole hog on this one and springing for both, because Lyle’s reimagining of a streetwise urchin trained by none other than Sherlock Holmes and growing up to become deft at espionage is not only poignant but impeccably researched.
Debuts to Die For
It’s not often that a single book jacket can boast blurbs from the likes of Mary Roach, Matthew Pearl, and Laurie R. King all at once, but Bradley Harper’s A Knife in the Fog does exactly that. A fictional foray into the notion that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Bell took a hiatus in order to assist police during the Jack the Ripper murders, this is not your typical Saucy Jack fare. Outstanding female characters, unflinching detail, and lyrical prose make this novel a memorable addition to the canon of Holmes vs. Ripper fiction.
Mycroft, This Time With Sherlock
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and screenwriter Anna Waterhouse penned another phenomenal novel starring Mycroft Holmes and his friend Cyrus Douglas, and the release of Mycroft and Sherlock was greeted with gratifying enthusiasm from the community at large. Focusing again on disenfranchised minorities and the exploitation of children, Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse continue to raise the bar for historical fiction that aims to make a point while it entertains. It’s especially meaningful to witness a youthful Sherlock beginning to experiment with drugs, and an increasingly fraught Mycroft struggling to protect his seven years younger brother.
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Read Lyndsay Faye’s interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabar on CrimeReads.
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The Stepbrothers Take on Baker Street
And finally, longtime friends and co-stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are starring as Holmes and Watson respectively in the aptly named Holmes and Watson, an event that has caused some polarization in the Sherlockian community. I have not yet seen the film, but that’s not for lack of eagerness, as a fan of both actors, and as a person who finds the image of Dr. Watson shooting at a swarm of angry bees hilarious. While I don’t expect universally rave reviews (especially from folks who don’t enjoy Ferrell’s humor), I do expect two hours of buttery, unbridled cinematic joy for myself and my compadres. The holder of the world’s only advanced degree in Sherlock Holmes film studies, Dr. Ashley Polasek, tweeted on December 19th, “There seems a remarkable number of people who do not realize that it is, in fact, possible to elect not to see a film without making a giant joyless spectacle of yourself every single time the thing is mentioned. #HolmesandWatson.” Too true, Dr. Polasek, and any film that casts Hugh Laurie as Mycroft Holmes has my vote sight unseen.
