May 22, 1859: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is born.

So many options here!

We could go with characters who LOVE Sherlock Holmes, like Ingrid from Peter Abrahams' Echo Falls books, or Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time or Colin Fischer from er, Colin Fischer.

Or we could go with books in which Doyle appears/is mentioned, like Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist* or the one where he teams up with Oscar Wilde to solve a mystery (I haven't read it, but have been meaning to for ages), or the series where he works with Charles Dodgson to solve mysteries. (<--I have no idea if those are any good, but I totally just ordered the first one, because HELLO, HOW COULD I BE EXPECTED TO RESIST THAT TEAM?)

Or one of the versions of Young Sherlock Holmes, like the one with the Bieber hair or the Shane Peacock series (which I haven't tried yet... should I?). Or Old Sherlock Holmes, as in the fabulous Mary Russell books.

Or books his brother, Mycroft, appears in, like the Thursday Next books (LOVE the new cover on The Eyre Affair), or the Quinn Fawcett ones that I haven't tried. Or Nancy Springer's series about their pretend sister, Enola. 

BUT. As is probably evident by the image to the right, I'm going with Neil Gaiman's story 'A Study in Emerald', which appears in Fragile Things:

A Sherlock Holmes story set in the world of H. P. Lovecraft. Loved it so much I've been babbling about it to everyone who will listen regardless of whether they A) are interested or B) know who H. P. Lovecraft is. Loved it so much I immediately ILLed Shadows over Baker Street, the collection it originally appeared in. I'm waiting with bated breath. (Or I would be, if I wasn't busy obsessively playing Okami.)

WHEW.

So, I'm sure I missed your favorite: tell me all about it in the comments!

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*OH MY GOD I LOVE THAT BOOK SO MUCH HAVE YOU READ IT WHY NOT GO READ IT I'LL WAIT RIGHT HERE OH MY GOD DIDN'T YOU JUST LOVE IT SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Comments

[Eliza]

Cheers for the Enola Holmes series! They're fun, clever, and well written. What I loved about it (1) though Enola was progressively raised as a feminist, she held views, albeit progressive ones, appropriate for her era and did not spout 21st century ideals; (2) she did not reject/demonize the feminine to make her way. So, so tired of books where the female character is considered "strong" only if she rejects not only traditional female roles/interests/dress - basically takes on traditional male characteristics.

The Explosionist - Your raves about it here and in your linked review have made me want to read it. I just checked and, luckily for me, my library has a copy of it. So, it's been added to my list of books to check out.