A rollicking look at popular culture’s most beloved sleuth: “For even the casual fan, the history of this deathless character is fascinating” (The Boston Globe). Today he is the inspiration for fiction adaptations, blockbuster movies, hit television shows, raucous Twitter banter, and thriving subcultures. More than a century after Sherlock Holmes first capered into our world, what is it about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s peculiar creation that continues to fascinate us? Journalist and lifelong Sherlock fan Zach Dundas set out to find the answer. The result is The Great Detective: a history of an idea, a biography of someone who never lived, a tour of the borderland between reality and fiction, and a joyful romp through the world Conan Doyle bequeathed us. In this “wonderful book” (Booklist, starred review), Dundas unearths the inspirations behind Holmes and his indispensable companion, Dr. John Watson; explores how they have been kept alive over the decades by writers, actors, and readers; and visits locales—from the boozy annual New York City gathering of one of the world’s oldest and most exclusive Sherlock Holmes fan societies; to a freezing Devon heath out of The Hound of the Baskervilles; to sunny Pasadena, where Dundas chats with the creators of the smash BBC series Sherlock. Along the way, he discovers the ingredients that have made Holmes go viral—then, now, and as long as the game’s afoot.

A 2017 Agatha Award Nominee! * A Best Children’s Book of the Year Pick for Kids 9 to 12 from Bank Street College! Caroline Carlson, author of the Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates series, returns with The World’s Greatest Detective, a story of crime, tricks, and hilarity for those who know that sometimes it takes a pair of junior sleuths to solve a slippery case. Detectives’ Row is full of talented investigators, but Toby Montrose isn’t one of them. He’s only an assistant at his uncle’s detective agency, and he’s not sure he’s even very good at that. Toby’s friend Ivy is the best sleuth around—or at least she thinks so. They both see their chance to prove themselves when the famed Hugh Abernathy announces a contest to choose the World’s Greatest Detective. But when what was supposed to be a game turns into a real-life murder mystery, can Toby and Ivy crack the case?

These are the last twelve stories Conan Doyle wrote about Holmes and Watson. They reflect the disillusioned world of the 1920s and also include some of the wittiest passages in the series.

Gathers mysteries by Bentley, Charteris, Sayers, Christie, Keating, Collins, Crispin, Chesterton, Innes, Chandler, Simenon, Fraser, James, Queen, and others.

What if Sherlock Holmes Wasn't Alone?Sherlock Holmes -the name immediately brings to mind an image of the great detective sitting in his rooms in 221B Baker street, his fingers steepled before his hawkish nose, his sharp grey eyes focused on the client who has brought a little puzzle for him to solve. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said when one reads the names of the other literary detectives of the time period, sometimes referred to as the rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Sadly, names like Lois Cayley, Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, The Old Man in the Corner, or Dr. Thorndyke are meaningless to all but the most ardent admirers of Victorian and Edwardian mysteries. The Great Detective Universe series hopes to rectify this problem and expand the world of Sherlock Holmes by bringing the consulting detective and his purported rivals into a shared universe, in other words, a universe where not just Holmes and Watson lived but also Carnacki, Father Brown, The Grey Seal, and many other great detectives.Sherlock Holmes and the Great Detectives has Holmes partnering with these other noted sleuths to fight crime and stop master criminals. See Sherlock Holmes partner with: -Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen a.k.a The Thinking Machine-Carnacki, the Ghost Finder-The Grey Seal-Doctor Thorndyke-"The Old Man in the Corner"-Lois Cayley-Father BrownAnd many, many more

The ten Scotland Yard detectives, featured in The Guvnors, are unique. Such a group of intrepid crime-busters will never exist again. They possessed only the most rudimentary education; none had a degree. Intuition and knowledge of their manor counted for more than DNA and databases. They worked tirelessly in the pursuit of criminals, used informants, worked on hunches and grabbed hold of investigations and shook them until every piece of evidence was unearthed. Criminals trembled when these detectives were after them because, once they were nicked, they stayed nicked.The Guvnors covers legends such as Fred Wensley, who nailed strips of bicycle tyres to the soles of his boots when on the look-out for Jack the Ripper. He later formed the Flying Squad and became chief constable of the CID. Fred Sharpe would single-handedly confront forty of the worst racetrack gangsters and tell them to clear off, anyone who refused would collect a punch on the jaw. Sharpe later became head of the Flying Squad, as did Bob Fabian, who was awarded the Kings Police Medal for dismantling an IRA bomb.Bert Wickstead, known as The Gangbuster, literally terrorised the gangs who attempted to fill the void in Londons East End, after the demise of the Kray bothers.This is a book which will delight those who want to know what life was like when The Guvnors and others like them were in charge of law and order and the streets were far safer than they are today.

Everyone can name a famous detective or two. Sam Spade, Hercule Poirot, Columbo; and, of course, the Baker Street gentleman whose renown surpasses all the others. But all of the familiar great detectives are fictional. What about the real world? Haven't any real-life detectives ever demonstrated a little greatness of their own? Indeed they have. Brilliant Deduction reintroduces these figures whose lives were every bit as remarkable as the literary figures who have supplanted them. The forty-niner who accidentally detoured into a half-century career as a crime solver; the famous London P.I. who dazzled Europe with his genius for mysteries, but may have been the biggest mystery of all himself. These men and their peers once filled headlines with their exploits, winning tributes and sometimes stirring controversy, but fascinating the public either way. Yet today, nearly all of history's real great detectives are forgotten, even as crime drama and mystery stories remain as popular as ever. The contrast is something of a mystery itself.

Meet spunky sleuth Shelby and her sports loving sidekick Watson, as they take on a dog-napper in this fresh twist on Sherlock Holmes.