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The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

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The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By: John Joseph Adams - editor
Narrated by: Simon Vance, Anne Flosnik
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About this listen

A modern short-story collection featuring the great detective. Stories included:

"A Sherlockiana Primer", © 2009 by Christopher Roden
"The Horror of the Many Faces", © 2003 by Tim Lebbon
"The Case of the Bloodless Sock", © 2001 by Anne Perry
"The Adventure of the Other Detective", © 2003 by Bradley H. Sinor
"A Scandal in Montreal", © 2008 by Edward D. Hoch
"The Adventure of the Field Theorems"; © 1995 Vonda N. McIntyre
"The Adventure of the Death-Fetch", © 1994 by Darrell Schweitzer
"The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland", © 2005 by Mary Robinette Kowal
"The Adventure of the Mummy's Curse", © 2006 by H. Paul Jeffers
"The Things That Shall Come Upon Them", © 2008 by Barbara Roden
"Murder to Music", © 1989 by Anthony Burgess
"The Adventure of the Inertial Adjustor", © 1997 Stephen Baxter
"Mrs. Hudson's Case", © 1997 Laurie R. King
"The Singular Habits of Wasps", © 1994 by Geoffrey A. Landis
"The Affair of the 46th Birthday"; © 2009 by Amy Myers
"The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey", © 2001 by Peter Tremayne
"The Vale of the White Horse"; © 2003 by Sharyn McCrumb
"The Adventure of the Dorset Street Lodger", © 1993 by Michael Moorcock
"The Adventure of the Lost World", © 2004 by Dominic Green
"The Adventure of the Antiquarian's Niece"; © 2003 by Barbara Hambly
"Dynamics of a Hanging", © 2005 by Tony Pi
"Merridew of Abominable Memory" © 2008 by Monkeybrain, Inc.
"Commonplaces" © 2008-2009 by Naomi Novik
"The Adventure of the Pirates of Devil's Cape", © 2009 by Rob Rogers
"The Adventure of the Green Skull", © 2008 by Mark Valentine
"The Human Mystery", © 1999 by Tanith Lee
"A Study in Emerald", © 2003 by Neil Gaiman
"You See But You Do Not Observe", © 1995 by Robert J. Sawyer.

©2010 John Joseph Adams (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc. Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Detective Fantasy Fiction Mystery Science Fiction Traditional Detectives Adventure Sherlock Holmes Murder Crime

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Critic reviews

"For the most part, this volume of short Sherlock Holmes pastiches - a mix of straightforward imitations and parodies - delivers on its goal of presenting the best of such work from the last 30 years....Barbara Roden's "The Things That Shall Come Upon Them" riffs cleverly on M.R. James's "Casting the Runes". Perhaps the highlight is Peter Tremayne's "The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey", which offers a plausible explanation for a classic untold tale in which a man disappears from the face of the earth after returning home to fetch an umbrella." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant  
each tale captures the spirit of Holmes whilst adding a fresh twist to the genre

very enjoyable

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I was in two minds about this when I saw it, but with Audible's money back guarantee there's nothing to lose and seeing the name Neil Gaiman, I opted in. I am so glad that I did, there are one or two stories that didn't quite hit the spot for me but in the main they were excellent. A great buy!

Excellent fun for all Sherlockians!

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Perhaps unsurprisingly,the quality here varies wildly. Some stories evoke Doyle brilliantly, while others demonstrate the poorer instincts of fanfiction: Watson's American nephew will turn up as a Mary Sue for the (US) author or dialogue will be peppered with Americanisms followed by "-as our American cousins would say".



Enjoyment depends a bit on familiarity with the Doyle stories. Some authors seem to use crib-sheets of clichés, rather than canon. Thus Irene Adler is the *only* thing able to coax Holmes out of retirement (to America, naturally), and Watson still reels in surprise at basic deductions, despite decades of friendship with Holmes. Comically, a third of the stories make painstaking reference to Holmes filling his pipe from a Persian slipper - a detail only actually mentioned once by Doyle.



Yet other stories are wonderful, a superb melding of Doyle's style with the weird. Most fall into the format of "Holmes+": Holmes+Lovecraft, Holmes+Time Travel, etc. The best work both as satisfying detective stories as well as genre tales, and the worst at least maintain your interest for the genre-mashing. A highlight combines Holmes with psychic detective Flaxman Low: they investigate in tandem, providing parallel solutions (one natural, one supernatural) and the listener must make his/her mind up.



The only sour note is the continual presence of the Editor, who introduces each story... often badly. "This story involves parallel universes," he says. Well that's the solution to that one then.



Simon Vance is on excellent form, with a very traditional Holmes and Watson that grounds the pastiches nicely before they fly off into stranger realms. Flosnik, though able, is less successful. She reads those stories with female narrators (good plan), but then parades through Italian, Scottish, and Somerset accents with little success.



At 22 hours and over 30 stories, treat this as a lucky dip. Variable quality, but worth it for the highlights.

A Mixed Bag, but an Enjoyable One

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ACD is dead, so if you've read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories but still want more then you'll have to look elsewhere.
If this is the case I suggest you start here - these are brilliant stories that are well narrated. Top marks!

More Sherlock Stories!

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Well performed & disturbingly strange and unworldly detecting, the game is afoot Watson.
BRAVO!.

Exciting new & strange adventures.

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What did you like best about The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes? What did you like least?

There are some excellent stories in this collection, especially those that occupy the more improbable or impossible reimaginings of Sherlock's world, as suggested by the title. There are unfortunately also many duller offerings, which don't seem to fit the brief at all and leave the listener wondering why they are part of the collection. The same can be said for the narration: Simon Vance does a great job of producing voices for both Watson and Holmes which are uncannily like the ones I have in my head when reading Holmes stories. Anne Flosnik, on the other hand, has no business reading audio books, least of all those which require any kind of regional accent.

What three words best describe Simon Vance and Anne Flosnik ’s voice?

Vance > Flosnik

Some good, some bad

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If, like me, you love Sherlock Holmes (and Dr Watson!) but have heard all of the stories, you will love this collection of new ones. The intros to each book are done by an American who cannot say Moriarty (Mor-e-are-it-ee!) but the narrotors of the main stories are excellent. Plus its 22 hours, so it represents great value!

Fantastic collection

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With everyone using an Intriguing idea as the premise. I have read all of Sir Arthur's stories and can honestly say I want more of these too.

An Improbable collection of Adventures

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Collection of short sherlock holmes adventures. At first, it seemed weird that the stories were resolved ao quickly as the stories have 30-60 minutes. But i grew used to it and enjoyed the mysteries.
I loved that the narrator introduced each author and story. I didn't expect that but sometimes I have to say, it was almost more interesting than the story itself.
Overall very well narrated. I liked the changes in the readers and the consistencies where characters were voiced by the same people. Overall it doesn't feel like 30 separated stories with different characters but different adventures of the same people.

Interesting and intriguing

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The stories are improbable, but some of them are also very entertaining and in the style of Conan Doyle. What is difficult to take is the reading of the link man between the first few stories, who seems to have never read Sherlock Holmes and persists in calling Moriaty, Holmes arch enemy ' Morierity' Surely someone doing such a job should at least get the pronunciation of a charector right.!!! On the whole a good listen, if in places a tad too improbable.

Improbable is right.

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