Sherlock Holmes Universe

The further adventures of The Great Detective and other characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sherlock Holmes Universe

The Sherlock Holmes Universe encompasses not only the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, but also many further adventures of The Great Detective and other characters from Doyle's stories.*

This Sherlock Holmes Universe collection also contains library items about "where Holmes walked", modern deconstructions of some of Holmes' cases, and biographies of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The characters created by Doyle are so enduring that modern authors have written new stories not only about Holmes but also Dr. John Watson and his wife, "the woman" Irene Adler, and Holmes' arch-rival Professor Moriarty. Even the Baker Street Irregulars, Inspector Lestrade, and Sherlock's long-suffering housekeeper Mrs. Hudson have gotten their own stories, and Arthur Conan Doyle appears as a character in several works. Other authors have introduced entirely new characters, the "children of Holmes."

The items on this page are a representative sample -- click through on the Sherlock Holmes Universe to see all the Library items tagged in this wide, varied, and ever-growing collection!

* Once the copyright on characters passes into the public domain, any author may legally use the characters in stories.

Sherlock Holmes Universe - The Complete Sherlock Holmes Stories

The Complete Sherlock Holmes Stories

Sherlock Holmes Universe - Fiction

Sherlock Holmes Fiction

Sherlock Holmes - Fiction Series

The James Wilson series by Barry Grant.

Sherlock Holmes Universe - "After Holmes" Fiction Series

The Baker Street Letters series by Michael Robertson.

Sherlock Holmes - Fiction Series

Further adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by author Donald Thomas

The books in order of release:

  • The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes (1997)
  • Sherlock Holmes and Running Noose (2001)
  • Sherlock Holmes and the Voice From the Crypt (2002)
  • The Execution of Sherlock Holmes (2007)
  • Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil (2009)
  • Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly (2010)
  • The Lost Casebooks of Sherlock Holmes (omnibus) (2012)
  • Death on a Pale Horse (2013)

Sherlock Holmes Universe - Fiction Series

The Irene Adler series by Carole Nelson Douglas

Sherlock Holmes referred to her as "the woman" -- one of the few people to get the better of him and the only woman to gain his attention and respect. Carole Nelson Douglas' series follows the adventures of Irene Adler (a character from the Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia) -- opera singer, globetrotting socialite and amateur sleuth.

The series in order of release:

  • Good Night Mr. Holmes (1990)
  • The Adventuress (1990) aka Good Morning, Irene
  • Irene at Large (1992) aka A Soul of Steel
  • Another Scandal in Bohemia (1994) aka Irene's Last Waltz
  • Chapel Noir (2001)
  • Castle Rouge (2002)
  • Femme Fatale (2003)
  • Spider Dance (2004)

Sherlock Holmes Universe - Fiction Series

The Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King

Holmes purists may marvel at the idea of The Great Detective being associated with any woman, except perhaps "the woman" Irene Adler. But Laurie R. King has parlayed this idea into a popular series of books featuring Mary Russell, a brilliant woman who uses Holmes' own techniques to find him and draw him out of bee-keeping retirement and into her life.

The series in order of release:

Sherlock Holmes Universe - Holmes-inspired Fiction Series

The Holmes on the Range series by Steve Hockensmith

The series in order of release:

Sherlock Holmes Universe - Fiction Series

 The Auguste Lupa series by John T. Lescroart

Would Holmes's son have his brilliant powers of observation and deduction? That is the question examined in these stories about Auguste Lupa, the rumored son of The Great Detective.

The series in order of release:

Sherlock Holmes Universe - Arthur Conan Doyle appearing as a fictionalized character

Arthur Conan Doyle appearing as a literary character

The series in order of release:

Sherlock Holmes Universe - Fiction Series

The Inspector Lestrade series by M.J. Trow

In Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, Holmes regularly solved cases that baffled conventional detectives. The representative of the police forces in those stories was Inspector Lestrade, a competent but-not-in-Holmes's-league investigator who sometimes brought his most puzzling cases to The Great Detective. Lestrade comes into his own in this popular series.

The series in order of release:

  • The Adventures of Inspector Lestrade (1985) (aka The Supreme Adventure of Inspector Lestrade)
  • Brigade: Further Adventures of Inspector Lestrade (1986)
  • Lestrade and the Hallowed House (1987)
  • Lestrade and the Leviathan (1987)
  • Lestrade and the Brother of Death (1988)
  • Lestrade and the Ripper (1988)
  • Lestrade and the Deadly Game (1990)
  • Lestrade and the Guardian Angel (1990)
  • Lestrade and the Gift of the Prince (1991)
  • Lestrade and the Magpie (1991)
  • Lestrade and the Dead Man's Hand (1992)
  • Lestrade and the Sign of Nine (1992)
  • Lestrade and the Sawdust Ring (1993)
  • Lestrade and the Mirror of Murder (1993)
  • Lestrade and the Kiss of Horus (1995)
  • Lestrade and the Devil's Own (1996)

A word from your guide

It seems that every author who has ever enjoyed the Holmes stories yearns to write one themselves -- there are dozens of novels and hundreds of shorter works utilizing Doyle's settings and characters, as well as thousands of articles about Holmes's influence on modern fiction and crime detection.

Holmes and his cohort make cameo appearances in many another tale, and are often a feature of fanciful time-travel stories. Even characters in other works find inspiration in Doyle's stories, honoring Holmes as their ideal detective.

The Sherlock Holmes Universe is ever growing. This Guide will help you in your explorations of it.