Buy new:
$15.95
FREE delivery Saturday, May 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$15.95
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, May 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 6 hrs 9 mins
In Stock
$$15.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$15.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$13.08
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, May 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 6 hrs 9 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$15.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$15.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Robert J. Sawyer
Follow
John Joseph Adams
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Paperback – September 1, 2009

by John Joseph Adams (Editor)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 585 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$15.95","priceAmount":15.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"15","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"e14a8j5WLMU7waFTC6hIMB3M4z09e4Wq945%2FurP5Xph16ysrSIXrN%2Fe2SyZDJpsxYll26LtY%2F3fHdoqEXNO28SUY08qb2GuEIIM9A45POvEYw553ZXWM0uP%2BNhZ%2BBJReZ7ww2WPU%2BRw%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$13.08","priceAmount":13.08,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"08","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"e14a8j5WLMU7waFTC6hIMB3M4z09e4WqRDO%2BurwZGHPbYODaPFPYxaVln%2B5jmf5y5cKH%2BUq%2BzWmvX76manuk5E%2BfwrLIPL7mXfqZu%2BmaI7Fw9Mqa3pRKxq6IMgqV5wUZ2KVDEOF%2Bp3oTgxaN0qf9uaNxMTvGPUTdhQKB5LMsUKcHQofPahxWGMDJgBF20oMB","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

The first—and most famous—consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, came to the world’s attention more than 120 years ago through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels and stories. But Conan Doyle didn’t reveal all of the Great Detective’s adventures…

Here are the improbable adventures of Sherlock Holmes, where nothing is impossible, and nothing can be ruled out. These twenty-eight tales of mystery and the imagination detail Holmes’s further exploits, as told by many of today’s greatest storytellers, including Stephen King, Anne Perry, Anthony Burgess, Neil Gaiman, Naomi Novik, Stephen Baxter, Tanith Lee, Michael Moorcock, and many more.

These cases will take you from the familiar quarters at 221B Baker Street to strange alternate realities; from the gaslit streets of London to the far future. In these pages you’ll find Holmes and Watson investigating ghosts, aliens, pirates, dinosaurs, shape-shifters, evil gods, and criminal masterminds, including the Napoleon of Crime, Professor Moriarty. You’ll be astounded to learn the truths behind cases alluded to by Watson but never before documented… until now. Whether mystery, fantasy, horror, or science fiction, no puzzle is too challenging for the Great Detective.

The game is afoot!
Previous page
  1. Print length
    350 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Night Shade
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.16 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1597801607
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1597801607
  8. See all details
Next page
Books with Buzz
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Frequently bought together

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
$15.95
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Mammoth Book of the New Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes: 12 Original Stories
$15.47
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. All but one of the 28 entries is a reprint, largely from such recent anthologies as Gaslight Grimoire and Shadows Over Baker Street, and many introduce the supernatural into the rational sleuth's world. Stephen King does a solid job of giving Dr. Watson a chance to show his own detective skills in The Good Doctor. 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. Holmes authority Christopher Roden provides an introduction. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Short of revisiting Arthur Conan Doyle's original texts, you may not have more fun with the great detective than in Night Shade Books' collection THE IMPROBABLE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. [...] From pirates to spirits, IMPROBABLE covers a lot of genre-fiction tropes, yet every author hews closely to Doyle's winning, winsome storytelling style. As the game is afoot, you're in able hands." --Bookgasm

"The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a good place to start or rediscover your love for one of the world's greatest literary creations, Sherlock Holmes." --io9.com

"These 28 short stories are impressive in their variety and quality [...] This is a substantial collection that will entertain." --School Library Journal

"The improbable intersection between Sherlock Holmes and science fiction is further demonstrated in this teeming collection of Holmes pastiches. [...] Not all the results are fantasy. In fact, many are not, and you cannot guess which will be from the respective bylines. [...] Some [stories], like Tanith Lee's powerful and heartbreaking "The Human Mystery," treat the immortal detective with a depth of understanding that makes one wish they could be declared official entries in the Holmesian canon." --SCIFI Magazine (A+ rating)

"A satisfyingly chunky 450-page anthology [featuring] twenty-eight curious accounts by a remarkable array of authors. [...] A grand collection." --The District Messenger (The Sherlock Holmes Society of London newsletter)

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Night Shade (September 1, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 350 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1597801607
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1597801607
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.16 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 585 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Robert J. Sawyer

    Robert J. Sawyer

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers ever to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Hal Clement Memorial Award; the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”).

    Rob’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, and he was a scriptwriter for that program. He also scripted the two-part finale for the popular web series Star Trek Continues.

    He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government, as well as the Order of Ontario, the highest honor given by his home province; he was also one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

    Rob lives just outside Toronto.His website and blog are at sfwriter.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon he’s RobertJSawyer.

    See more on the author's page
  2. John Joseph Adams

    John Joseph Adams

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    John Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, as well as the bestselling editor of more than thirty anthologies, including WASTELANDS and THE LIVING DEAD.

    Recent books include A PEOPLE’S FUTURE OF THE UNITED STATES, WASTELANDS: THE NEW APOCALYPSE, COSMIC POWERS, WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, and LOOSED UPON THE WORLD. He is also a co-editor of The Apocalypse Triptych and his latest project, with Hugh Howey and Christie Yant, is The Dystopia Triptych anthology series.

    Also with Christie Yant, he is the owner of Adamant Press, the publisher of the award-winning digital magazines NIGHTMARE and LIGHTSPEED.

    Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been a finalist twelve times) and an eight-time World Fantasy Award finalist. He also served as a judge for the National Book Award.

    In addition to his work in short fiction, John is also the editor of John Joseph Adams Books, a science fiction and fantasy imprint from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he’s published books such as the New York Times bestselling CHOSEN ONES by Veronica Roth; MACHINE LEARNING by Hugh Howey; the Philip K. Dick Award-winning BANNERLESS by Carrie Vaughn, the forthcoming THE UNFINISHED LAND by Greg Bear, and many others.

    To learn more about any of the above, visit johnjosephadams.com and @johnjosephadams.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
585 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jon Ives
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! The Best Alternative Homes Out There!
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2023
Verified Purchase
The stories are amazing, written by towering talents and grandmasters in many genres. I was captivated and burned through the whole book in a week! Of special interest is the story implying that Sherlock, himself, is Jack the Ripper. Some stories mix in fantasy elements, others science fiction, and a few defy classification, but all have the exact style, setting, tone, and detail of original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Highly recommended!
Helpful
 Report
J Thomas
4.0 out of 5 stars Holmes with a side of pulp
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2016
Verified Purchase
This huge anthology mixes tales of traditional mystery with tales that introduce elements of sci fi and fantasy. While a couple of the tales are honest attempts at pastiche, most of these pick up Arthur Conan Doyle’s (ACD’s) characters and use them in ways he surely never envisioned – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but which Holmes fans may find off-putting. For their benefit, I’m including here a brief summary of each story, to enable them to decide for themselves whether this is worthwhile. As it happens, there’s no need to worry about spoilers because the intro to each story takes care of that; I think the editor was worried that the stories wouldn’t be appreciated without context, but his intros do tend to spoil any surprises to come.

1. Stephen King's The Doctor's Case (mystery), in which Watson beats Holmes to the solution, is probably the most authentic tale in the story, offering a novel solution to the venerable "locked room" conundrum.

2. Lebbon's The Horror of the Many Faces (fantasy/horror/sci-fi) presents us with Holmes the murderer. An intriguing premise, but the vague denoument fails to deliver on the tale's promise.

3. Anne Perry's The Case of The Bloodless Sock (mystery) features Moriarty becoming personally involved in the kidnapping of a young girl. The denoument is clever enough, but purists will find this story irksome, as Moriarty committing his own crimes is as antithetical to the canon as Mycroft running a marathon.

4. Sinor's The Adventure of the Other Detective (fantasy) is an alternative universe tale in which everyone in the canon swaps roles and Jack the Ripper is revealled to be ***. Not a bad tale, though one could wish Sinor had given the characters a more mysterious mystery to solve.

5. Hoch's A Scandal in Montreal (mystery) gives us Holmes traveling to Canada at Irene Adler's request to help extract her son from peril. Sadly, this Irene channels little of her former spunk and the denoument relies on a rather cheesy "5 Minute Mystery"-type clue. Disappointing on multiple levels.

6. McIntyre's The Adventure of the Field Theorem (mystery) presents us with ACD himself calling in Holmes to investigate local crop circles. A rather charming little story that plays on ACD's notorious gullibility with respect to supernatural entities.

7. In Schweitzer's The Adventure of the Death-Fetch (horror/fantasy), a man fears that past wrong-doings have returned to destroy him. Call me a purist, but I can't help considering stories that rely on supernatural explanations to be cop-outs. Kind of like the Scooby Gang finding out the that Green Ghost really was a ghost.

8. In Kowal's The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland (mystery), a member of the Italian government is assassinated by ingenious means aboard a steamship. Loved the ingenious means, hated the rushed, cluttered storytelling

9. Jeffers' The Adventure of the Mummy's Curse (mystery) - need I say more? Not a bad tale, but I can't help considering it "cheating" when the author doesn't give you all the info you need to solve the case.

10. In Roden's The Things That Shall Come Upon Them (mystery, fantasy/horror), Holmes works in tandem with a "detective of the supernatural" to determine the root cause of strange happenings at a haunted house. Rather enjoyed this one.

11. In Anthony Burgess's Murder to Music (mystery), music serves as the clue that reveals the murderer. Again, however, Burgess cheats a little by not revealing key info, and some of Holmes' deductions are based more on luck than evidence. Still, Anthony Burgess!

12. In Baxter's The Adventure of the Inertial Adjustor (mystery), the inventor of a mechanism that can supposedly "suspend gravity" is found dead. Love that science provides the critical clue in this one.

13. Laurie King's Mrs. Hudson's Case (mystery) gives us Mrs. Hudson solving not one but two mysteries, bringing to the business an empathy that her more famous employer is known to lack. Highly satisfying tale.

14. Landis' The Singular Habits of Wasps (mystery, horror), yet another re-examination the Jack the Ripper case, delivers a wholly unexpected and imaginative twist to the old tale.

15. Myers' The Affair of the 46th Birthday (mystery), in which Holmes solves the murder of an Italian secretary, depends on the possession of several bits of obscure historical trivia for its revelation.

16. Peter Tremayne's The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey (mystery) presents us with a young Sherlock Holmes, on break from university, presented with a mysterious disappearance to solve. Between trying to fill in details about Holmes' family, supplying him with a love interest, and dragging in Moriarty, Tremayne's juggling a lot of balls in this one, but it (mostly) works.

17. Sharyn McCrumb's The Vale of the White Horse (mystery) sets Holmes to solving the murder of a peer at Uffington's legendary White Horse. However, her interjection of a folklore-spouting wise-woman as the tale's narrator feels forced and doesn't quite work.

18. Michael Moorcock's The Adventure of the Dorset Street Lodger (mystery) is one of the few tales in which the author's narrative style distracts from the tale. Moreover, the convoluted plot involving a naïve Texan, a Fellini statue, and an old man in the care of a mysterious nurse comes off as preposterous rather than clever.

19. Green's The Adventure of the Lost World (mystery, fantasy) is a tongue-in-cheek ode to ACD’s only slightly lesser known claim to fame, Voyage to the Center of the Earth. The plot is entirely ridiculous, even within the forgiving constraints of fantasy, and yet, somehow, it works.

20. Hambly’s The Adventure of the Antiquarian’s Niece (fantasy) features a cameo by Cthulhu and references to other works of pulp horror from the Lovecraft era. Some technical writing issues (I swear parts of this are told in “first person omniscient,” which I don’t think is a real thing), but not a bad Lovecraftian tale … that just happens to include Holmes and Watson ....

21. Yet another celebrity cameo in Pi’s Dynamics of a Hanging (mystery), this time Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll in a tale that features Moriarty murdering his old college pal ACD. Caroll, a rather brilliant mathematician when he wasn’t writing Alice in Wonderland, is brought in to decode Moriarty’s journals.

22. Roberson’s Merridew of Abominable Memory (mystery) elaborates on one of the many cryptic references to cases with which Watson was wont to pepper the introduction to his tales. The tale’s unnecessary subplot doesn’t distract from a chilling and memorable denouement.

23. Naomi Novik’s Commonplaces (romance?) is a thankfully brief tale that feels more like something you’d find on a fan fiction site than in an anthology. Why must authors insist on burdening poor Holmes with a love interest, male and/or female?

24. Rogers’ The Adventure of the Pirates of Devil’s Cape (mystery) achieves preposterous without resorting to fantasy/scifi elements, but in an over-the-top pulpy way that is hard to hate. Seriously, a Marie Celeste-type maritime mystery, sharp-shooting Siamese twins, and Holmes crossing swords with a pirate king - all in one short story?

25. Valentine’s The Adventure of the Green Skull (mystery) starts off sounding like something out of Scooby Doo, but the resolution is refreshingly creative, and served with a tasty side of historical context.

26. Tanith Lee’s The Human Mystery (mystery) offers more red herrings than a Russian fishing trawler on its way to an ending that is perhaps a little more Freudian than Holmsian. Not terribly bad, but not terribly clever either.

27. Neil Gaiman’s Study in Emerald (mystery, scifi/fantasy) is fittingly saved for last, as it combines elements of mystery, scifi and fantasy. The tale deliberately references ACD’s “A Study in Scarlet” and transforms the essential elements of this foundational Holmes tale in ways that I think even ACD might have enjoyed.

28. And then there’s Sawyer’s You See But You Do Not Observe (philosophy?), in which the Great Detective endeavors to solve the great Fermi’s Paradox. If you’ve heard the old chestnut about the philosopher who committed suicide by convincing himself he didn’t exist, you’ve got an idea of how this one ends.
90 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Gordon L
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection by various top authors
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2021
Verified Purchase
Always liked Sherlock...have a beat-up copy of the original stories as published in Strand with all the original drawings/photos.
Couldn't help but pick this up, then it sat for two and a half years before I got to it.
Worth the wait. An excellent varied bunch of stories written by some of the top names, Stephen Baxter, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, Stephen King, Tanith Lee, Vonda N. McIntyre,Naomi Novik, Michael Moorcock and others.
All different, all excellent, all showing a different "take" on Sherlock and Company. Yes, Dr Watson is ever present...and sometimes Lestrade and Moriarity. I think you'll enjoy it.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
SSpoonster
3.0 out of 5 stars The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2015
Verified Purchase
Some of the stories are fantastic but others are not. There are a couple of stories that have no resolution, which drives me batty. I'm not sure if it was intentional or if the stories are part of a larger book. I really like some of the twists an turns some of the authors took. It took me a really long time to read this because for every story I couldn't get enough of there would be 2-3 that I found to be slow and boring. I would recommend the book for fans of Sherlock Holmes, since most fans can't get enough of the character and it is worth the read for those hidden gems.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Severian
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy Sherlock Holmes Digest
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2009
Verified Purchase
There have been innumerable Sherlock Holmes theme compendiums out there, and most of them have been "one trick ponies" with 2 or 3 good stories in them combined with many lame and / or inept pieces padding things out. The talened anthologist Mr. Adams has cherry picked what would generally be considered the finest pieces from various themed anthologies and presented a uniformly excellent mix herein.

Three caveats: first, not all stories necessarily feature SF, fantasy, or horror elements. Some stories start out with seemingly paranormal events that are eventually explained (a la "straight up" Conan Doyle... or Scooby Doo!)and some are "merely" conventional mysteries. All are credibly written, and the variety makes things reasonably interesting. Anthologies of entirely supernatural Holmesian themes can quickly grate on the reader (e.g. "Shadows Over Baker Street") and the Adams approach is a better solution.

Second, though there is a brief "intro to Holmes" article kicking things off, if you are unfamiliar and / or hostile to Holmes and his typical literary appearances, this book will do little to enlighten you or change your mind. Adams suggests one can use this volume as an intro to Holmes, but realistically this would be a stretch. If you've never read Conan Doyle at all, start there first and then come here.

Third, as with the original stories, you can't read these in big sequential chunks. Read one or two then come back a few days later and read some more. If you read them all back to back, you will find characters and details blurring into one big mess. Follow a course of moderation and you will enjoy this anthology more. Assuming you are not taking this book to a brief desert island stay, this should not be a problem for most.

As with any anthology, you may personally loathe some stories (Valentine for me), feel others are too long (IMO the Baxter piece here) and may feel others are just right (for me Hambly, Gaiman, King). All in all, lots of great pieces here, few bombs, and admirable editorial discretion shown by Mr. Adams.

If you like Holmes and would like to see him explore some new ground, I think you will enjoy this book very much. Novices to the Baker Street world and Holmes-ophobes need not apply.
102 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Scott Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars You Think You Know Sherlock?
Reviewed in Canada on February 14, 2015
Verified Purchase
Interesting collection of the plausible; the 'might have been'; the quirky and odd.
A great listen.
Report
OKL
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but of uneven quality
Reviewed in Canada on August 15, 2017
Verified Purchase
Some of the stories are good although the quality is uneven. Stephen King's is interesting but overwritten. Neil Gaiman's is a lot of fun.
Report