The Adventure of the Plated Spoon and Other Tales of Sherlock Holmes

For this mixed bag of short Holmes pastiches, Estleman (Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula) has gathered eight reprints and four original tales, ranging in date of composition from Arthur Conan Doyle's day to our own. J.M. Barrie's "The Adventure of the Two Collaborators" and Doyle's "How Watson Learned the Trick" are curiosities that require background information to appreciate fully, while Vincent Starrett's "The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet" is one of the best of the early imitations. Perhaps the piece most true to Doyle's style is his son Adrian's "The Red Widow," about a nobleman's murder in a moorland castle. Estleman's contribution, the title novella, deals with a subject%E2%80%94white slavery%E2%80%94that Doyle himself would have avoided. Excerpts from such novels as Ellery Queen's A Study in Terror and Laurie King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice will whet the reader's appetite for the full texts. (Nov.)