Doyle Me In

It’s awfully early to start thinking about Christmas presents, I know. But the publication of A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon (Bantam), edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, seems perfectly timed to make it a gift for lovers of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective fiction. It’s due out near the end of October.

Here’s King’s status report on the collection:

The last of the stories for A Study in Sherlock have come in--Les Klinger and I read them, made some small changes, and now we’ve sent the manuscript off to Random House: Whee!

And the best part? They’re all fabulous. Absolutely great.

Neil Gaiman writes about bees, China, and A Certain Beekeeper. Tom Perry set his story in 1901 Buffalo, New York. S.J. Rozan’s is built around “The Man With the Crooked Lip.” Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak meets “The Eyak Interpreter.” Colin Cotterill did us a graphic story--that’s graphic as in drawings, not as in overt gore. And the 90 files he sent his story in has given Random House a ... challenge (better them than me, thank heavens). And by way of bonus, Les Klinger and I did an introduction--plus, there’s Twinterview (an interview, in 140 characters) between Les and Mary Russell!

Other contributors to A Study in Sherlock include Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Thomas Perry, Jacqueline Winspear, and Charles Todd.

It almost makes you wish Christmas was just around the corner. Almost.