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The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes cover art

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By: John Joseph Adams - editor
Narrated by: Simon Vance,Anne Flosnik
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Summary

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.

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)

What listeners say about The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I've really enjoyed these stories.

It took me a long time to decide whether or not to download this book of stories. I love Sherlock Holmes' amazing and logical powers of deduction and didn't know if I liked the sound of some of the tales in this selection.
Some of the stories are better than others but they all have the feel of Conan Doyle's Sherlock and Watson and I've really enjoyed this audio download.
One downside is the American who explains a little about the author of each story before each story begins. I don't like his voice, especially his pronunciation of "Moriarty".... but this is a small niggle.
If you like Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock and Watson there's a good chance you'll enjoy this book.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A Mixed Bag, but an Enjoyable One

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.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Some good, some bad

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

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Improbable is right.

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.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

OK stories irritating commentary between

What would have made The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes better?

The correct pronunciation of Profession MORIATY would help

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Stories are OK but the commentary in-between is distracting and irritating.

Would you be willing to try another one of Simon Vance and Anne Flosnik ’s performances?

NO - The constant mispronunciation of Profession MORIATY is extremely annoying

What character would you cut from The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?

The bits in-between the stories

Any additional comments?

FFS pronounce Profession MORIATY properly

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A different light on Holmes.

Great stories and great production. Each one was well told and chapters were not too long.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Short story collection

This is a fun collection of alternative detective stories set in the world of Sherlock Holmes. Would recommend it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not for me

What would have made The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes better?

Better stories and more importantly better narration.

What was most disappointing about the authors’s story?

This was a series of short stories, to be honest I gave up half way through as they were all so bad.

Would you be willing to try another one of Simon Vance and Anne Flosnik ’s performances?

No

What character would you cut from The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?

That would probably not help but I suppose the fictionalised Conan Doyle was pretty cringe worthy

Any additional comments?

The "Scottish Accent" was in my opinion as bad as it gets.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic collection

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!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Arrgh

The stories are good but that bloody American talking between them is like nails on a chalkboard who the hell is Morierty its MoriArty you clod.

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