Sherlock Holmes’s School for Detection edited by Simon Clark – Published by Robinson (Little, Brown Book Group)

A book of eleven short stories by various writers which, according to the cover, “will enthral any fan of Conan Doyle’s original stories of his Great Detective”. Was I enthralled? I certainly was.

The premise is that Holmes is approached to found a school for detectives. The students will be set mysteries and new cases to solve and will attend lectures on Holmes’ own methods.

Having read many books written in the style of favourite authors like EF Benson, Agatha Christie etc. and found most of them sadly wanting, I wasn’t overly optimistic this would live up to the period, characters and plotlines of the originals. How wrong I was. There’s not a dud amongst them.

Well written and intriguing and, despite being written by different authors, flowing well together. Simply outstanding.

A must read for all fans of the original stories.