Prolific author, Arthur Hall, has provided us here with ten enjoyable pastiches, very much in the style of the canon. All sorts of horrors abound: blackmail, revenge, murder, empty coffins, the abuse of mesmerism. And there’s a satisfying cast of villains, too: from a tattooed acrobat, to seductive femmes fatales, to a psychopathic killer, to a clutch of German spies… at least Dr Watson is able to enjoy lavish roast dinners from the hand of Mrs Hudson between helping unmask the baddies, though Holmes, as usual, often leaves his food barely touched.

It’s a paradox that continues to puzzle: how is it that the most rational of detectives was created by a man given to spiritualism, and indeed, a belief in fairies? F.R. Maher’s new novel, which examines that very issue, started life as research for a talk at Doomsday, an event where magicians gather to swap secrets, and, as the organiser of wonderfully named Legendary Faery Festival of North Wales, she was well equipped for the task.

For David Marcum, the Sherlock Holmes stories of the canon don’t end with a full stop. They open out into realms of endless possibilities. That at least is the rationale behind his latest collection: The Curious Sequel of our Investigation in which he envisages what happens to some more, or less, familiar characters from the original tales once Holmes has cleared up the initial mystery, plunging the poor souls into further trials and tribulations.

When I reviewed Caiden Cooper Myles’s earlier collection, The Further Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Volume II, I noted that, following the demise of Moriarty, a new mysterious adversary seemed to be emerging. And indeed, Volume III more than hints at this with Holmes constantly hounded by a cheeky opponent, who even sends him a message simply reading “Unacceptable” after our favourite private detective foils a jewel robbery.