Revealed: the next Sherlock Holmes author, with a twist in the tale
Writing a new Sherlock Holmes story was daunting – but mine does something that hasn’t been done before
Gareth Rubin
January 2024
Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Fiend review – the spoof’s afoot!
The detective goes on the hunt for Jack the Ripper in this funny but tangled comedy on how crime is sensationalised for entertainment
December 2023
Arthur Conan Doyle secretly resented his Sherlock Holmes creation, says historian
Author blamed literary success of the fictional detective for his highbrow historical novels ‘lying unread’
August 2023
The books of my life
Ayòbámi Adébáyò: ‘I read The Go-Between by LP Hartley and couldn’t stop crying’
Top 10s
Top 10 books set in Cornwall
June 2023
Home truths: literature’s enduring love affair with landlords
From Orwell’s ‘horribly observant’ Mrs Wisbeach to Andrea Levy’s benign Queenie – how writers portray landlords tells us much about about changing society through the ages
May 2023
Psychonauts by Mike Jay review – the drug-takers who changed history
Humphry Davy on laughing gas, Sigmund Freud on cocaine … how self-experimentation shaped science and art
December 2022
Guess who? Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Sophie Hannah and other crime writers reveal their favourite detectives
At the end of a year when murder mysteries rode high in the charts, we ask crime writers to celebrate the best fictional detectives
November 2022
A Sherlock Carol review – the detective takes on Dickens in a fresh festive mashup
Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear review – an elegant last adventure
Millie Bobby Brown returns as Sherlock’s plucky sister in a charming, if mostly forgettable, follow-up to the 2020 hit
June 2022
Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Lipstick, Ketchup and Blood review – funny but overambitious
What starts as a straight Conan Doyle adaptation takes a surprising twist in this two-hander about the limitations of story
April 2022
The Hound of the Baskervilles review – tongue-in-cheek sleuthing
The canine curse is given a comic makeover, sapping the story of its terror but bringing laughs and charming energy from the cast of three
January 2022
1921 Census of England and Wales reveals nation reeling from war
Census uncovers personal impact of economic turmoil, housing crisis and Spanish flu pandemic
April 2021
Honkaku: a century of the Japanese whodunnits keeping readers guessing
These fiendishly clever mystery novels have spawned pop culture icons, anime and a museum. And, best of all, honkaku plays fair – you have the clues to solve the crime
March 2021
‘I’m immune to success’: Henry Lloyd-Hughes on fame, family and playing Sherlock Holmes
In brief: Tyll; Silence Is a Sense; The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer – reviews
February 2021
Lockdown culture
Sherlock Holmes: An Online Adventure review – it's so fun who cares whodunnit?
'I think I’ve written more Sherlock Holmes than even Conan Doyle': the ongoing fight to reimagine Holmes