I'm in the mood for more Holmes. I will of course eventually read the Doyle novels and stories all over again, but I have already read them so many times, I'd rather give them a rest for a while. So I was wondering, are there any really good non-Doyle Holmes novels you would recommend? I'm looking for something close to Doyle's books and true to the characters, not parodies or anything like that.

The ones I've read so far:
Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography by Nick Rennison- this one I really liked. It's very clever how the author used all the clues, intentional or otherwise, form Doyle's works to create an account Holmes' life, including his childhood, family, and involvement in historical events. It almost makes you believe Holmes was real.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes by Loren Estleman- ok, but nothing great. I think more could have been done with the idea, and while it does mostly stay true to both Doyle and Stevenson, it's just not all that interesting when all is said and done.

Sherlock Holmes y la sabiduría de los muertos- by Rodolfo Martinez. I don't know if there has been an english translation. It's basically a "Holmes meets Cthulhu mythos" novel, and while not outright bad, it's not realy scary or moody enough. The Awakaned game did it way better.

Study in Emeral and The Case of Death and Honey- short stories by Neil Gaiman. Both are very good. The first one is all fantasy really, with the roles of Holmes and Moriarty and Holmes reversed in a world ruled by Lovecraftian monsters. Not the type of thing I'm looking for now, but way too good not to mention. The second one is much closer to canon, rather cleverly placed within it realy, and the fantastical element fits very well too.

I have House of Silk on my shelf, but I have not read it yet, I probably will once I'm done with the book I'm reading right now. I hope it's as good as I've heard. Any other recommendations?

When I started reading your post, I immediatly thought about Sherlok Holmes y la sabiduría de los muertos. I have a Book somewhere with some short stories by another author, as an hommage to Doyle. if I manage to find it I'll Let you know.

I know you said you're not looking for that style, but the collection Shadows over Baker Street has more Lovecraft/Holmes pastiches in case you ever end up in that mood. Also I've heard good things about those three... Gaslight Grotesque, Gaslight... Arcane, I think, and some other one. From what I hear each one mixes Holmes with, depending on the collection, fantasy, sci-fi or horror. A Study in Scarlet is reprinted in there too.

I've actually not read like, any Sherlock Holmes, but at some point I want to pick up one of the big collections.

the lovecraftian one is "A study in emerald", not scarlet.

They aren't books, sure, but play the Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares. The cases are more often than not REALLY good and feel like they could've been written by Doyle himself.

what about this one: The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Why is it whenever I walk into a bookstore they never have anything I want to read, like Sherlock Holmes . It's annoying. Terrible bookstores here, bad form new zealand. It's no wonder I'm never reading anything.

I guess I should do e-books or something, I guess I'm old fashioned and like books that are made out of paper.

I've played nearly all of the SH games, and I think that the writing, although commendable, is a bit off. Holmes never belittled Watson so much in the books. A bit, to be sure, but never so heavily and overtly as in the games. In two games he practically verbally abuses him. There are many other things I can't quite put my finger on, but they feel very different from the books.

True, their relationship is a bit askew at times, but note I said the cases. The actual crimes/mysteries themselves.

Right you are of course. Corrected :) Oh come now, give me some credit. I played them of course. Mostly they are very good, even great. I agree with Charon that Holmes/Watson dynamic was a bit off at times (I think it was worst in The Awakend, otherwise a great game), but it definately improved later on. Jack the Ripper was probably their best game in all regards. I do hope we might get those on GOG finally, including the upcoming one. This one looks interesting. I'll have to look for it. The only problem is that it's a collection of stories from various authors- those are always a little hit and miss. Still, I'l definately look for it. Unfortunately it's not as easy as it used to be to get books in english around here. Used to be every bookstore had a proper collection of books in english (and other languages), but today I mostly have to buy those online.

There's a whole Sherlock Holmes series by Wolfgang Schüler and Franziska Franke, but I don't think there is an English translation.

Some spoiler below, I guess.

Did any of you read Anthony Horowitz's Moriarty? Is it worth buying? It looks somewhat interesting, but than again it apparently does a "Moriarty didn't die at Reichenbach" twist, which I don't much like as it makes the "The Final Problem" entirely pointless. I know, league of Extraordinary Gentlemen did that too, but that's such a topsy turvy world it didn't bother me there.

The cases are very well done, I agree. The game developers/writers managed to achieve just the right mix of mystery, suspense and logic from the original stories.