from: Carroll & Graf
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Carroll & Graf
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: December 19, 2005
Publishing house: Carroll & Graf
Sale Popularity Level: 1699697
Studio: Carroll & Graf
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Sherlock Holmes once declared: 'This world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.' And when Dr. Mortimer asked if the legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles was not of interest, Holmes said only: 'To a collector of fairy-tales.' And yet Conan Doyle, fascinated by psychic phenomena his entire life, and author of many horror and supernatural stories, did give Holmes a few problems of the otherworldly sort, even if they ended in rational explanations.
Featuring an all-star cast of Doyle devotees that includes Caleb Carr and Daniel Stashower, hosts of Baker Street is the third collection of original mystery stories featuring the literary world’s greatest detective (Murder in Baker Street; Murder, My Dear Watson)—and these stories bring Holmes and Watson up against the supernatural. This latest installment in the New Tales of Sherlock Holmes series—edited by Martin H. Greenberg, one of crime fiction's most awarded editors and anthologists—brings the reader more adventures where the ultimate disbelieving detective tackles mysteries with a distinctly strange flavor, featuring crimes and situations that may possibly be not of this world.
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Rated by buyers 
-
The quality of this anthology is basically identical to the last one mentioned, and again includes some essays at the end. The most interesting in this case is taking a look at the 'occult detective' subgenre of fiction, at least up until the 60s, which was a nice inclusion.
Ghosts in Baker Street : 01 The Devil and Sherlock Holmes - Loren D. Estleman
Ghosts in Baker Street : 02 The Adventure of the Librarian's Ghost - Jon L. Breen
Ghosts in Baker Street : 03 The Adventure of the Late Orang Outang - Gillian Linscott
Ghosts in Baker Street : 04 A Scandal in Drury Lane or The Vampire Trap - Carolyn Wheat
Ghosts in Baker Street : 05 Sherlock Holmes and the Mummy's Curse - H. Paul Jeffers
Ghosts in Baker Street : 06 Death in the East End - Colin Bruce
Ghosts in Baker Street : 07 The Adventure of the Dog in the Nighttime - Paula Cohen
Ghosts in Baker Street : 08 Selden's Tale - Daniel Stashower
Ghosts in Baker Street : 09 The Adventure of the St Marylebone Ghoul - Bill Crider
Ghosts in Baker Street : 10 The Coole Park Problem - Michéal Breathnach and Clare Breathnach
An institutionalised man shows a demonic personality until Halloween.
3 out of 5
A possibly suffragette spook.
3.5 out of 5
Ape puppet fun.
3.5 out of 5
A spiritualist and a corpse in a wall leds Watson et. al. to an old location.
3.5 out of 5
A good old Egyptian tomb curse.
3.5 out of 5
An ancestor and plague history lead Watson to a strange dead woman.
3.5 out of 5
A dead canine and an ice storage facility.
3 out of 5
The Notting Hill murderer.
2.5 out of 5
Graveyards and bad jokes.
3 out of 5
Holmes and Watson are off to Ireland, the former not too happy, with a case involving a servant, with Shaw and Keats along for the ride.
4 out of 5
Rated by buyers -
First the objections:-
1. Sherlock Holmes has become the epitome of rational and logical thinking principally because he adhered to the statement ("No ghosts need apply") firmly and unflinchingly. Several stories show him deviating from this principle grossly.
2. The atmosphere of most of the stories were so stifling that I felt drowsy (extremely unlikely for Holmesian stories).
Now the praises:-
1. The authors try to open a few new portals to other dimensions in the Holmesian world.
2. "The Adventure of the Late Ourang Otang" was fabulous.
3. Most of the pastiches were well researched and good.
My conclusion: enjoy it.
Rated by buyers -
Any book that contains Sherlock Holmes and the supernatural has some conflicting issues to begin with. As Holmes clearly did not believe in 'ghosts' its hard to think of ways around this dilemna if you're the writer. This book assembles a veteran cast of Holmes writers, from Loren Estleman to Daniel Stashower plus some newcomers, namely H. Paul Jeffers, whom I've read before as a biographer, not a mystery writer. He does a good job in a classic mummy story. But most of this collection of stories are strangely inert; not much exciting ever happens. There is not a bad story among them, although Stashower's choice of a short story from Seldon's (of Hound of the Baskervilles) POV is curious at best but most of the stories are not very memorable. After you're done, that's that. It doesn't help that the best writer here, Caleb Carr, only does an essay but it is as scholarly and witty as all his other works. (If you like his style, be sure and check out The Italian Secretary, which is a Holmes ghost story that works!) The best stories here are Gillian Linscott's Adventure of the Late Orange Outang (a nice bit of the surreal here), Death in the East End by Colin Bruce, a truly spooky story, Scandal in Drury Lane by Carolyn Wheat and Bill Crider's Adventure of the St. Marylebone Ghoul, a rousing story of bodysnatchers - or is it? If your taste runs to a bit stronger helpings of suspense, just plain weirdness and craziness like space aliens in your Holmes stories doesn't bother you, you might want to check out the older Shadows Over Baker Street, a potent mix of Holmes in the Lovecraft universe. For traditionalists, this is the better collection.
Rated by buyers 
-
I had hoped this volume would be a combination of the best of Doyle - his Holmes stories and his horror stories. It fails to do justice to either. It's more like Ann Radcliffe writes a Holmes horror story, with everything neatly explained in the end. Only Loren Estelman's tale of Holmes and Watson facing a man claiming to be the devil really worked, Estelman left the ending in doubt as to what really took place. The essays at the end were nothing more than padding for an already slim volume.
Rated by buyers -
GHOSTS IN BAKER STREET is the third installment in Martin Greenberg's "New Tales of Sherlock Holmes" series. Methinks Greenberg went to the well once too often.
The theme of this third volume centers on history's supreme rationalist tackling cases of a supernatural bent. I was skeptical of the idea but, like most Sherlock Holmes fans who are forever hoping some modern day author will recapture Doyle's lighting in a bottle, I plunked down my $16.95.
Unfortunately the stories in GHOSTS IN BAKER STREET fall pretty flat. Despite some attempts to create a properly spooky atmosphere, the stories are unaffecting. The only story that made an impact was "The Devil and Sherlock Holmes," the reason being that author Loren Estleman has "his" Holmes pay Watson a compliment in words that could have flowed from Conan Doyle's pen.
Like the previous two volumes, both of which I enjoyed to a great degree, this volume has several non-fiction essays on Holmes at the end of the book. Though some of these essays have been interesting, I would have much preferred that Greenberg included more stories.
All in all, an optional purchase.
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