21st Century Sherlock Holmes

Writers — and readers — never tire of new invented stories of Conan Doyle's master detective, notes the Los Angeles Times.

From the article...

It's far too easy to stereotype an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle's storied and much-beloved detective. After all, the pipe-smoking deductive genius, since his birth in the pages of Strand magazine in 1887, has inspired many admirers to emulate his speech patterns and style of dress. Attend the annual meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars and the demographic will likely skew toward those with more gray than any other color in their hair.

Doing so, however, neglects some facts that surprise at first, and seem obvious in hindsight: Sherlockians start on their journey toward admiration of the detective and his sidekick Watson at an early age, and much of the best literature that reimagines Holmes in new adventures has been written by authors still in their 20s. They have the energy and enthusiasm to go where countless writers have gone before, and in that state of freshness, stretch Conan Doyle's original world well beyond initial constraints without sacrificing the essence of what makes Holmes and Watson tick.

And, while we're on the subject of detectives, Anne Holt, for the Guardian, chooses her Top Ten Female Detectives.