So Many Holmes

Baby Sis being the wonderful human being she is made sure that I had a new book for my birthday.  We not only share a love of reading, chocolate and The Gilmore Girls, but we also both love our boy Sherlock Holmes (and his buddy Watson).  In that spirit the book she so generously bewstowed upon me (I'm using my big girl words today) is the short story collection Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets edited by David Thomas Moore.  It was very different then I thought it was going to be, but once I got used to it I found several stories that I really enjoyed.

A Woman's Place by Emma Newman - Mrs. Hudson plays the pivotal role in this story.  We learn a fascinating secret about our ever present housekeeper that involves both Holmes and Moriarty.  This slight Sci-Fi twist on a typical Holmsian tale is the perfect vehical to show just how important Mrs. Hudson is.

A Study in Scarborough by Guy Adams - This story was my baby sis's favorite in the collection and I have to admit when I first started reading it, I wasn't impressed...but buy the end WOW!  I can't tell you any more, because as much as I love spoilers, you have to read this one for yourself.

The Final Conjuration by Adrian Tchaikovsky - This one seemed to really embody the spirit of this anthology.  In this story, Holmes is conjured to help out a magician in another world.  Despite the magical nature of this other world, Holmes logic still prevails.

The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove - I love stories like this one that keep our characters and settings familiar, but add just a bit of a twist.  In this case it is the evolution of various abilities in humans such as invincibility, flight, and speed.  The best part is that Holmes actually has no added abilities and accepts this by honing his wits.

All the Single Ladies by Gini Koch - Wooohoooo an awesome story where Holmes is a suave, competent, clever woman.  This story is told in modern times and gives us the meeting of Holmes and Watson in a throughly Homsian case.  Love this one!

The best and worst part of this collection is the mindset in which I had to be in to read it.  I am so used to Sherlock Holmes stories being a different version of his various cases.  I have read these set in various times and places, but always in the setting of a case.  This collection focused more on the personality of Holmes and Watson, many of these stories either did not involve a case, or the case took a back seat to the setting and story of the actual characters.  Overall, once I mentally switched gears I really enjoyed the majority of the collection and would recommend it to fans of Sherlock Holmes, Sci-Fi, Fantasy and genre mixing.  I give this collection 7 out of 10 blue beauties.
What is your favorite version of Holmes and Watson?  Why do you think the Holmesian genre is so adaptable?  Why does everybody want to make Holmes so depressed?