The case of the Baker Street Irregulars

Set in 1939, this worthy addition to the American Mystery Classic series from legendary mystery critic Boucher (1911--1968) pits the Baker Street Irregulars, members of the real-life organization of Sherlock Holmes fans, against Stephen Worth, who has been chosen by Metropolis Pictures to write the screenplay for a major movie based on the Holmes story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." Worth, "the author of many stupid and illogical mystery novels of the type known as hard-boiled," has expressed a desire to show up the detective as a "cocky bastard." When the Irregulars protest Worth's selection to Metropolis Pictures producer F.X. Weinberg, Weinberg invites them to Hollywood to consult on the film. The Irregulars soon lock horns with the obnoxious Worth, and a fatal shooting follows. Weinberg's publicist, Maureen O'Breen, investigates, with varying degrees of help from the Sherlockians. Boucher tosses in plenty of shout-outs to Conan Doyle's originals, including an envelope containing five orange seeds and a coded message featuring stick figures of dancing men. Fans of humorous whodunits will be pleased. (Oct.)

"SHERLOCK HOLMES RIDES AGAIN!" announces a newspaper headline covering a mysterious murder in this ebullient 1940 reprint by the multitalented Boucher (1911--1968), and it's all true except for the Sherlock Holmes part. When the Baker Street Irregulars protest producer F.X. Weinberg's decision to sign heterodox mystery novelist Stephen Worth to script The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Metropolis Pictures publicity agent Maureen O'Breen comes up with a clever way to buy them off: Invite four Irregulars veterans and their latest initiate, German émigré Otto Federhut, to consult on the filming and comment on its accuracy to the Sacred Writings. But when Maureen sees Worth shot to death, the Irregulars are instantly transformed from authorities to suspects. Things get stranger when the corpse vanishes, and stranger still when each of the invited guests--Federhut, Dr. Rufus Bottomley, professor Drew Furness, Sirrah editor Harrison Ridgly III, and Jonadab Evans, who as John O'Dab created the deathless detective Derring Drew--recounts an intricately detailed backstory larded with improbable incidents, coded messages, Holmes-ian allusions, and broad implications of each other's guilt. The characters are no more than types, but their different voices are perfectly suited for the wild tales they tell, and fans who approach this 80-year-old pastiche through either Arthur Conan Doyle's writings or any of the dozens of Holmes' posthumous adventures by other hands will be challenged, piqued, and delighted right down to the final revelation by a most unexpected sleuth. Inventive, ingenious, rollicking fun. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.