This long-awaited second collection of pastiches of the immortal Sherlock Holmes offers eleven new adventures of Solar Pons, who has been called by Vincent Starrett "a clever impersonator, with a twinkle in his eye, which tells us that he knows he is not Sherlock Holmes, and knows that we know it, but that he hopes we will like him anyway for what he symbolizes." Here are such fascinating stories as "The Adventure of the Paralytic Mendicant", an account of as unique a vengeance as was ever perpetrated between boards; "The Adventure of the Circular Room", a tale of a diabolic plot which will rouse many a memory of the old Master; the complex puzzle which will be of particular interest to bibliophiles told in the Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Contest prizewinning "The Adventure of the Six Silver Spiders"; the curious affair which is "The Adventure of the Tottenham Werewolf'; and others which will bring back old, long-vanished Baker Street days. Once again in the London of years ago "the game is afoot." Certainly no living writer has brought the Holmesian pastiche to a higher development than this. There is very little difference, indeed, in the atmosphere of the stories, once they have begun to unfold; No. 7B Praed Street readily becomes 221B Baker Street; and Solar Pons, attended by his Dr. Lyndon Parker, often becomes curiously interchangeable with the Master of Baker Street and his Watson. "There is no intention to deceive," as Vincent Starrett wrote in his introduction to the first collection. "These nostalgic reminders of vanished days and nights in Baker Street are intended only to please."

Solar Pons was created by August Derleth in the 1920s as a continuation of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Derleth, who famously created Arkham House Publishing to preserve the writings of his friend, author HP Lovecraft, had corresponded with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, asking whether Doyle would be providing any new Holmes adventures. When Doyle said no, Derleth determined to write some himself. However, instead of writing more Holmes tales, Derleth came up with Solar Pons, a detective very similar to Holmes, and Dr. Lyndon Parker, his Dr. Watson. Eventually, between the 1920's and his death in 1971, Derleth wrote over seventy Pons tales, set in that period between the end of World War I and 1939. "Now, meet Solar Pons, the Pride of Praed Street . . . The Master is not too visible - that is, to the naked eye. But you will feel his dynamic presence once again . . . Yes, dear reader, but turn a page, and again - the game is afoot!" - Ellery Queen

August Derleth created in Solar Pons a detective whose genius cannot be matched, perhaps not even by Sherlock Holmes himself. Now the pen has passed into the hand of the noted British author Basil Copper. Here are six superbly crafted tales of suspense in the best tradition of Solar Pens. Come to Number 7B Praed Street, where the master awaits.

It will be good news to many devotees of the deductive story - particularly the pastiche of Sherlock Holmes - that Solar Pons is back in a third major collection after a lapse of seven years. In his introduction to this collection, Mr. Smith echoes the sentiments of many readers when he writes, "These pastiches come the closest of any that have been written, consistently, to capturing the true flavor of the Holmesian Saga, and to making its people and its places and its happenings entirely credible." There are thirteen tales in this collection, ranging from the complex problem set forth in "The Adventure of the Lost Dutchman" to the sanguine events chronicled in "The Adventure of the Swedenborg Signatures". Here are such provocative exploits as "The Adventure of the Penny Magenta", "The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant", "The Adventure of the Little Hangman", "The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm", "The Adventure of the Camberwell Beauty". Here is a puzzle with supernatural overtones - "The Adventure of the Devil's Footprints", and here, too, another which touches upon the early exploration of atomic secrets - "The Adventure of the Rydberg Numbers". And one of these entertaining accounts is a double pastiche - not only of the Master of Baker Street, but also of the sinister Oriental of Limehouse! These tales will bring back long-missed Baker Street days, for No. 7 Praed Street bears a striking resemblance to 221B Baker Street, and Solar Pons and Dr. Parker seem often interchangeable with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. No living writer has equaled August Derleth's achievement in these pastiches, offered to readers with no intention to deceive, but only to entertain. Here once again is London of decades ago, and here, once again, "the game is afoot."

Eliminating the impossible just got a whole lot harder! The fabled tin dispatch box of Dr. John H. Watson opens to reveal eleven all-new tales of mystery and dark fantasy. Sherlock Holmes, master of deductive reasoning, confronts the irrational, the unexpected and the fantastic in the weird worlds of the Gaslight Grimoire.