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A Study in Lavender: Queering Sherlock Holmes
What other characters from English literature have captivated hearts and minds as thoroughly as Sherlock Holmes and his loyal companion John Watson? Many fans imagine the relationship between these men is deep and more than platonic. In A Study in Lavender , the Holmes universe is queered and authors have devised stories in which Holmes and Watson are lovers, or investigate mysteries of inverts hidden from the laws and cultures of the Victorian era; even the indomitable Lestrade has his turn at love; and eerie apparitions in the night sky, reminiscent of Jules Verne, draw Holmes to Cleveland Street, home to an infamous scandal.
358 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
September 28, 2012
It is not my practice to review Sherlockian fiction of such a specialized nature, however, I purchased this book because I collect Sherlockian pastiches and felt I needed to add the stories to my database. I made the mistake of reading the first and was caught in a carefully devised trap. The editor must have given very careful directions to the contributors, for I found very little here of a sexual nature. Instead, I found earnest and thoughtful fiction that concentrated on the problems caused by the very harsh laws in Victorian Britain that restricted those whom we would now characterize as “following alternative lifestyles.” Indeed, the characters in these pages exhibit all sorts of alternative approaches to life.
My usual practice in reviewing anthologies is to give brief summaries of the individual tales, along with their titles and the authors’ names. In this case, most of the stories consist of efforts by the characters to hide, discover and/or to fulfill their life conditions, so that approach would reveal too much of the point of the stories. Further, I have copies of many periodicals and anthologies of “gay” materials and I seldom do more than check through the pages to catalogue titles, authors and characters included along with references to events, historical characters and Canonical, Apocryphal or Untold tales. All ten of these stories demanded attention and compelled sympathy or, at least, concern for the characters. The writing was of very high quality, the characters were well-developed and the plots were intricate and realistic.
Instead of inane characters indulging in sexual orgies, the reader is presented, mostly, with intelligent people trying to deal with the restrictions placed on their lives by a society that neither cares about nor understands them. These are stories of people who live in a world where they are guilty of heinous crimes simply because of their nature, not because of choices they have made or actions they have taken.
The stories are interesting, even disturbing. Many of the characters are not “gay,” nor are they concerned with the societal view of homosexuality. Many are simply caught up in events because someone among their family or friends is accused of or involved in events that are thought to be so. The variety of characters and events is surprising, more varied than expected and very well presented. Only two ‘monsters’ appear and both are truly frightening, especially in that they have learned effectively to hide within society.
The editor has put together as fine a collection of “alternative lifestyle” material as I have ever seen. I feel sure that the impetus and the execution needed to create this collection was supplied by him and he is to be congratulated on a fine job of producing a sympathetic and realistic view of the Nineteenth Century as seen from the viewpoint of those with alternative lifestyles.
Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, January 2012
Published in “Doctor Watson’s Formulary,” [#21, 09/2012]
My usual practice in reviewing anthologies is to give brief summaries of the individual tales, along with their titles and the authors’ names. In this case, most of the stories consist of efforts by the characters to hide, discover and/or to fulfill their life conditions, so that approach would reveal too much of the point of the stories. Further, I have copies of many periodicals and anthologies of “gay” materials and I seldom do more than check through the pages to catalogue titles, authors and characters included along with references to events, historical characters and Canonical, Apocryphal or Untold tales. All ten of these stories demanded attention and compelled sympathy or, at least, concern for the characters. The writing was of very high quality, the characters were well-developed and the plots were intricate and realistic.
Instead of inane characters indulging in sexual orgies, the reader is presented, mostly, with intelligent people trying to deal with the restrictions placed on their lives by a society that neither cares about nor understands them. These are stories of people who live in a world where they are guilty of heinous crimes simply because of their nature, not because of choices they have made or actions they have taken.
The stories are interesting, even disturbing. Many of the characters are not “gay,” nor are they concerned with the societal view of homosexuality. Many are simply caught up in events because someone among their family or friends is accused of or involved in events that are thought to be so. The variety of characters and events is surprising, more varied than expected and very well presented. Only two ‘monsters’ appear and both are truly frightening, especially in that they have learned effectively to hide within society.
The editor has put together as fine a collection of “alternative lifestyle” material as I have ever seen. I feel sure that the impetus and the execution needed to create this collection was supplied by him and he is to be congratulated on a fine job of producing a sympathetic and realistic view of the Nineteenth Century as seen from the viewpoint of those with alternative lifestyles.
Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, January 2012
Published in “Doctor Watson’s Formulary,” [#21, 09/2012]
December 22, 2016
My favourites in this anthology where The Case of the Wounded Heart and The Adventure of the Hidden Lane
The editor/writers choose/wrote stories which adhered well to the Sherlock canon. I got the feel of the pervading atmosphere of those times. There was some repetition regarding backgrounds as each writer wrote that it and so the reader gets to read this multiple times.
The Adventure of the Bloody Coins -Stephen Osborne
The Case of the Wounded Heart -Rajan Khanna
The Kidnapping of Alice Braddon -Katie Raynes
Court of Honour -J.R. Campbell
The Well-Educated Young Man -William P. Coleman
The Bride and the Bachelors -Vincent Kovar
The Adventure of the Hidden Lane -Lyn C.A. Gardner
Whom God Destroys -Ruth Sims
The Adventure of the Unidentified Flying Object -Michael G. Cornelius
The Adventure of the Poesy Ring -Elka Cloke
April 24, 2012
The stories:
The Adventure of the Bloody Coins: A story in which Mycroft is a suspect and Holmes helps him. Somehow too short too say much about it. Occassionally with short-stories I have the feeling to read a first draft and not a completed story and this was one of these cases. The crime got solved pretty quickly and everything seemed a bit superficial. That's a shame because I think if it had been a bit longer and the relationship between Sherlock and Mycroft had gotten more depth I would have loved this story.
The Case of the Wounded Heart: This story focusses on Lestrade. It's not told by Watson but by a third-person narrator and Watson has just a short speaking-role, Holmes none at all (though he's still present). I really liked this one, well-written and giving a whole new side to Lestrade without making his personality in this story clash with the one in the original canon.
The Kidnapping of Alice Braddon: Here no canon character is gay but during the cause of the investigation it turns out that it involves a lesbian. I don't think I can say too much about it, it's a good Holmes-pastiche, nothing more but also nothing less.
Court of Honour: I feel everything I'd say about this story would spoil too much. I did enjoy it as it dealt with a side of Holmes that had occasionally be alluded to in canon but not too often (that what's justice and what's legal aren't neccessarily always the same thing).
The Well-Educated Young Man: With this story I had various issues. One day Holmes and Watson meet a young man who turns out to be gay. He also tells about his life-story and how he was abused by an older man over years. Watson's first reaction is that this man turned the boy gay but he immediately explains that this is not connected at all. So far so good. But then Holmes tries to find this man, manages and saves a second boy from his clutches. That boy - oh wonder - is gay, too. Great that we cleared up that being sexually abused won't make you gay. It just didn't sit right with me, especially because there was no canon-reason why the second boy did need to be gay, too.
Now that was not the actualy case, yet, just a kind of introduction. Unfortunately the case itself didn't really convince me, too. You know how Holmes always complains that once he points out to Watson that once he explains to him how he deduced something Watson will immediately cry 'Of course, that's so easy when you say it!'. That's very much my reaction, too. Once Holmes explains something I immediately think that this obviously has to be the only logical solution. Here he explained something and my first reaction was 'Really? You are sure that there is no other possibility?' The case just wasn't just that convincing to me. Besides it also felt as if the author was trying to put too much in a story: at one point the young man says something to Holmes which implies that he is gay, too and Holmes does not deny it. That leads to Watson thinking a lot. He questions Holmes sexuality, shortly also his own...and it all feels very un-Watson-like spending so much time with inner monologes and doubts.
So to sum it up: The rest of the stories in this collections actually read like something ACD could have written. This one not at all.
The Bride and the Bachelors: Another good story (told by Holmes this time) and another where I don't want to spoil too much.
The Adventure of the Hidden Lane: My least favourite story. First of all because I don't think it belongs in a Sherlock Holmes-collection. It's not set in the Holmes-universe, the narrator works as secretary for Conan Doyle for a while before he changes to a more promising career of serial-killer. Now I felt that the connection to Doyle wasn't really that strong. Yes the narrator mentiones reading a lot of Holmes-stories but overall I felt that you could have replaced Doyle with any other famous man from that time or just a random fictional character and it wouldn't have made a difference.
Apart from that: If I'm reading a first person narration by a serial-killer I want to feel something...hatred, pitty, fascination...anything. Here I just felt 'meh' and thought 'after watching so many Criminal Minds-episodes I can't believe that any self-respecting serial-killer would act in the way you do'.
Whom God destroys. Good...though I had some problems with the fact that overall it is much darker than the average Holmes-stories but in the end everything was full of rainbows and unicorns again.
The adventure of the Unidentifyed Flying Object: Despite my deep dislike for any UFO-stories I was OK with this one. It was another good pastiche and added some interesting insights into the relationship between Holmes and Watson.
The Adventure of the Poesy ring: Now first of all: Many of the stories in this volume start with some words by Watson about how this story can't be published in his lifetime because of scandals for the involved people and blah. OK. If you want to add this I'm fine with it...but could you just keep it short? I don't need one page of rambling about this. A paragraph would be enough...and on the topic of shortness: I think there should be a limit to how long kissing-scenes are allowed to be...almost two pages is defenitely too much and is just somewhat riddiculous. (So, yeah...I have already told you that this story is narrated by Watson so now you can take a good guess on whom he's kissing).
For me there was just a bit too much rambling going on in the story. The plotting itself was fine.
Overall a nice collection...though I must say the reason that it got the fourth star was the highly informative introduction about the Holmes-Watson relationship. It made some really interesting points (like that some of the places that got mentioned in the story and which Holmes claimed to know well were "homosexual cruising areas") and also asks weather we should question Holmes' sexuality at all (as the volume exists the editor's answer is obviously 'yes').
I also quite liked how the 'different Watsons' in the story dealt with the subject. He is never downright homophobic but in two stories it gets clear that up until that point he had just accepted society's opinion without questioning it much. In other stories he is more open (including one where he recalls an amusing anecdote from his time as doctor that shows he really can't be surprised by anything).
The Adventure of the Bloody Coins: A story in which Mycroft is a suspect and Holmes helps him. Somehow too short too say much about it. Occassionally with short-stories I have the feeling to read a first draft and not a completed story and this was one of these cases. The crime got solved pretty quickly and everything seemed a bit superficial. That's a shame because I think if it had been a bit longer and the relationship between Sherlock and Mycroft had gotten more depth I would have loved this story.
The Case of the Wounded Heart: This story focusses on Lestrade. It's not told by Watson but by a third-person narrator and Watson has just a short speaking-role, Holmes none at all (though he's still present). I really liked this one, well-written and giving a whole new side to Lestrade without making his personality in this story clash with the one in the original canon.
The Kidnapping of Alice Braddon: Here no canon character is gay but during the cause of the investigation it turns out that it involves a lesbian. I don't think I can say too much about it, it's a good Holmes-pastiche, nothing more but also nothing less.
Court of Honour: I feel everything I'd say about this story would spoil too much. I did enjoy it as it dealt with a side of Holmes that had occasionally be alluded to in canon but not too often (that what's justice and what's legal aren't neccessarily always the same thing).
The Well-Educated Young Man: With this story I had various issues. One day Holmes and Watson meet a young man who turns out to be gay. He also tells about his life-story and how he was abused by an older man over years. Watson's first reaction is that this man turned the boy gay but he immediately explains that this is not connected at all. So far so good. But then Holmes tries to find this man, manages and saves a second boy from his clutches. That boy - oh wonder - is gay, too. Great that we cleared up that being sexually abused won't make you gay. It just didn't sit right with me, especially because there was no canon-reason why the second boy did need to be gay, too.
Now that was not the actualy case, yet, just a kind of introduction. Unfortunately the case itself didn't really convince me, too. You know how Holmes always complains that once he points out to Watson that once he explains to him how he deduced something Watson will immediately cry 'Of course, that's so easy when you say it!'. That's very much my reaction, too. Once Holmes explains something I immediately think that this obviously has to be the only logical solution. Here he explained something and my first reaction was 'Really? You are sure that there is no other possibility?' The case just wasn't just that convincing to me. Besides it also felt as if the author was trying to put too much in a story: at one point the young man says something to Holmes which implies that he is gay, too and Holmes does not deny it. That leads to Watson thinking a lot. He questions Holmes sexuality, shortly also his own...and it all feels very un-Watson-like spending so much time with inner monologes and doubts.
So to sum it up: The rest of the stories in this collections actually read like something ACD could have written. This one not at all.
The Bride and the Bachelors: Another good story (told by Holmes this time) and another where I don't want to spoil too much.
The Adventure of the Hidden Lane: My least favourite story. First of all because I don't think it belongs in a Sherlock Holmes-collection. It's not set in the Holmes-universe, the narrator works as secretary for Conan Doyle for a while before he changes to a more promising career of serial-killer. Now I felt that the connection to Doyle wasn't really that strong. Yes the narrator mentiones reading a lot of Holmes-stories but overall I felt that you could have replaced Doyle with any other famous man from that time or just a random fictional character and it wouldn't have made a difference.
Apart from that: If I'm reading a first person narration by a serial-killer I want to feel something...hatred, pitty, fascination...anything. Here I just felt 'meh' and thought 'after watching so many Criminal Minds-episodes I can't believe that any self-respecting serial-killer would act in the way you do'.
Whom God destroys. Good...though I had some problems with the fact that overall it is much darker than the average Holmes-stories but in the end everything was full of rainbows and unicorns again.
The adventure of the Unidentifyed Flying Object: Despite my deep dislike for any UFO-stories I was OK with this one. It was another good pastiche and added some interesting insights into the relationship between Holmes and Watson.
The Adventure of the Poesy ring: Now first of all: Many of the stories in this volume start with some words by Watson about how this story can't be published in his lifetime because of scandals for the involved people and blah. OK. If you want to add this I'm fine with it...but could you just keep it short? I don't need one page of rambling about this. A paragraph would be enough...and on the topic of shortness: I think there should be a limit to how long kissing-scenes are allowed to be...almost two pages is defenitely too much and is just somewhat riddiculous. (So, yeah...I have already told you that this story is narrated by Watson so now you can take a good guess on whom he's kissing).
For me there was just a bit too much rambling going on in the story. The plotting itself was fine.
Overall a nice collection...though I must say the reason that it got the fourth star was the highly informative introduction about the Holmes-Watson relationship. It made some really interesting points (like that some of the places that got mentioned in the story and which Holmes claimed to know well were "homosexual cruising areas") and also asks weather we should question Holmes' sexuality at all (as the volume exists the editor's answer is obviously 'yes').
I also quite liked how the 'different Watsons' in the story dealt with the subject. He is never downright homophobic but in two stories it gets clear that up until that point he had just accepted society's opinion without questioning it much. In other stories he is more open (including one where he recalls an amusing anecdote from his time as doctor that shows he really can't be surprised by anything).
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March 26, 2020This was the best collection of pastiches i've read so far! i appreciated that they were pg or pg-13. not all of the stories features holmes/watson, and i really liked how the different authors interpreted and brought in lgbtq+ themes in their works. that said, a lot of them still frustrated me either because of the characterization or tropes/clichés in the supporting characters. also, ther short intros before every story were kind of redundant and in some cases, kind of spoiled what was to come! they felt unnecessary and i would have preferred, if necessary, to have them in the introduction. i heard from someone that at some point lethe press was toying with releasing another anthology of lgbtq+ holmes stories, and i would definitely read it, despite a few weak links in this one! wouldn't recommend unless you are a holmes fan who deeply cares about lgbtq+ retellings/pastiches, because otherwise it won't be worth your time. glad i read it though! and i'm also glad that there were some non-women contributors, that felt nice.
(faves: “The Case of the Wounded Heart” by Rajan Khanna, “The Adventure of the Hidden Lane” by Lyn C.A. Gardner, “The Adventure of the Unidentified Flying Object” by Michael G. Cornelius (this one, out of every holmes pastiche i've read, seemed to me to actually have the most holmesian mystery and deduction) and “The Adventure of the Poesy Ring” by Elka Cloke)
(faves: “The Case of the Wounded Heart” by Rajan Khanna, “The Adventure of the Hidden Lane” by Lyn C.A. Gardner, “The Adventure of the Unidentified Flying Object” by Michael G. Cornelius (this one, out of every holmes pastiche i've read, seemed to me to actually have the most holmesian mystery and deduction) and “The Adventure of the Poesy Ring” by Elka Cloke)
July 25, 2023
Nine thoroughly charming, varied queer stories and one bafflingly transphobic one. Particular shoutouts to The Kidnapping of Alice Brandon, The Adventure of the Hidden Lane, and The Adventure of the Posey Ring!
February 25, 2016
One of the best volumes of Sherlock Holmes short stories I have read in a long time.
The stories all have an interesting take on the world of Sherlock Holmes. Every story has a gay component to it. Sometimes it is Holmes who is gay, sometimes it is the client, or the victim, and in one story, Lestrade.
I found the stories all to be interesting and insightful into life for people who were criminals merely for the fact they existed, whether or not they acted upon their sexual orientation.
It is rare for me to find an anthology where I loved all the stories. Usually there is a mix of good, bad, and mediocre. "A Study in Lavender", however, contained stories that were pretty much all good. The ending of the final story in the book tended towards being a little on the mediocre side, but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the book.
The truly outstanding story, however, is "The Well-Educated Young Man" by William P. Copeland. This story spelled out how truly dangerous and horrific life was for gay men in the Victorian era. The story is so well written and readable that it was whilst reading it that I knew this volume would be added to my Sherlock Holmes collection, not passed on, as I do so many others.
There are no actual sex scenes, so don't be afraid to reach out for the book. You may learn something as well as be entertained by some brilliantly written stories.
Highly recommended.
The stories all have an interesting take on the world of Sherlock Holmes. Every story has a gay component to it. Sometimes it is Holmes who is gay, sometimes it is the client, or the victim, and in one story, Lestrade.
I found the stories all to be interesting and insightful into life for people who were criminals merely for the fact they existed, whether or not they acted upon their sexual orientation.
It is rare for me to find an anthology where I loved all the stories. Usually there is a mix of good, bad, and mediocre. "A Study in Lavender", however, contained stories that were pretty much all good. The ending of the final story in the book tended towards being a little on the mediocre side, but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the book.
The truly outstanding story, however, is "The Well-Educated Young Man" by William P. Copeland. This story spelled out how truly dangerous and horrific life was for gay men in the Victorian era. The story is so well written and readable that it was whilst reading it that I knew this volume would be added to my Sherlock Holmes collection, not passed on, as I do so many others.
There are no actual sex scenes, so don't be afraid to reach out for the book. You may learn something as well as be entertained by some brilliantly written stories.
Highly recommended.
May 22, 2021
A Study in Lavender takes Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and other characters, both from the Holmes stories, like Inspector LeStrade, and those of reality, like the mystery author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and turns it on its head, choosing to have Gay characters or storylines integrated into the Holmes' stories.
I had a misconstrued perception going into this LGBT anthology of Holmes stories.
I had thought it was going to be a collection of Holmes stories where Holmes and Watson took their bromance to the next level. I was wrong.
True, there is at least one story featured that does so. Now, most of the ones who address cases where homosexuality is at the center of it, were giving a historic and honest nod, that homosexuality in that time was still very underground and a crime worthy of arrest or death. Not every reader may be aware of that, and in some stories, it is very sad.
Others don't exactly paint homosexuality in a positive light, choosing to have a gay character portray the anti-hero or antagonist depending on reader's perception of the story.
Now if you're looking for quick short stories that feature (mostly) gay men as part of the Holmes' stories, yes, please.
If you're looking more SPECIFICALLY at the Holmes/Watson relationship, Holmes/Moriarty, Holmes/LeStrade, etc. or something a little bit spicier, you probably won't find them here.
I had a misconstrued perception going into this LGBT anthology of Holmes stories.
I had thought it was going to be a collection of Holmes stories where Holmes and Watson took their bromance to the next level. I was wrong.
True, there is at least one story featured that does so. Now, most of the ones who address cases where homosexuality is at the center of it, were giving a historic and honest nod, that homosexuality in that time was still very underground and a crime worthy of arrest or death. Not every reader may be aware of that, and in some stories, it is very sad.
Others don't exactly paint homosexuality in a positive light, choosing to have a gay character portray the anti-hero or antagonist depending on reader's perception of the story.
Now if you're looking for quick short stories that feature (mostly) gay men as part of the Holmes' stories, yes, please.
If you're looking more SPECIFICALLY at the Holmes/Watson relationship, Holmes/Moriarty, Holmes/LeStrade, etc. or something a little bit spicier, you probably won't find them here.
Shelved as 'dnf'
March 22, 2024dnf at 30 %, perhaps not very fair to dnf this after 4 stories out of 10, but I am finding the mysteries distinctly underwhelming, the characterisation of familiar characters not to my taste, and the overal approach of queering the Holmesian canon a bit out of date. I do realise this collection is nearly two decades old but that also means there are others that I'll like more.
December 23, 2019
I'm always pleasantly surprised when I find an anthology that is actually good and this one did not disappoint! I think what made it work is 1. the excellent theme and 2. the stories all being different. It wasn't just a book full of stories about Holmes and Watson as a couple - although there are a few of those of course. There were also stories featuring Mycroft, Lestrade, various clients, and even one from the villains POV [although sadly no Moriarty]. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for queer historical fiction or people who like unique Sherlock Holmes retellings.
December 7, 2023
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR QUEER SHERLOCK AND WATSON CONTENT, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. IT IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK AND YOU WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED. THIS APPLIES ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE YOUNG AND QUEER.
I don't say this simply to be harsh but SAVE YOU MONEY, because this book is expensive and hard to find. I myself got lucky with a $30 copy on Amazon, but it took several weeks of looking and waiting for an edition that cheap to be available - I saw several going for over $100.
When I bought this book I was a queer 16 y/o who had been recently disappointed by BBC Sherlock, so I am writing from the point of view of someone who had very, very high hopes for a book like this. I thought I was getting explicitly queer stories about the Doyle characters I know and love, which is why I was so desperate to read this book in the first place.
A Study in Lavender is not a bad book. I actually really love the set-up of "unpublished accounts for cases deemed too sensitive" and, on the whole, this definitely has its place in the world of Sherlock Holmes spin-offs and sequels, but I know what it looks like to young, queer fans, because I was one of them, and this book was a huge disappointment (except for the third story, that one was good). I am glad that I, personally, read it, because it sparked a piece of rage inside that I think made me a more interesting person, and also it further-fueled my interest in the queer appeal of Sherlock Holmes. I will be keeping my copy, for certain, despite sort of hating it. Also you know I'm not stopping here so STRAP IN.
[warning for spoilers and discussions of sexual abuse below the cut]
Apologies if I missed any of the stories, though I don't think I did. The moral of this book review is that sometimes you just don't like things. Anyway, if you're looking for better, queerer John and Sherlock content (outside of fanfiction, which I also recommend), there are definitely options available, including some books here on goodreads. Shop at your own risk, though, because a lot of it is porn. As for personal recommendations, I'd go for Furtive Festivity (a short film on YouTube where Sherlock and John are explicitly a couple and John throws him a surprise birthday party - it's very cute, lot's of innuendos) or A Study in Honor by Claire O'Dell (Holmes and Watson as Black lesbians in alternate-reality, present-day U.S. during a civil war with neo-confederates - very interesting, very weird, I'd recommend it if The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was/is a guilty pleasure TV show for you, but note that Holmes and Watson are NOT a couple, at least in Book 1).
If the queerness isn't a big factor in what you're looking for, and you just want something well-done and interesting, then try A Study in Black (graphic novel/comic series about Holmes and Watson as Black men in the U.S. - only read the first volume but it was very good and had some well-written social commentary incorporated, not to mention BEAUTIFUL art) or, my favourite TV show ever, Elementary (went on at the same time as BBC Sherlock but got less attention despite being objectively better I said what I said, also some nitwits decided to be racist about Lucy Liu, but she is the best Watson to ever Watson and the best character in most TV shows that have existed within the past 435 years).
Anyway, hope this was helpful.
I don't say this simply to be harsh but SAVE YOU MONEY, because this book is expensive and hard to find. I myself got lucky with a $30 copy on Amazon, but it took several weeks of looking and waiting for an edition that cheap to be available - I saw several going for over $100.
When I bought this book I was a queer 16 y/o who had been recently disappointed by BBC Sherlock, so I am writing from the point of view of someone who had very, very high hopes for a book like this. I thought I was getting explicitly queer stories about the Doyle characters I know and love, which is why I was so desperate to read this book in the first place.
A Study in Lavender is not a bad book. I actually really love the set-up of "unpublished accounts for cases deemed too sensitive" and, on the whole, this definitely has its place in the world of Sherlock Holmes spin-offs and sequels, but I know what it looks like to young, queer fans, because I was one of them, and this book was a huge disappointment (except for the third story, that one was good). I am glad that I, personally, read it, because it sparked a piece of rage inside that I think made me a more interesting person, and also it further-fueled my interest in the queer appeal of Sherlock Holmes. I will be keeping my copy, for certain, despite sort of hating it. Also you know I'm not stopping here so STRAP IN.
[warning for spoilers and discussions of sexual abuse below the cut]
Apologies if I missed any of the stories, though I don't think I did. The moral of this book review is that sometimes you just don't like things. Anyway, if you're looking for better, queerer John and Sherlock content (outside of fanfiction, which I also recommend), there are definitely options available, including some books here on goodreads. Shop at your own risk, though, because a lot of it is porn. As for personal recommendations, I'd go for Furtive Festivity (a short film on YouTube where Sherlock and John are explicitly a couple and John throws him a surprise birthday party - it's very cute, lot's of innuendos) or A Study in Honor by Claire O'Dell (Holmes and Watson as Black lesbians in alternate-reality, present-day U.S. during a civil war with neo-confederates - very interesting, very weird, I'd recommend it if The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was/is a guilty pleasure TV show for you, but note that Holmes and Watson are NOT a couple, at least in Book 1).
If the queerness isn't a big factor in what you're looking for, and you just want something well-done and interesting, then try A Study in Black (graphic novel/comic series about Holmes and Watson as Black men in the U.S. - only read the first volume but it was very good and had some well-written social commentary incorporated, not to mention BEAUTIFUL art) or, my favourite TV show ever, Elementary (went on at the same time as BBC Sherlock but got less attention despite being objectively better I said what I said, also some nitwits decided to be racist about Lucy Liu, but she is the best Watson to ever Watson and the best character in most TV shows that have existed within the past 435 years).
Anyway, hope this was helpful.
February 19, 2014
I saw this book and knew it had to be mine. I love Sherlock Holmes in all of his incarnations, and I love queer literary theory, so this seemed like a perfect book for me: Sherlock-verse. Queered. Awesome.
And I read it.
And it was.... Very nice.
No, it was fine. It was okay. But it was just a little, forgive the adjective, flaccid. The cases were good-- engaging little stories, and the characterization was generally on and enjoyable. But the queerness was, I'm sorry to say, handled problematically. Hints and suggestions do not a queer retelling make.
For a book that boasts the word "queering" in the title, there was very little actual gayness on screen, so to speak. The stories were positively rated G-- I am reminded of the way that same-sex kisses happen off stage, or remain absolutely chaste-- in mainstream tv shows. I didn't go into this collection looking for pornography by any stretch of the imagination, but the chasteness was almost laughable. In one story, Holmes is revealed to have a long-term male partner. Watson realizes this because of a sweet matching look on both of their faces. Two women in love eat pomegranates together. Off screen. From that we are meant to infer...a heart stopping love affair? Why the squeamishness about physicality? It seemed strangely self-censored.
Also, the stories gave in to the destructive gay story trope of the Suffering Gay Couple, where like a redshirt in a Star Trek movie, if a story includes an openly gay couple, one of them is toast. "My gay lover was murdered but Sherlock Holmes solved the crime and I got the inheritance!" While, yes, that does technically include gayness, it's kind of crappy. It's like the woman in the refrigerator trope: her femaleness accentuates our pity for her gruesome murder. But she still ends up brutally murdered. Some of these stories unintentionally reinforce the homophobic idea that the only good gay character is a dead or a suffering gay character. No thanks. That's crappy. As readers we are attuned to misogyny when a story includes only hurt or dead women, but we haven't yet become as sensitized to the homophobia inherent in narratives that lack anything but murdered LGBTQIA characters.
And another thing! One of the stories features, I kid you not, an insane vengeful genderqueer serial killer. Do I... Need to explain why this is problematic? Okay, I get that we are reading mystery stories with an element of horror. And when you are writing murderers, you can write them however you like. But using this character's gender identity as THE THING THAT IS CREEPY ABOUT THEM? In a collection of stories that is trying to explore queerness in the Sherlock Holmes universe, to include and reinforce such a toxic trope, it's just really disappointing.
So, in conclusion. In spite of the problems that stuck in my craw, I'm glad this book exists. I want more books like this to exist, to generate income for authors who are writing stories that expand the world of interesting, three dimensional characters from across the intersecting lines of sexual and gender identities. But to find literarily satisfying stories with all kinds of queer characters-- complex people with layers of motivation and multiple identities with complicated relationships? I'll stick to reading fan fiction.
And I read it.
And it was.... Very nice.
No, it was fine. It was okay. But it was just a little, forgive the adjective, flaccid. The cases were good-- engaging little stories, and the characterization was generally on and enjoyable. But the queerness was, I'm sorry to say, handled problematically. Hints and suggestions do not a queer retelling make.
For a book that boasts the word "queering" in the title, there was very little actual gayness on screen, so to speak. The stories were positively rated G-- I am reminded of the way that same-sex kisses happen off stage, or remain absolutely chaste-- in mainstream tv shows. I didn't go into this collection looking for pornography by any stretch of the imagination, but the chasteness was almost laughable. In one story, Holmes is revealed to have a long-term male partner. Watson realizes this because of a sweet matching look on both of their faces. Two women in love eat pomegranates together. Off screen. From that we are meant to infer...a heart stopping love affair? Why the squeamishness about physicality? It seemed strangely self-censored.
Also, the stories gave in to the destructive gay story trope of the Suffering Gay Couple, where like a redshirt in a Star Trek movie, if a story includes an openly gay couple, one of them is toast. "My gay lover was murdered but Sherlock Holmes solved the crime and I got the inheritance!" While, yes, that does technically include gayness, it's kind of crappy. It's like the woman in the refrigerator trope: her femaleness accentuates our pity for her gruesome murder. But she still ends up brutally murdered. Some of these stories unintentionally reinforce the homophobic idea that the only good gay character is a dead or a suffering gay character. No thanks. That's crappy. As readers we are attuned to misogyny when a story includes only hurt or dead women, but we haven't yet become as sensitized to the homophobia inherent in narratives that lack anything but murdered LGBTQIA characters.
And another thing! One of the stories features, I kid you not, an insane vengeful genderqueer serial killer. Do I... Need to explain why this is problematic? Okay, I get that we are reading mystery stories with an element of horror. And when you are writing murderers, you can write them however you like. But using this character's gender identity as THE THING THAT IS CREEPY ABOUT THEM? In a collection of stories that is trying to explore queerness in the Sherlock Holmes universe, to include and reinforce such a toxic trope, it's just really disappointing.
So, in conclusion. In spite of the problems that stuck in my craw, I'm glad this book exists. I want more books like this to exist, to generate income for authors who are writing stories that expand the world of interesting, three dimensional characters from across the intersecting lines of sexual and gender identities. But to find literarily satisfying stories with all kinds of queer characters-- complex people with layers of motivation and multiple identities with complicated relationships? I'll stick to reading fan fiction.
May 25, 2012
This anthology of tales that uncover the reality of homosexuality in the Victorian world by setting it in the Sherlock Holmes universe does it with grace, elegance and originality-no matter if it's Holmes and Watson who are shown as homosexuals,or their clients. It reflects very accurately the ambivalence of the era- when homosexuality was publicly abhorred but at the same time doctors were starting to write and talk about it and to consider whether it was an illness or not,and when homosexuals disguised their behaviour through clubs, codenames, meeting places-but only the very rich and/or powerful could lead their secret lives relatively unmolested.
I also like the fact that the stories that present Holmes as gay are totally in character- they present him as reserved, ambiguous about his sexual condition and it's not always Watson who is the object of his affection :). A very good anthology for Sherlockians to enjoy and also to make us all think about how hard it can be to be different and to seek happiness in a way others don't (or don't try to) understand.
I also like the fact that the stories that present Holmes as gay are totally in character- they present him as reserved, ambiguous about his sexual condition and it's not always Watson who is the object of his affection :). A very good anthology for Sherlockians to enjoy and also to make us all think about how hard it can be to be different and to seek happiness in a way others don't (or don't try to) understand.
January 11, 2012
Not bad, all around. There were a few stories that I found especially well done, but overall it struck me as rather mediocre. I actually enjoyed the forward more than several of the stories. There were several stories that had very little to do with Holmes and Watson but instead focused very intensely on the clients. That said, The Bride and the Bachelors and The Adventure of the Hidden Lane were both very interesting approaches to Holmes' sexuality and how it affected his relationship with Watson. Court of Honor was also an enjoyable read. While neither Holmes nor Watson were queer in that particular story, the focus was on their opinions about and the actions toward the victim, a queer man forced to take his own life to cover up his secret. I'd have liked seeing more stories or essays that focused on Holmes and Watson's relationship, either as a couple or as good friends that happened to be gay.
February 8, 2013
I enjoyed this anthology, though a few of the stories did suffer from the Watson isn't terribly smart/completely oblivious problem. I really wish the final story had continued because it ends on a frustratingly ambiguous note.
Many of the stories were actually quite sweet and the couple involved was not Watson/Holmes.
The beginning section lays out some evidence that suggests Holmes may have been canonically gay. It's interesting. I'm not sure I totally buy it but interesting nonetheless.
Many of the stories were actually quite sweet and the couple involved was not Watson/Holmes.
The beginning section lays out some evidence that suggests Holmes may have been canonically gay. It's interesting. I'm not sure I totally buy it but interesting nonetheless.
May 14, 2012
A nice array of stories in the familiar Holmesian universe, but with The Gay added. I enjoyed the whole thing!
February 22, 2016
I liked most of the stories.
December 16, 2020
The editors did these stories an injustice by giving it such a stupid, Tumblr-esque title and dressing it with equally bad artwork. Naturally, I had the lowest expectations but I was pleasantly surprised.
Like any collection of pastiches, this one’s uneven. A few were bad, a few were good, and a few were okay. Watson will pine for Holmes or Holmes will pine for Watson in half the stories. It does get repetitive, though there is a Lestrade case, a hustler case, a lesbian case, a tranny case, and a Jack the Ripper case to mix it up. Two things bugged me about this book besides the title and art, but they are two realities of such a collection anyway: 1) the mystery in some of these was completely obvious because if you know homosexuality will play a roll in a certain case then you also know everything else, and 2) gay historical stories of course include a lot of coming outs, closets, and hustlers, which boringly appear in 97.6% of all gay media. Your mileage may vary!
These are more serious and well-written pastiches than the book design gives them credit for. Worth a look.
Stories I enjoyed more than others:
The Adventure of three Bloody Coins
The Case of the Wounded Heart
The Adventure of the UFO
The Adventure of the Poesy Ring
Like any collection of pastiches, this one’s uneven. A few were bad, a few were good, and a few were okay. Watson will pine for Holmes or Holmes will pine for Watson in half the stories. It does get repetitive, though there is a Lestrade case, a hustler case, a lesbian case, a tranny case, and a Jack the Ripper case to mix it up. Two things bugged me about this book besides the title and art, but they are two realities of such a collection anyway: 1) the mystery in some of these was completely obvious because if you know homosexuality will play a roll in a certain case then you also know everything else, and 2) gay historical stories of course include a lot of coming outs, closets, and hustlers, which boringly appear in 97.6% of all gay media. Your mileage may vary!
These are more serious and well-written pastiches than the book design gives them credit for. Worth a look.
Stories I enjoyed more than others:
The Adventure of three Bloody Coins
The Case of the Wounded Heart
The Adventure of the UFO
The Adventure of the Poesy Ring
June 16, 2019
The quality of the stories vary somewhat, although I'm such a big Holmes fan that most of the time the writing has to be pretty terrible for me to not find something to enjoy in a story starring （or really just featuring） Holmes and Watson. This is basically Archive of Our Own in book form, and I mean that in the best way possible--there are zillions of incredibly talented authors on that website who deserve to be published.
April 8, 2018
Review to be posted at This Tangled Skein.
June 4, 2022
I feel like this book did a better job of villainizing homosexuality in light of the times than exploring it in an interesting or progressive way.
July 30, 2023
Enjoyable collection of short stories.
December 28, 2023
The first story completely ruined the book for me. Bummer.
January 31, 2021
4.5 yıldız/stars.
March 9, 2014
I found this to be a hugely mixed bag.
About half the stories in this collection are basically serviceable; a lot of them sort of end up running into each other, riffing on similar themes over and over, often adhering to a specific set of tropes. A couple of them are then very good, with more interesting set ups and good prose. I got this book cheaply, and consider it to have been worth the cost for those stories I enjoyed.
There are also a couple that I found distinctly uncomfortable and to play into some really harmful ideas of what queering the text has to entail; ones that play into long-outdated stereotypes of queer sexuality, and what stories about queer sexuality must include, without a hint of self-awareness or subversion. It's not that I think stories about queer/etc. people 'can't' include certain things, but the framing of those things is important when it comes along with long histories of baggage.
Another thing that frustrated me is that for an anthology that attempts to be subversive in some way, the range of 'queerness' on offer is predictably limited. It's largely, as ever, cis gay men. True, one might argue that the Holmes framework doesn't allow for much else, but to be honest I think that's setting the bar low. Some imagination and a willingness to walk further outside the limitations of the canon would have been more interesting and varied, in my opinion.
Finally, a lot of these stories don't do much with the fact that they're set in the Holmes canon, to be frank. They're just set in it because they are. Very few of the stories here had to be told via Holmes, and I think, again, that's a lack of vision and a wasted opportunity.
It really just didn't grab me as a collection, in the end.
About half the stories in this collection are basically serviceable; a lot of them sort of end up running into each other, riffing on similar themes over and over, often adhering to a specific set of tropes. A couple of them are then very good, with more interesting set ups and good prose. I got this book cheaply, and consider it to have been worth the cost for those stories I enjoyed.
There are also a couple that I found distinctly uncomfortable and to play into some really harmful ideas of what queering the text has to entail; ones that play into long-outdated stereotypes of queer sexuality, and what stories about queer sexuality must include, without a hint of self-awareness or subversion. It's not that I think stories about queer/etc. people 'can't' include certain things, but the framing of those things is important when it comes along with long histories of baggage.
Another thing that frustrated me is that for an anthology that attempts to be subversive in some way, the range of 'queerness' on offer is predictably limited. It's largely, as ever, cis gay men. True, one might argue that the Holmes framework doesn't allow for much else, but to be honest I think that's setting the bar low. Some imagination and a willingness to walk further outside the limitations of the canon would have been more interesting and varied, in my opinion.
Finally, a lot of these stories don't do much with the fact that they're set in the Holmes canon, to be frank. They're just set in it because they are. Very few of the stories here had to be told via Holmes, and I think, again, that's a lack of vision and a wasted opportunity.
It really just didn't grab me as a collection, in the end.
May 9, 2016
That's it. I'm done. I can't finish it. I had about 10% to go and will consider it read. I'm in too much mental pain to continue. Two or three of the stories were quite good but the bad ones were so very bad, so Malebolge-eighth-circle-of hell-bad, that I refuse to give it more than 1 star. And I'll say something I've never said before and that is - how could anyone here give it 5 stars? The stories are, by and large, trite - the plots might have been serviceable thirty or forty years ago but now they seem like outmoded retreads. At least one is prosey beyond belief. None surprised me. There's nowhere near enough queering of Holmes. The shoddy research - if, indeed, there was any research at all - that went into the bulk of this hideous mess is an insult to the reader. Out-of-period slang, ignorance of courtesy titles, words that Holmes would never have used.... When I found myself blushing with embarrassment at the writers' ineptness, I had to stop. My suggestion to anyone thinking of putting together another anthology of this sort is - find some writers familiar with British English and the Victorian period. My suggestion to prospective readers is - indulge in some H/W fan fiction. There's a lot of it out there and some of it is excellent. If you think this is as good as it gets, you're missing out.
September 17, 2012
While Star Trek fans who saw a romantic connection between Kirk and Spock are credited with coining the term "slash," the idea of audiences noticing romantic tension between two male characters (who are not canonically in a relationship) came far before that, and therefore it is no surprise that there are many who believe that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson's relationship could have potentially been more than platonic, and that there are quite a few interpretations of their relationship in this way. Some of them are very good, I think, but unfortunately this collection as a whole is not one of them. Not all of the stories focus on Holmes or Watson as homosexual; in some cases it is a client or a villain, and the concepts developed are very interested but not well executed. They mostly attempt to discuss the illegality of homosexuality in Victorian England, but do so in a heavy handed and rather un-compelling way. There are a few stories in this collection that I did quite like—The Kidnapping of Alice Braddon, and The Adventure of the Poesy Ring particularly—but overall the stories were unmemorable. I've read better Holmes pastiches, and I'm sure there are better adaptations that examine the possibilities of Holmes' and/or sexuality or that of their acquaintances.
January 10, 2014
Overall, I quite enjoyed this collection. I feel that the various authors captured the voices of Holmes & Watson well. My least favorite was "Whom God Wishes to Destroy," as I don't feel it went as well with the rest of the stories.
A few notes: This book is not explicit - if you want that, there's lots of fanfiction out there, some of it very well written. This is primarily what would be called Casefic - stories about cases Sherlock Holmes and John Watson may have investigated that, for one reason or another, weren't published previously. They do address the Victorian attitude towards "deviant" sexuality - it was illegal, and would land a person in jail just for loving the wrong person. I think that most of the stories handle this well, and certainly none of them beat the reader over the head with any moralistic stance.
In the prologue, the editor does make a case for Holmes, at least, being canonically gay. I personally feel that he was overreaching, and reading a bit too much into a very few instances in the original canon. My personal belief is that Holmes was asexual, but I don't begrudge Mr. DeMarco for exploring the possibilities.
A few notes: This book is not explicit - if you want that, there's lots of fanfiction out there, some of it very well written. This is primarily what would be called Casefic - stories about cases Sherlock Holmes and John Watson may have investigated that, for one reason or another, weren't published previously. They do address the Victorian attitude towards "deviant" sexuality - it was illegal, and would land a person in jail just for loving the wrong person. I think that most of the stories handle this well, and certainly none of them beat the reader over the head with any moralistic stance.
In the prologue, the editor does make a case for Holmes, at least, being canonically gay. I personally feel that he was overreaching, and reading a bit too much into a very few instances in the original canon. My personal belief is that Holmes was asexual, but I don't begrudge Mr. DeMarco for exploring the possibilities.
February 3, 2013
Whilst the short stories in this Sherlock Holmes were interesting and also written in the style of Conan Doyle, for me there seemed to be something missing in most. Perhaps it is in the nature of short stories to have everything over and done with before they are started but I personally believe after reading this collection that this form is not really valid for a Holmes story.
This is not a "bad" book and I can see that it would appeal to people on the move where they could read a complete story on the train/bus/underground while travelling from A to B. With apologies to the writers but this was not my cup of tea.
Three stars.
This is not a "bad" book and I can see that it would appeal to people on the move where they could read a complete story on the train/bus/underground while travelling from A to B. With apologies to the writers but this was not my cup of tea.
Three stars.
August 13, 2013
If Holmes were to write the missing story, I think Vincent Kovar nailed his voice. The language is splendid, and begs to be told aloud. After reading ‘The Bride and the Bachelors’ some unknown reference sent me off on a research spree of giddy discovery.
‘Whom God Destroys’ is not about Sherlock Holmes at all, yet fits right into this collection. Can I call something as creepy as this an unexpected delight?
Even though I didn’t find an authentic Watson narrator among this collection, several stories played into the understated charm of Three Continents Watson. Yes, well done, and necessary.
What is it about a Victorian man blushing? Oh, my.
‘Whom God Destroys’ is not about Sherlock Holmes at all, yet fits right into this collection. Can I call something as creepy as this an unexpected delight?
Even though I didn’t find an authentic Watson narrator among this collection, several stories played into the understated charm of Three Continents Watson. Yes, well done, and necessary.
What is it about a Victorian man blushing? Oh, my.
June 2, 2014
I went into reading this with the expectation that I would enjoy it, being a fan of Sherlock Holmes and more specifically the idea that he or others around him could be LGBT+, and it did not disappoint. The ten stories in this collection gave a good sampling of sexualities amongst the characters and also how they dealt with those within the confines of the time period and how it affected familiar character relationships. Would have liked to see more women involved as characters, but I suppose there were constraints from the source material. Would definitely recommend this, though not for those looking for more explicit material.
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