Holmes the Great

Holmes the Great is the name of a series of young adult detective novels and short stories, all of which were written by Jenny Spade. The series is set within the universe of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books, but takes place many decades in the future and follows Holmes' grand nephew Anton, who works for an agency of consulting detectives and hopes to continue his ancestor's legacy.
==Plot==
The first novel in the series taking place in 2012, the series is set in a world where the influence of the great detective Sherlock Holmes has caused the idea of a consulting detective to spread to the point of an agency being formed made up of them. The agency in question, the British Consulting Detective Group, helps the police solve high-end crimes that normal detectives can not. The protagonist of the series is a member of this agency, Anton Holmes, who is a direct relative of Sherlock himself, being the descendant of Sherlock's brother Mycroft. The series follows him as he is hired to solve a series of crimes, ranging from theft to murder, accompanied along the way by his childhood friend Eddie Coffman, a mortician who helps Anton when examining crime scenes and fills a Watson-esque role.
==Books==
===Novels===
==== The Scarlet Studies====
Anton Holmes, relative of the late Sherlock Holmes, has been a member of the British Consulting Detective Group for some time but, despite his ancestor's reputation, has so far repeatedly failed to solve a case. He begins to believe that his luck will change after coming across the journals of the long deceased John Watson, hoping that they will teach him Sherlock's famous techniques. These journals come greatly in handy as one of his fellow detectives invites him to a crime scene, one where the victim has been poisoned and the phrase "RACHE" has been written on the wall, which Anton immediately recognizes as a recreation of one of Sherlock's first cases. Despite the agency insisting that it is not his case, Anton decides to work on it regardless, believing this could be his chance to win the respect of his peers.
==== The Fall of Saint George ====
When one of Elementary Park's most popular rides, the Saint George, suddenly collapses and kills six people, two of which being children, Anton is hired by a grieving woman named Dory Collins to investigate the crash. After finding evidence of tamporing, Anton declares it a case of sabbotage and starts his investigation, only to begin developing a rivalry with Peter Watson, the park's owner and direct descendant of Dr. John Watson. However, over the course of Anton's investigation, he finds evidence that Watson himself may have sabbotaged his own ride, though he inists he did not. Anton must now either prove Watson's guilt without a shadow of a doubt or find someone who hates Watson enough to frame him, which is unfortunately much easier said than done.
==== A Case of Magic ====
An occultist by the name of Hermes Magnus appears in London and immediately becomes a media darling for his supposed control over the forces of life and death, able to kill and resurrect people at will. Anton, a skeptic by nature, is immediately doubting of Hermes' claims, but this simple doubt quickly transforms into a heated case when a journalist who claimed he would expose Magnus dies. What appears to be a simple case of murder quickly spirals out of control, however, with Anton being dragged into a world of cults, magic, and supposed demonic worship and summoning. Anton, despite being unable to think of a proper explanation, is determined to prove Magnus a fraud and, possibly, a murderer.
===Short Story Collections===
==== Holmes the Great Anthology ====
The first short story collection of the series, Holmes the Great Anthology tells the tale of three cases that Anton solved. The first, Letter Beyond the Grave, is about an old woman who comes to Anton after she recieves a letter from her deceased husband that had been lost in the mail for several years, the letter in question revealing that the supposed suicide may have actually been a murder done to silence him. The second, Satan's Finger, follows Anton as he attempts to clear the name of a museum curator who has been accused of stealing a priceless ruby that had been found in his apartment, though the curator inists that he doesn't know how it got there. The final story, A Detective in Chains, sees Anton trying to investigate a murder where the killer in question claims to have been hired by a man who is already behind bars. To this end, Anton poses as a convict in order to investigate the maximum security prison Bane's End, where the supposed boss of the assassin is being kept, to find out who it is and how he got a message outside.
====Misadventures of a Consulting Detective====
A series of five stories.
*I Create Hate Where I Walk follows Anton as he is hired to investigate the mysteries deaths of various people in a small town in the countryside. After discovering that the town is home to a particularly violent white supremacist group and realizing none of the victims were white, Anton puts two and two together and sets out to stop these hate mongers.
*In The Man in The Wall, the body of a long deceased missing person is discovered in a building's wall during renovations. Anton is trusted by the missing person's grand child with solving this crime thirty years in the making.
*Run has Anton take on his first serial killer, when various people begin showing up dead after being run over by the same blue van.
*The Return to Elementary Land follows Anton trying to take a day off by attending the newly reopened Elementary Land, but work follows him when he overhears a conversation that suggests a group of attendees at the park may actually be members of a dangerous gang.
*The Poor Ones sees Anton at his most serious as he takes on a particularly upsetting case of animal experimentation, various foxes and dogs appearing that have been used as guinea pigs for illegal tests.
==Reception==
==Adaptations==