The Mammoth Book of Dickensian Whodunnits. Mike Ashley (Editor). Constable and Robinson (2007)

This is a hugely enjoyable anthology of murder and mystery stories that take elements from Charles Dickens's life and works as their starting points. The spine of the book is the chronology of Dickens's life, the short and informative introductions by Mike Ashley provide the context for each story. The quality of the stories is uniformly excellent, there are a number of stand out entries. There is an enjoyable variety in the tone and strategy chosen by the writers. Some of the stories pick up directly on events from Dickens's life, others use characters from his stories and some blur the distinction very nicely. All of the writers are sufficiently confident to ensure that none of the stories feel like a Dickens's knock-off. Some of the stories match more closely to Dickens's writing patterns than others, they carry it off because the intent is flavour rather than straight imitation.
"Awaiting the Dawn" by Marilyn Todd, a superbly structured story that uses Dickens's response to the public execution of Fredrick and Maria Manning for murder is one of the stand out entries in the collection. It packs a very considerable amount into a short space without ever being crowded and has a breathtaking heroine. "Miss Havisham's Revenge" by Alanna Knight is gripping and horrifying, it takes one of Dickens's great characters and without any violence to the original casts a superb and ghastly light on their life beyond the novel.
"Tom Wasp and The Swell Mob" by Amy Myers draws a sad contrast between the inspiration that Dickens used for a famous character and the short and desperate life of a girl from the slums. "Encounter in the Dark" by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre is an astonishing story that centers around a possible meeting between Charles Dickens ans Edgar Allen Poe, this is a grim story that allows both complicated artists shine brightly.
My favourite story in the collection is "The End of Little Nell" by Robert Barnard, it is sharp, funny and a wonderful reminder of the acid truth in Oscar Wilde's famous remark about the death of the girl who was simply too good to live. This collection is superb fun in its own right, as a reminder of the unparalleled pleasures of Charles Dickens's novels it scores a double header.

The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures. Mike Ashley (Editor) Robinson (2009)

A collection of 26 stories that range across the full length of Sherlock Holmes' career. They are neatly organised and the way that they fold into the chronology of the Sherlock Holmes cannon is clearly laid out. The editor has done a very nice job of introducing the stories and placing them in context, all told it is a excellent volume of very entertaining stories.

The stories frequently take as their starting point some of the cases referred to by Dr. Watson but never written up or published for a variety of reasons. Each of them is carefully written so as to respect the full range of details in the original stories, there are no science fiction elements and very few entries by historical figures, the few exceptions are nicely woven into the stories and do add a nice flavour to the mix.

The stories avoid being too reverential in tone or content, within the fairly strict bounds the writers have set for themselves the stories are striking and original, the writers penetrate beneath the surface details to capture the moving spirit of the originals. The required details and flourishes are all present and correct, the deductive reasoning that baffles Dr Watson to be rendered mundane with an explanation, Mycroft Holmes and international diplomacy and intrigue. Most importantly there is the true figure of Holmes, alive only with the chase and the need for a challenge. These stories pass a critical test in how they deal with Dr. Watson, he his handled with care and respect, he is the true friend and confident of Sherlock Holmes, the human heartbeat of the adventures. Great stories and great fun.