Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mystery: 1888

By: Richard T. Ryan - editor, Josh Reynolds, Derrick Belanger, Paul Hiscock, Naching T Kassa, George Jacobs, George Gardner, Mike Adamson, Katy Darby, Scott Monty - foreword

Narrated by: Richard Auty

1888 was a busy year for Holmes and Watson. If Dr. Watson is to be believed, The Sign of Four, A Scandal in Bohemia, and The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor all took place in this year (I would also argue that The Valley of Fear is set in the same year — ed.).

As if all that weren’t enough, 1888 is remembered (albeit infamously) as the year that Jack the Ripper unleashed an autumn of terror on the citizens of London. While there are no Holmes vs. the Ripper stories in this volume, the authors of the later stories have all alluded to the atmosphere of terror permeating Holmes’s London at that time.

1888 STORIES

• January – The Adventure of the Two Mudlarks – Josh Reynolds
• February – The Lear Letter Mystery – DJTyrer
• March – Sherlock Holmes and the Winter Spectre – Shelby Phoenix
• April – An American Through and Through – Derrick Belanger
• May – The Problem of Mark of the Diamont – David Cisler
• June – The Bishop’s Painful Path – David Marcum
• July – The Case of the Foreman’s Spirit – Rob Nisbet
• August – The Great Grouse Massacre – Paul Hiscock
• September – The Adventure of the Acquisitive Collector – George Jacobs
• October – The Case of the Blue Nautilus – Naching Kassa
• November – A Gunshot from the Undergrowth – Gustavo Bondoni
• December—The Christmas Conundrum – Katy Darby
• Bonus – A Scoundrel in Bavaria – George Gardner
• Bonus 2 – The Broker – Mike Adamson

©2024 Belanger Books (P)2025 Belanger Books

Love the Series

Always good to hear more cases of the great detective and Watson. Watson is as usual brave as a lion. Holmes sharp and surprising.

the performance was outstanding as usual

some of the stories were a bit lacking in creativity and problems for Holmes to solve.

another great collection

this series has never failed to entertain. this collection for 1888 is also another great collection. looking forward to 1889.

Amazing series!

I have thoroughly enjoyed every story from the beginning of the series. I’m looking forward to the rest of them.

Another solid addition to the series, with flaws

I've gone through all the "Year of Mystery" anthologies, and this one is about on par with the others. Like you can expect from any collection written by separate authors, the quality of story varies and the tone of the characters as well. There are about 4 stories in here I would consider mediocre or worse, 2 great, and the rest either good or very good.

The audio performance remains very good, one of the better Holmes narrators to do it.