After further investigation, a secret compartment is discovered in the dispatch box, revealing the transcripts of dozens of previously unknown cases. Holmes embargoed all of these tales for one reason or another, either as a result of his own perceived incompetence, or due to the sensitive nature of their contents.

Although Watson recorded most of the tales, either Holmes himself, or the self-promoting Inspector Lestrade contributed several. Resurrected in these previously untold tales are two of Holmes' most well known arch-enemies, Irene Adler, referred to by Holmes as the woman, and the ever-popular Professor Moriarty, both of whom actually recruit Holmes' assistance.

None of these after-market collections seem to be shy about introducing both fictional and real-life historical figures into the Holmes universe. The Confidential Casebook is no different in this respect, tying Holmes to Ida Tarbell, Consuelo Vanderbilt, James Whistler, and even as a passenger on the Titanic.

Expanding on the original sixty tales written by Sir Doyle, The Confidential Casebook of Sherlock Holmes brings us nineteen new tales of my favorite super-sleuth. Although a somewhat entertaining diversion, I found most of these tales to be rather trite and contrived.

I thought the first few cases ended rather abruptly, leaving me with a feeling of, "Um, oh." And I generally don't care for the habit third-party authors have of tying the character to real-life people and events, or dredging up long-gone characters to capitalize on their popularity. Although I must admit, I did enjoy seeing Ms. Adler get the better of Holmes yet again, and Moriarty coming to him, hat in hand.

I don't quite know what it is about the after-market Holmes stories, but something about them is just different from the original Doyle tales. Maybe it's that I know the original author didn't pen them. Maybe these authors don't write in quite the same style as Doyle. I don't quite know what it is, but something is missing. And I've found this to be true of almost all the after-market Holmes books I've read, not just this one.

I found The Confidential Casebook of Sherlock Holmes to be a somewhat entertaining alternate view of the world of Sherlock Holmes and give it 3 out of 5. If, like me, you regret that Doyle only wrote sixty original tales and hunger for more, I'd recommend giving The Confidential Casebook of Sherlock Holmes a read, but shop around to make sure you get the best price because I really don't feel it was worth the $15 I paid for it. In comparison, that's how much I paid for the complete, sixty-tale, Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes collection at Diesel-eBooks.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

James Booth is Editor-at-Large at ZATZ Publishing. In addition to writing for Computing Unplugged and Connected Photographer, he's the author of Do-It-Yourself Wedding Photography. A self-taught photographer, James also dabbles in digital graphics and has learned to be a PC and handheld specialist through personal trial and error. James can be reached at jbooth@zatz.com.