There is no reason why Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson cannot be found visiting Russia and solving crimes as they go, and here is a bookful of such stories.  The introduction by Sherlock Holmes expert George Piliev explains that the books were so popular that Russian authors began to use the characters in stories set in their own country.  Two of these, P Orlovetz and P Nikitin, have been selected and Alex Auswaks has translated them.

The intrepid pair fit very well into a Russian landscape, and as their fame has spread so far, people with problems have the perfect excuse to seek them out.  What is so fascinating about these stories is the type of crimes investigated, and how they differ from English and American additions to the canon.  Instead of mainly dealing with murders these stories range more widely, covering kidnapping, a strange problem in a shop, theft and corruption.  The pair of stories by P Orlovetz show some delightfully convoluted and ingenious robberies from gold mines and railway carriages.  They are also marked by vivid descriptions of Siberia which bring them to life and make them particularly accessible to overseas readers.  P Nikitin’s five stories are less descriptive, but he has managed to capture that touch of the bizarre that marks the originals.