Here's why my Sherlock Holmes series is set in Bangkok, Thailand...

Author Diary #1: March 6, 2026

Welcome to my Author Diary— a weekly series that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how the Sherlock Holmes: Thailand series is made.

This week, we’re starting at the very beginning… the idea.

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The Idea:

At one of the lowest points of my life, I was sitting on a balcony in Chiang Mai, Thailand when an idea hit me like lightning:

“What if Sherlock Holmes was an expat in Bangkok, Thailand?”

I can’t tell you exactly why this idea came to me.

It may have been because I’d recently been watching an English travel vlogger’s adventures in Southeast Asia. It may have been because I’ve spent a considerable amount of time traveling through Southeast Asia myself, with Bangkok being my favorite city in the world.

Whatever the case, the idea stuck with me.

And the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

But I let the idea sit for some months.

Originally, I thought that it could make a good webseries on YouTube.

But some months later, another idea hit me:

“Why don’t you write it as a novel series on Substack?”

I was hesitant at first because I had previously serialized a novel on Substack under a different author name and publication. It had minor success (people even reading the entire thing was a huge win for me), but I knew the amount of upkeep a fiction Substack required.

But I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind.

And I decided to jump straight into the deep end.

The Deep Dive:

If I was going to write a Sherlock Holmes series, I knew I would need an incredibly deep knowledge of the character and lore in order to properly do it justice.

When you work with a legacy character, you need to understand that there is a built-in fanbase that has certain expectations.

So I made sure to do my homework.

I studied all of the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories: highlighting, taking detailed notes, and compiling all my findings into a Scrivener document.

There is a reason that Sherlock Holmes has been popular since 1887. I needed to figure out WHY that is, and try to replicate it in my own series.

The readers will ultimately be the judge of whether or not I’m successful. But I knew that I owed it to them to at least do my research and treat the character with the respect he deserves.

Crafting My Own Holmes:

The more research I did, the more that my own versions of the iconic characters began to materialize in my mind.

Sherlock Holmes was the same at his core (there’s a reason he’s such a great character, and I don’t want to mess that up), but I started to make little tweaks that made him feel like my own.

Attributes of another character I had been developing started to make their way to my version of Sherlock Holmes. Before getting the idea for the Sherlock Holmes: Thailand series, I had been loosely developing an adventure-novel series. The main character was in the vein of Indiana Jones and Allan Quatermain, and had spent 10+ years traveling the world with only a backpack. This travel experience informed his worldview and abilities. I decided that this concept fit perfectly with Sherlock Holmes, and I began to play with the idea that he developed his powers of observation and deduction while on a 10+ year mysterious journey around the world.

This soon became a key point in the series, and what exactly he was up to during his journey will be one of the topics explored in monthly Side Quest short stories.

Why Bangkok Works for a Sherlock Holmes series:

As my research deep-dive was nearing its end, I had to get serious about whether or not I wanted to fully commit to writing a Sherlock Holmes series.

I had to ask myself if Bangkok was really the right place to set the story:

Was it too out there? Would it work?

Time will tell.

It’s ultimately up to you, the reader, to answer.

But from my viewpoint as the author, Bangkok works as the setting for a Sherlock Holmes series for a few reasons.

1. Bangkok is fascinating.

It’s unlike any city I’ve ever been to. In a short walk, you can go from crowded streets filled with tuk-tuks and street vendors to the most luxurious shopping malls and hotels you’ve ever seen. There are parks filled with monitor lizards. You can ride on motorbike taxis and weave through rush hour traffic.

As an author, it’s a great place to set a series because there are so many aspects to explore. The city is MASSIVE, with different areas within that have their own vibe and character. By being able to jump around the various parts of the city throughout the novels, each story can feel unique.

2. The new setting makes familiar storylines seem fresh.

Sherlock Holmes has been adapted and retold an insane number of times. If I was going to throw my hat in the ring, it only made sense if I could put my own spin on things.

Setting my MODERN Sherlock Holmes series in London would have felt too much like other projects. Wouldn’t there always be comparisons to Sherlock BBC or Sherlock & Co.?

3. It allows for distinct versions of classic characters.

In my series, Sherlock Holmes is still from England.

But other classic characters have alternate origins.

Dr. John Watson, for example, is half-Thai/English. Differences like these allow me to further add my own spin on things and hopefully make things exciting for you, the reader.

Where We’re At Now:

In spring 2025, the idea for “Sherlock Holmes in Bangkok” came to me in Chiang Mai.

After dwelling on the idea for some months, I started the proper research deep-dive in August 2025.

On March 4, 2026, the first chapter of the first novel was sent to about 200 subscribers.

I have lots of plans for the future of the Sherlock Holmes: Thailand series, and can’t wait to share them with you.

Thank you for joining me on this adventure. It means the world.

Talk soon,

— Michael Chambers