'Sherlock Holmes' returns in Storytel audiobooks

"Sherlock Holmes" is coming back to life as Storytel has signed a deal with Conan Doyle Estate for new stories in audiobooks to be penned by novelist Anthony Horowitz, the Swedish audiobooks platform said on Monday.

"Holmes", the hero of the fictional detective stories created by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, has mass following across the world and spawned several movies based on the character.

Horowitz is known for writing the "Alex Rider" series, was chosen to write "James Bond" novels by the Ian Fleming estate and also wrote television series such as "Midsomer Murders" and "Foyle's War".

Under his creative lead, three new stories will be written by a team of writers and the audio-first versions will be released on all Storytel markets in spring 2022, the statement said. Storytel will make a more formal announcement later on Monday.

"This is going to be Sherlock Holmes from a very different perspective, staying true to the spirit of the books - which I have always loved - but expanding the narrative and the vision of Conan Doyle in all sorts of unexpected ways," Horowitz said.

Storytel offers listening and reading of over 500,000 audiobooks across 25 markets and competes with the likes of Amazon's Audible. Last month, it signed a deal with Spotify to allow its subscribers to listen to its library of audiobooks on Spotify from later this year.

Storytel is in talks with print publishers and for adaptations for television and movies of the new "Holmes" adventures. Several Hollywood actors such as Robert Downey Jr and Benedict Cumberbatch have played the character of "Holmes" for television series and movies.