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Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
46 more crime stories including original sketches as in London magazines July 1896 - June 1908.8 pg Intro, authors, bibliographies, portraits.1 Spawn of fortune by Angus Evan Abbott2 Further adventures of Romney Pringle by Clifford Ashdown* Silkworms of Florence* Submarine boat3 Clue of the silver spoons by Robert Barr4 Counterfeit cashier by George A. Best5 Prince of swindlers by Guy Boothby* Duchess of Wiltshire's diamonds* Imperial Finale6 Seven, seven, seven - city by Julius Chambers7 Clever capture by Guy Clifford8 Wendall bank case9 Strange studies from life by Arthur Conan Doyle* Holocaust of Manor Place* Love Affair of George Vincent Parker* Debatable Case of Mrs Emsley10 Professor van Dusen's problems by Jacques Futrelle* Dressing room A* Missing necklace* Green-eyed monster* Phantom motor car11 I.D.B. by George Griffith* 500 carats* Border gang12 Stolen cigar-case by Brett Harte13 At the pistol's point by E.W. Hornung14 In the chains of crime* Ides of March* Costume piece* Gentlemen and players* 9 points of the law* Return match* Gift of the Emporer15 Tragedy of a third smoker by Cutcliffe Huyne16 Count's chauffeur by William Le Queux* Move on the 'Forty'* Sentimental swindle* Story of a secret* Run with Rosalie* 6 new novels17 Followed by L.T. Mead & Robert Eustace18 Secret of Emu Plain19 Skin O'My Tooth by Baroness Orczy* Murder in Saltashe Woods* Polish prince* Major Gibson* Duffield peerage* Mrs Norris20 Experiences of Loveday Broke, lady detective by C.L. Pirkis* Princess's vengeance* Drawn daggers21 Romance of the Secret Service Fund by Fred M. White* Mazaroff rifle22 A warning in red by Victor L. Whitechurch & E. Conway.
484 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 30, 2017
All I can say is if these were Sherlock's 'rivals' then the man had nothing to worry about. Many of these don't even qualify as detective stories. I'll cut it some slack since a) it was published in 1978 and b) I picked it up for $5. Even then you could have found a lot of this in Dover editions. Today most all of it is at Gutenberg. The nicest thing is it reproduces pages from the original magazines which means two-columns of text with original illustrations. Often though the illustrations are too dark to make out any details. From this I picked up that Grant Allen and Arthur Morrison are not very good, LT Meade is okay but unspectacular, and the rest are just there. I'd hoped to capture the atmosphere of the time but none of the tales manage it. Even the non-Sherlock tales by Doyle are uninteresting with 'The Lost Special' containing a resolution that is preposterous if analyzed closely. I'll give it 3 stars for the format and illustrations
June 6, 2021
This is collection of crime and detective tales by known and little known contemporaries of Conan Doyle, including four of Doyle's non-Sherlockian short stories. I have long enjoyed Catherine L. Pirkis' Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective stories, so I was glad to see a couple include here. You will also find a few of the Martin Hewitt, Investigator stories of Arthur Morrison. the "great cities" mysteries of Baroness Orczy and three stories by Grant Allen, the best of which is "The Great Ruby Robbery."
But the two stand-outs are a very short short story by Canadian journalist Newton McTavish, "The Unposted Letter," a condemned man's poignant narrative with a twist at the end, and H. G. Wells' quite funny jewel heist adventure, "The Hammerpond Mystery."
Formatted, with illustrations, as they originally appeared in magazines of the era, the small print might be challenging, and some
But the two stand-outs are a very short short story by Canadian journalist Newton McTavish, "The Unposted Letter," a condemned man's poignant narrative with a twist at the end, and H. G. Wells' quite funny jewel heist adventure, "The Hammerpond Mystery."
Formatted, with illustrations, as they originally appeared in magazines of the era, the small print might be challenging, and some
September 12, 2019
I wouldn't necessarily say these stories feature rivals of Sherlock Holmes, as such. They are crime/mystery stories from roughly 1892-1906 or so; Russell asserts that "Most [...] were originally published while Sherlock Holmes was 'dead'" (i.e., 1893-1901).
I particularly liked "In the Fog" by Richard Harding Davis (3 stories), Arnold Bennett's "The Loot of Cities" (6 stories), and "The Hammerpond Mystery" by H.G. Wells.
My least favorite was the "The Mysteries of Great Cities" series by Baroness E. Orczy (there were 7 of them, and they quickly became predictable), but even that had an interesting premise initially, and the individual stories are quite short.
I particularly liked "In the Fog" by Richard Harding Davis (3 stories), Arnold Bennett's "The Loot of Cities" (6 stories), and "The Hammerpond Mystery" by H.G. Wells.
My least favorite was the "The Mysteries of Great Cities" series by Baroness E. Orczy (there were 7 of them, and they quickly became predictable), but even that had an interesting premise initially, and the individual stories are quite short.
July 8, 2013
This volume, along with a similar one edited by Hugh Greene (his is shorter, but the stories are of an overall higher quality) gives a wonderful overview of the golden age of detective fiction. Although that term is usually taken to refer, at least in British detective fiction, to the period between World Wars, when country house parties were reinvented by Bright Young Things and writers such as Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, and Agatha Christie made their debuts, I believe it is a misnomer: my own belief is that this was not a golden age but rather a Renaissance--the literal rebirth of a genre that had foundered upon the rocks of World War I.
The true golden age of detective fiction, I think, began with Poe's M. Dupin, and ended with the Conan Doyle story "His Last Bow." It seems no coincidence to me that one of the final Holmes stories is set in the overcast summer of 1914, while Agatha Christie's first novel, the thriller-like "Secret Adversary", concerns the adventures of two freshly-discharged veterans (Tommy, a soldier and Tuppence a nurse).
For those who do not believe me, read "His Last Bow" and see if the elegiac scene of Holmes and Watson upon a terrace does not seem, in many ways, a goodbye to a world that can be dealt with the purely rational terms of a Holmes or Hewitt or Thorndyke. "There's an east wind coming, Watson," says Holmes. "...such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast."
As Vincent Starrett wrote, in an essay about why it is Holmes appeals to us...
"We love the times in which he lived, of course: the half-remembered, half-forgotten times of snug Victorian illusion, of gaslit comfort and contentment, of perfect dignity and grace. The world was poised precariously in balance, and rude disturbances were coming with the years; but those who moved upon the scene were very sure that all was well: that nothing ever would be any worse nor ever could be any better. There was no threat to righteousness and justice and the cause of peace on earth except from such as Moriarty and the lesser villains in his train. The cycle of events had come full turn, and the times were ripe for living--and for being lost. It is because their loss was suffered before they had been fully lived that they are times to which our hearts and longings cling.
And we love the place in which the master moved and had his being: the England of those times, fat with the fruits of her achievements, but strong and daring still with the spirit of imperial adventure. The seas were pounding, then as now, upon her coasts; the winds swept in across the moors, and fog came down on London. It was a stout and pleasant land, full of the flavor of the age; and it is small wonder that we who claim it in our thoughts should look to Baker Street as its epitome. For there the cabs rolled up before a certain door, and hurried steps were heard upon the stair, and England and her times had rendezvous within a hallowed room, at once familiar and mysterious…"
For those who long to return to such a room, if only for an hour, I highly recommend this collection--as well as its eponymous cousin edited by Hugh Greene. Some stories are better than others, of course--the Martin Hewitt story "The Loss of Sammy Crockett", along with the novella "In the Fog", are as good as many Holmes tales. In fact, Conan Doyle himself has four stories in this collection, all mysteries of excellent quality...and two of these make reference, however oblique, to a certain private detective of great renown...
The true golden age of detective fiction, I think, began with Poe's M. Dupin, and ended with the Conan Doyle story "His Last Bow." It seems no coincidence to me that one of the final Holmes stories is set in the overcast summer of 1914, while Agatha Christie's first novel, the thriller-like "Secret Adversary", concerns the adventures of two freshly-discharged veterans (Tommy, a soldier and Tuppence a nurse).
For those who do not believe me, read "His Last Bow" and see if the elegiac scene of Holmes and Watson upon a terrace does not seem, in many ways, a goodbye to a world that can be dealt with the purely rational terms of a Holmes or Hewitt or Thorndyke. "There's an east wind coming, Watson," says Holmes. "...such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast."
As Vincent Starrett wrote, in an essay about why it is Holmes appeals to us...
"We love the times in which he lived, of course: the half-remembered, half-forgotten times of snug Victorian illusion, of gaslit comfort and contentment, of perfect dignity and grace. The world was poised precariously in balance, and rude disturbances were coming with the years; but those who moved upon the scene were very sure that all was well: that nothing ever would be any worse nor ever could be any better. There was no threat to righteousness and justice and the cause of peace on earth except from such as Moriarty and the lesser villains in his train. The cycle of events had come full turn, and the times were ripe for living--and for being lost. It is because their loss was suffered before they had been fully lived that they are times to which our hearts and longings cling.
And we love the place in which the master moved and had his being: the England of those times, fat with the fruits of her achievements, but strong and daring still with the spirit of imperial adventure. The seas were pounding, then as now, upon her coasts; the winds swept in across the moors, and fog came down on London. It was a stout and pleasant land, full of the flavor of the age; and it is small wonder that we who claim it in our thoughts should look to Baker Street as its epitome. For there the cabs rolled up before a certain door, and hurried steps were heard upon the stair, and England and her times had rendezvous within a hallowed room, at once familiar and mysterious…"
For those who long to return to such a room, if only for an hour, I highly recommend this collection--as well as its eponymous cousin edited by Hugh Greene. Some stories are better than others, of course--the Martin Hewitt story "The Loss of Sammy Crockett", along with the novella "In the Fog", are as good as many Holmes tales. In fact, Conan Doyle himself has four stories in this collection, all mysteries of excellent quality...and two of these make reference, however oblique, to a certain private detective of great renown...
July 29, 2009
Interesting to see other works of detective fiction that were being written and read contemporaneously with Sherlock Holmes. Some of the stories are a bit slow, others are fun--none as good as Sherlock for pure entertainment and interesting characters.
October 22, 2012
The writers are good, the stories are probably good, but Sherlock Holmes they are not. Simply didn't appeal to me. No rivals here!
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September 29, 2018Mysteries by contemporaries of Doyle.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews