Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Forty Stories of Crime and
Detection from Original Illustrated Magazines
Ed. Russell, Alan K.
Castle Books 1978
ISBN 0-89009-207-9
484pp
Date finished: 2004-06-20
[Buy this book] (why?)
A collection of detective stories, primarily ones from the 1890s during the interval when ACD was no longer publishing Sherlock Holmes stories after killing off the character in "The Final Problem". The selection is mixed; there are terrible clunkers such as Arnold Bennett's "The Loot of Cities" series and L.T. Meade/Robert Eustace's "The Sorceress of the Strand", improbably plotted and dully written, as well as a number of good stories. Arthur Morrison's stories about investigator Martin Hewitt are probably the best, a more realistic and commercial version of Holmes. Two female authors are represented, Catherine Pirkis with two Loveday Brooke stories, and Baroness Orczy's "Man in the Corner" stories, featuring an armchair detective who presents solutions without ever attempting to see justice done -- surprisingly amoral, considering the era. H.G. Wells' "The Hammerpond Mystery" closes the volume with an amusing little comedy. Nothing in this anthology is really outstanding, but at least half of the selections are entertaining.