Fictional detectives don't came more
famous than Sherlock Holmes.
And that is kind of the point of The
Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – Stories From the Golden Age of Gaslight
Crime, no-one, least of all the book's compiler Nick Rennison
(pictured), is trying
to claim otherwise.
But what this book does is highlight
that Holmes was not the only or indeed the first of his kind.
As revealed in the anthology The
Strand magazine was at the forefront of a newly-insatiable thirst
for detective and mystery fiction, thanks to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
denizen of 221B Baker Street.
But Conan Doyle's inability or
unwillingness to to write a Holmes story for every issue of the
magazine in the 1890s opened the door for others.
There were copycat Holmes' as well as
more eclectic sleuths, including those who battled supernatural
enemies, 'New Women' crimebusters and even Catholic Priests-turned
PIs.
There was lawyer-turned detective
Martin Hewitt, by Arthur Morrison – a character that smacked of
Holmes thanks to illustrations by Sydney Paget, who also drew the
deducing consulting detective.
Female crime solvers were aplenty,
including another Strand regular – Lois Cayley – a
creation of Grant Allen.
While none of the rivals matched
Sherlock's stratospheric success they all contributed to the
burgeoning crime and mystery genre and many other magazines embraced
detective fiction.
And it was not just London or UK
sleuths.
The anthology features tales from three
US writers and a story featuring Eugene Valmont, a French detective
exiled in London, who was created by Robert Barr.
The Gallic gendarme appeared in The
Windsor Magazine and Pearson's Magazine in the 1890-1914 period,
which was something of a golden age for the genre.
William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki is also
in the book, battling paranormal foes.
But, despite the fantastical and often
far-fetched plots, these detective stories give a very real insight
into the era in which they were set and vividly illustrate how the
ability to read had mushroomed to a wider population in the late
nineteenth century.
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – Stories From the Golden Age of Gaslight Crime is published by No Exit Press (@noexitpress) and priced at £9.99.For more information click here
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