The Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes [Mass Market Paperback]

Hugh (editor) Greene (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Penguin (1975)
• ASIN: B000GR721W
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,211,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting glimpse into Victorian/Edwardian popular lit, February 13, 2011

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avoraciousreader (Somewhere in the Space Time Continuum) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (Mass Market Paperback)

The Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
ed. Hugh Greene, 1975

Interesting glimpse into Victorian/Edwardian popular lit 4*

Editor Greene admits, in his forward, that he is to some extent scraping the bottom of the barrel of mystery fiction in this third collection of stories from the time of the Original Canon, roughtly 1890 through 1914. It is true that some of them are painfully awkward, and at best simply stiff and amateurish -- none have the panache of Conan Doyle's tales. There were a few I just couldn't finish, or regretted having done so, specifically the two by Arthur Morrison (but that may be because I really don't give a hoot about the sporting / gambling scene even in modern times, much less with the quaintness of language and custom a century ago).

Yet though these tales may not be the greatest in terms of immediate entertainment value, they still provide an interesting view into what people were reading for fun in that period, and the culture and values of the time, including a few surprises. All but one of the thirteen tales seem to have been from series about single detectives, collected in book form. Of note is that four of these detectives are women (only one by a woman author), a precursor perhaps for the creations of Agatha Christie and an indication of the changing role of women from the early Victorian model. One story, "The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage," provides a surprisingly modern view of domestic abuse. If you are interested in the sporting life of the time (i.e. racing and gambling), several tales will take you into that world. And so on.

Though none of these are truly excellent, and though the plots sometimes hinge on rather dubious chains of reasoning or natural fact (but then don't several from the Canon? what about the very un-reptilian behavior of the Speckled Band?), most were at least moderately enjoyable in themselves. The world they let us glimpse is somewhat different in flavor from that of Conan Doyle, but perhaps some of that is due to the stories taking place in the country (hence the British title, "The Crooked Counties...") whereas most of ACD's were firmly in London. Overall, I'd give this about 3.5*'s, but round up because of the unduly negative other review. I'd only guardedly recommend it to someone not familiar with mystery stories of and about this era, but for the enthusiast, it's at least an informative read.

ETA: that "other review" mentioned above seems to have vanished. I can't recall, almost a year later, why it was so negative.