Customer Reviews

The adventures of Solar Pons

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If you loved Sherlock Holmes, you will love Solar Pons. Derleth is the master of the Holmes pastiches. His Pons lives in a world where a real Sherlock Holmes once lived, and he carries on the life and tradition in a style of his own. I don't think it matters that much which of the books in the Pinnacle series you read first, but if you read one, you will want to read them all!

Although the name "Solar Pons" would have been ideal for a pulp science-fiction character, it actually belongs to August Derleth's extended homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. These are essentially Sherlock Holmes stories in all but name, with a lighthearted touch that's usually absent in subsequent writers' attempts to update Holmes. Solar Pons himself could best be described as a happier and kinder Sherlock without the drug addiction. Indeed, reading through these stories I was often reminded of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce portrayals of Holmes and Watson which similarly smoothed out many of the rough patches that both characters possessed. These are excellent, lightweight and fun short stories that any fan of either Sherlock Holmes or pre-Raymond Chandler mysteries will enjoy.

What a shame it is the original Solar Pons collections are all out of print! This volume contains many of the earliest stories, and while it's apparent that Derleth knew London only from books (we never get the sense of being in London as we did with Doyle), Derleth knew how to write a tight and commercial mystery. As these stories take place between the two World Wars, many elements in them have renewed relevance today. The murder of a corrupt stockbroker in "The Black Narcissius" for example is a set-up that would be right at home in these post-Bernie Madoff times.

In 1928, American author August Derleth wrote a letter to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, inquiring as to whether or not he intended to write any more Holmes stories. Doyle, less than two years shy of his death in 1930, and never having been to fond of Holmes in the first place, responded negatively. Derleth then decided to continue on his own, creating Solar Pons, an obvious and unabashed pastiche of The Great Detective.

Fans of Holmes will notice the parallels immediately (indeed, they were intended to be obvious). Pons dresses like Holmes, speaks like Holmes, is accompanied by a Doctor friend (Dr. Lyndon Parker) who chronicles his cases and expresses constant amazement at his deductive prowess, lives at 7 Praed street with his friend and their long-suffering landlady, Mrs. Johnson, and is, as I have stated, an unapologetic pastiche of Holmes.

August Derleth is sometimes called the King of Pastiches, and with good cause. His stories are eerily similar to the originals in tone and execution. If anything, they're almost more representative of those archetypal detective stories, more Holmes than Holmes, if you will. The only major divergence is that the Pons stories are set in the 1920-30s, and the stories reflect the adjustments in technology and culture that had occurred during this time.

If you, like Derleth, are a fan of Sherlock Holmes and have long since finished the official stories (the canon, if you will), I recommend these books. Sherlock Holmes pastiches are plentiful, but few come as close to feeling like the originals as these do, and the slightly different setting makes it more interesting. Yes, it's a pastiche, but it's a very well-done pastiche, and Derleth's reverence for the source material is as obvious as the connection between Mycroft Holmes and Bancroft Pons.