Review: The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes & The Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Hugh Greene

80. The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Hugh Greene
Publication: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 28, 1972), Paperback, 332pp / ISBN 0140033114
Genre: Mystery, Crime
Rating:
Read: March 29-30, 2010
Source: Bought

Review

I don’t have too much to say about this, except that I was extremely happy to find a copy in the first place (at a library book sale!). My favorite sort of mysteries come from the interwar period, mostly, so reading more Victorian/Edwardian mysteries, especially by authors I’ve never heard about before, was great!

It’s a good collection, although of course some stories are better than others. I was surprised at how many anti-heroes there were, especially Arthur Morrison’s Dorrington stories. I hate Dorrington; he’s an absolute villain, and yet I couldn’t stop reading about him. Simon Carne, another baddie masquerading as a goodie, was at least gentlemanly. Dorrington…wasn’t. (And he was scary.) Excellent writing, there, I think.

Besides that, I was also really excited to find some stories by authors that I was trying to find last year, after reading Partners in Crime, wherein Tommy and Tuppence imitate famous detectives, most of which I’ve never heard of before. I could only find around two, and the rest were so out of print it was insane (and they weren’t available online, either). So I was very happy to discover that some of them were hiding in this collection.

If you’re interested in Victorian/Edwardian mysteries that aren’t Sherlock Holmes (or Raffles, etc) and can get your hands on this book, I’d do so. It’s certainly cheaper than trying to track down the original books and magazines!

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Also, apparently there was a TV show based on this book! See?

83. The Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Hugh Greene
Publication: Penguin (September 30, 1974), Paperback, 317pp / ISBN 0140038914
Genre: Mystery, Crime
Rating:
Read: April 1-3, 2010
Source: Bought

Review

This is the third book in the “rivals of Sherlock Holmes” series, and since I don’t have the second one (which is foreign rivals) I can’t talk about that, and so you’ll have to excuse me for skipping ahead to this one.

I can’t say I enjoyed this volume as much as I enjoyed the last. I think the stories weren’t as good, and while some of them were by the same authors as last time, with the same characters (including the hateful Dorrington), they just weren’t as good. I think partly it was because Mr Greene was running out of sources– Victorian mystery magazines and books were getting pretty pricey by then, if they survived at all, so I’m not surprised he exhausted most of his pool of detectives earlier on (he was using his own collection to create these books).

I’d only recommend getting this book if you’re one of those people who like having a complete set of something (in which case you’ll of course have to get the second volume as well) or you’re just really interested in early detective stories. Otherwise I’d say just stick to the first book, because it’s just better overall.

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