Regarding Sherlock Holmes : #1/The Adventures of Solar Pons

by August Derleth

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052300477X
• ISBN13: 9780523004778
• Release Date: November 1974
• Publisher: Pinnacle Books
• Length: 233 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Imitating the Master

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.

Sherlock Holmes fans will love Derleth

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!