Six On The Shell

THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES — 1971–1973

SIX ON THE SHELL & A GOOD DOZEN IN THE EGG

All the rivals are contemporaries, or near contemporaries of Conan Doyle, hence Sherlock Holmes who is, of course, fictitious since he is also pure fiction. But the character has become legendary, and practically a common sense noun for anyone trying to be too clever on their neighbors. The crimes are of many sorts, from stealing some jewelry to killing their in-laws or step-cousins. The methods are quite varied too from poison to hanging, or simply using a blade or a gun to do the job.

Most of these stories were published in the 19th or early 20th centuries. We can see the world changing in England from the old agricultural overcrowded country we learned to remember in many novels by many novelists, some women, to a more and more industrial country that still is overcrowded but less and less because of all the industrial jobs that were created. But it meant leaving the countryside and moving to the cities. Crime is, in its own way, an urban activity or pastime.

There is little to say about all these stories without revealing the stories themselves. Queen Victoria is on the throne and yet the six rivals set on the cover of the collection are six men. Women have not yet arrived, at least we are shown so, and yet we have to think of the women who will arrive after the First World War, Agatha Christie first of all, and Ruth Rendell. But even these women were prudent about their detectives. Agatha Christie used Hercule Poirot, a Belgian man, though she will also use Miss Marple. But this woman does not have the soaring fame of her competitor Hercule Poirot.

Ruth Rendell is not better since her main detective is a certain Inspector Wexford, a man of course. But it is interesting to see this male-centerism moving up to the twenty-first century with J.K. Rowling. Her detective is a man, of course, is it not? Cormoran Strike. And the author decided, at first at least, to use a male name, Robert Galbraith. You are quite justified to wonder why it is so much centered on male police masculinity or detectivity.

The stories and the various detectives in this series are yet interesting because they can bring up different methods, less…