The term most often employed in describing The Shadow’s purpose is that of “avenger,” likening him to a fierce angel sent straight out of the Old Testament to punish evildoers. Similarly, Holmes once said, “I am the last court of appeal,” and, in “A Case of Identity,” resorted to the threat, if not the actual intention, of smiting a particularly disagreeable adversary with a riding crop.
WAS SHERLOCK HOLMES THE SHADOW?
Is it just a coincidence that the dark punisher made his first appearance shortly after Holmes took “His Last Bow”? There is, of course, a question of age, as the Canon indicates that at the time of The Shadow’s entrance in 1930 the Victorian detective would have been seventy-six, hardly capable of the exploits assigned this swashbuckler. But are we to believe that the royal jelly derived from Holmes’s bees would prolong his life without extending the properties of youth? Would he have bothered to partake of it if it could not, like Fu Manchu’s elixir vitae, be expected to retard the aging process in order to spare his great mind the horrors of dissolution? It’s a reasonable theory at least, and far more of an explanation than either Holmes or Watson offered for this bizarre choice of hobbies in retirement.
Granted, The Shadow’s methods are not those of the Sherlock Holmes we know. But the Master was always ahead of his time, making use of the latest advances in criminal scientific research—indeed, in devising his own—while Scotland Yard bustled about photographing murder victims’ retinas in hopes of lifting images of their assailants. As more law enforcement units adopted his strategy, is it so inconceivable that he would advance yet another step, the better to stay ahead of his opponents? New York City having replaced London in importance, would he not contemplate a change of scenery, secure in the knowledge that to the world at large he was enjoying a life of meditation and apiculture on the South Downs? Would not the experience gained from Sherlock Holmes’s war with Professor Moriarty aid The Shadow in his never-ending struggle against Shiwan Khan, lineal descendant of Genghis, who plots to rule the world?
Was it coincidence that Orson Welles’s voice was heard over the ether as both The Shadow and Sherlock Holmes? Or was it a mocking clue dropped by the man who returned the naval treaty to a distraught Percy Phelps in a covered dish?
Accents are immaterial. Holmes had disguised his voice before, to suit his various masquerades. Should professional assistance be required, not all the voice coaches of the Broadway stage were in Hollywood, helping former silent-screen stars improve their diction to suit the era of sound. They could train the others in his circle to trade their crisp t’s and short a’s for the broader Yankee pronunciation.
Could Watson have been the mysterious Burbank, who relayed The Shadow’s instructions to his nameless ring of adherents? Could they have been the adult counterpart of the Baker Street Irregulars? Was the lovely Margot Lane, Lamont Cranston’s confidante and The Shadow’s female accomplice, Irene Adler? Could thickset, sedentary desk man Claude Fellows have been Mycroft, persuaded to abandon the Diogenes for Cranston’s and Clarendon’s exclusive Cobalt Club? Or are we straying too far?
Only The Shadow knows.
SUGGESTED
READING
The best source, of course, is the original. For those who know Sherlock Holmes only through the many adaptations of his adventures, or the thousands of tributes and pastiches written by other authors, I recommend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Valley of Fear; for those who know him already from these books, I recommend a return visit. They’re as enchanting the twentieth time round as they were the first.
A complete bibliography of writings about Holmes would command as many volumes as the Oxford English Dictionary, and more than most lifetimes. He has been written about more than any other character in literature, including Hamlet and Don Quixote, and more material appears by the day. The following is a limited listing of some of the best that have come my way. They have all been of immense help in all my writings about the world’s greatest detective and his loyal partner.
Baring-Gould, William S., ed. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1967.
Baring-Gould dedicated much of his life to Sherlockian scholarship, and this is the end result, a massive two-volume compilation of all the stories and novels in the Canon, arranged chronologically in the order in which the cases occurred (as opposed to order of publication; a Homeric effort of internal and external reasoning), with sidebars and footnotes provided by hundreds of the editor’s colleagues, and reproductions of the original illustrations that accompanied the stories. It’s a treat for old-school aficionados and fresh converts alike, the ideal pastime for an inclement weekend when the wind “sob(s) like a child in the chimney.”
Baring-Gould, William S. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street. New York: Bramhall House, 1962.
This is a delightful biography of Holmes, citing numerous references in the Canon for its speculations on the life and times of the world’s first consulting detective, and a fitting preparation for Baring-Gould’s magnum opus (see above).
Bullard, Scott R., and Collins, Michael Leo. Who’s Who in Sherlock Holmes. New York: Taplinger, 1980.
What it says it is, concentrating upon the clients, witnesses, victims, and villains who crossed Holmes’s path.
Carr, John Dickson. The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: Harper & Row, 1949.
One of the first, and still the best, of Conan Doyle’s many biographies. Carr, who collaborated with (some say ghosted for) Arthur’s son Adrian on The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, provides a thorough, respectful, and enormously readable take on one of the most popular writers in history, with insight into the sources of his inspiration. The biographer makes the case that Conan Doyle’s simultaneous championship of rational thought and embrace of spiritualism were entirely consistent with his character.
Hardwick, Michael and Mollie. The Sherlock Holmes Companion. New York: Bramhall House, 1962.
One of the first encyclopedic references to the characters, events, and settings employed in the stories. An entertaining read as well as a life-and time-saver for scholars and pasticheurs. The Hardwicks spent hour upon hour poring through the Canon so we don’t have to.
Harrison, Michael. In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Drake, 1976.
What was significant about Fleet and Harley streets? Where is Covent Gardens, and what do they grow there? Can one still get a meal at Simpson’s? These questions and hundreds more are answered here. A fine guide to have on your desk, or under your arm during a walking tour of London. Harrison walked it, you can be sure.
Park, Orlando. Sherlock Holmes, Esq., & John H. Watson, M.D.: An Encyclopedia of Their Affairs. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University, 1962.
Until Jack Tracy’s exhaustive reference appeared (see below), the existence of “dueling encyclopediae” helped to fill in certain gaps found in one or the other. I still recommend Orlando and the Hardwicks for their slightly different cataloguing procedures, which together provide direct access to certain elusive details. (Reprinted in trade paper by Citadel as The Sherlock Holmes Encyclopedia in 198l.)
Rosenberg, Samuel. Naked Is the Best Disguise. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1974.
I’m not sure whether Rosenberg’s written a satire of literary scholarship in general or is dead serious about his assertions. He draws a fuzzy parallel between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the life of Friedrich Nietzche, but for the life of me I don’t see what they have to do with each other, or for that matter what either of them has to do with Sherlock Holmes. But watching the author leap from one absurd conclusion to the next is great fun, like watching a clown shot from a cannon into a vat of Reddi-Wip.
Starrett, Vincent. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Not to be co
nfused with Billy Wilder’s clever film of the same name (and which gives us not a bad Watson in Colin Blakely), Starrett’s was the first Holmes biography, as well as one of the first to treat a character generally regarded as fictional as if he really lived. The book raises and answers many of the questions that still interest Sherlockians, and may have been the catalyst that created the Baker Street Irregulars, with the inspiration of the older Sherlock Holmes Society of Great Britain. It’s as much fun to read (and reread) as Conan Doyle’s stories themselves. (WARNING: This book contains material that may turn the reader from a casual fan into a diehard Holmes fanatic. It did me.)
Tracy, Jack. The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977.
This is the be-all and end-all of its kind: Everything you always wanted to know about the stories and novels, organized alphabetically and with an eye towards swift access between two covers, with illustrations and photographs. It appeared while I was writing Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, sent to me by my copy editor, and was indispensable during the process of revision and later when I wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes. I still keep that tattered copy at my elbow when I’m writing a new Holmes story. But you don’t need to be a pasticheur to find it valuable, as well as a diverting read when nothing else on your shelves seems to fit your mood.
Tracy, Jack, with Jim Berkey. Subcutaneously, My Dear Watson: Sherlock Holmes and the Cocaine Habit. Bloomington, IN: James A. Rock, 1978.
This slim paperback, out of print for many years, wastes not a word in examining Holmes’s grim addiction, the drug itself, its importance to the detective’s life and work, and the harrowing consequences were he to continue in the practice. Much has been written about this side of his life, but this book eschews fulsome speculation in favor of cold hard facts. It’s horrendous and riveting.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks go to Jon Lellenberg, veteran editor, Sherlockian, and member of the board of directors that oversees the Conan Doyle Estate, for his part in bringing most of the stories in this book to the public for the first time, and for permission to use the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The thing would not be possible but for the genius of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose works still shine, and are found in every well-stocked library on earth. The inscription on his headstone, taken from his knighthood epic, The White Company, applies to him yet:
BLADE STRAIGHT
STEEL TRUE
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Estleman, Loren D.
The perils of Sherlock Holmes / Loren D. Estleman.
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ISBN 978-1-4405-4414-9 (hardcover) – ISBN 1-4405-4414-X (hardcover) – ISBN 978-1-4405-4520-7 (ebook) – ISBN 1-4405-4520-0 (ebook)
1. Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character) 2. Detective and mystery stories, English. 3. Private investigators–England–Fiction. I. Title.
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