We have a real treat today for you mystery and history lovers: an exploration of one of the most famous fictional villains, Professor Moriarty. He’s the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, and bad boy of stage and screen, most recently rendered in the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. It’s particularly appropriate that Victorian scholar(…)
Fictional Detectives
Fan Fri (for mystery lovers): “The Saint” by Leslie Charteris
It’s Fan Friday for mystery lovers, when we take a look at a favorite detective or mystery-related subject. Today’s detective: Leslie Charteris’ “The Saint” – Simon Templar Some interesting facts about Leslie Charteris and The Saint series: 1. Charteris was born to an English mother and Chinese father in Singapore in 1907. (His(…)
Dr. Watson: narrator, buffoon, or crime-fighting partner?
Sherlock Holmes would be nothing without Dr. Watson. Yes, John H. Watson – medical doctor, wounded veteran of the second Anglo-Afghan War, congenial companion, capable chronicler – the 19th century British Everyman. He’s the ideal foil for the brilliance of Holmes, and tells the story in a way that Holmes never could. He also makes the Great(…)
Mystery Monday: The Moonstone, “grandaddy” of classic detective novels
How far back do we need to go to find the first detective novel? There are lots of examples of early stories from cultures around the world. My post on Judge Dee, for example, discusses how Van Gulik based his work on fictional stories from the Ming Dynasty about magistrate Gong An. But in terms of(…)
Masters of Mystery Monday: Charlie Chan
Welcome to Masters of Mystery Monday, where each week we feature a fictional detective and examine his or her unique contribution to the mystery genre. You are invited to challenge yourself with a short detective quiz, and see the answers to the previous week’s quiz. Today we’re revisiting a Master Detective from an earlier post:(…)
Mystery Monday: A Plot Wheel for Perry Mason
Early last month, Robert Downey, Jr. announced that he would produce and star in a new Perry Mason film: Click here for the entire Fandango article. For fans of Erle Stanley Gardner’s lawyer-detective Perry Mason, this can either be exciting or distressing news; it depends on how much of a purist you are. Either way, a(…)
Masters of Mystery: Crispin Guest, a Medieval Sam Spade
Welcome to Masters of Mystery Monday, where each week we feature a fictional detective and examine his or her unique contribution to mystery fiction. This week, I am thrilled to have mystery author Jeri Westerson guest posting about her detective: Crispin Guest My Detective and Me By Jeri Westerson I have a secret relationship.(…)
Red-Headed, or Red-Handed? 19thc bank robberies in fact and fiction
Anyone familiar with the Sherlock Holmes stories has read, or at least heard of, “The Red-Headed League.” The story was published in The Strand Magazine’s August 1891 issue, and later collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). Be the first to like. Like Unlike