The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

Rivals of Sherlock Holmes #4

by Hugh Greene

The American Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Crime, Detective

352 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1976

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, KCMG, OBE was educated at Berkhamsted and Merton College, University of Oxford and became a journalist. He served as Director-General of the BBC from 1960-1969. One of his brothers was the novelist and screenwriter Graham Greene, OM, CH (1904-1991) and together they collected and edited 'The Spy's Bedside Book' (1957).

Reviews

[WT Sharpe]

This was comprised of short stories by various authors. I read it as an audiobook. Each story was read by a different Librivox volunteer. Overall the book one was hit and miss. Those stories that were good were very good, while others feel flat. At least one story ("Found Guilty" by Josiah Flynt Willard and Alfred Hodder) seemed to have no reason whatsoever to live; at least I could see no point to its continued existence. Others, such as "The Infallible Godahl" by Frederick Irving Anderson and "The Affair of Lamson's Cook" by Charles Felton Pidgin and J.M Taylor, were quite enjoyable.

[Lorelei]

A mixed bag of detective stories, some were quite good, some not so much. I enjoyed reading them for the most part and would recommend it to anyone who like detective stories enough to forgive the flaws and some (to us) now hackneyed ideas which weren't so much when they were written.

[Cindy B.]

Something for everyone, most readings were clearly enunciated and well done.

[Davidg]

Having read the two previous books in the series, I would say that this is the weakest. One or two of the stories seem to go nowhere or don't have a definite end - which is odd in a detective story. However, there are still good stories well worth reading.

[Quiver]

If you have time for only two stories, make sure to read "The Axton Letters" and "The Infallible Godahl".

[Monica Willyard Moen]

Well worth exploring. It's a mixed bag with several excellent stories.

[Kenneth]

A collection of mystery stories from the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century by American authors.

[Sally]

These 13 stories are set around the turn of the twentieth century in an America where there is a lot of corruption and Gilded Age robber barons trying to keep control of their fortunes. The title of the collection is really a misnomer since not all the crimes are solved in a logical way and not all of the detectives are continuing characters. The writing often seems dated and mannered so some are more fun to read than others. There's one with the recurring character of "The Thinking Machine," a super logical person; and several where the detectives are more like psychiatrists. Frederick Irving Anderson's "The Infalliable Godahl" is an entertaining one about a crime novelist who is suckered into having his criminal commit a crime that is later carried out in real life. There's one by the journalist Richard Harding Davis, which more of a morality tale, and one by biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams about a man who pretends to only speak Latin so as to endear himself to an eccentric millionaire book collector who has a letter written about Shakespeare (although he doesn't know it).

[Mark Higginbottom]

An interesting collection of crime fiction stories from the big ole US of A .I was a bit wary of starting this as the golden age crime stories I've read in the past from American authors have not been too good.This collection is actually rather good,I think only one story of them all I found a little tedious.So Hugh Greene has chosen these well.It is rather strange that the American authors never reached the great heights of success that the British authors did .I think it may be because they seemed a lot more keen on doing private eye type stories rather than actual detectives of some description.Anyway,a pleasant read and the majority of these I had never read before which was great.

[Vintagebooklvr]

Interesting stories. Some are better than others but some are surprising with the amount of forensics that are used. Some of these people I've never heard of before but others I have. A nice mix and an introduction to some new early American mystery rivals and their creations.

[Cws]

M Gre