Volume 4.1—Issue 5 December, 2013 The Solar Pons Gazette WWW.SOLARPONS.COM August Derleth & Solar Pons: THIS ISSUE: Who Needs a Hard Boiled Detective? By Bob Byrne Who Needs a Hard- This essay originally appeared as a guest column on the CRIMINAL BRIEF mystery blog 1 boiled Detective? It’s quite possible that you aren’t familiar with Solar Pons, the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Greetings From 3 Praed Street Street.’ If that is so, a quick viewing of the Solar Pons FAQ page might help. And if you’re Featured Case: The thinking Solar Pons is nothing more than a tired copy of the Baker Street sleuth, the first 4 Norcross Riddle essay in the first issue of The Solar Pons Gazette might change your mind. Foreword: The Mem- 6 oirs of Solar Pons Pages from the Note- Welcome back. So, August Derleth was a born and raised Wisconsin boy, enamored with 9 books of Dr. Parker Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of the great Sherlock Holmes. He wasn’t much different Featured Case: The 7 17 Passengers than an awful lot of American youths in the nineteen twenties. Except, the enterprising Derleth wrote to the author and asked if there would be any more stories, and if not, The Adventure of the 19 Aspiring Animator could he write some himself. Doyle, not the friendliest person in regards to his meal tick- Pontine Canon et, did have the courtesy to send back a reply, denying Derleth permission to continue 25 Abbreviations the adventures. From the Pontine 26 The Lost Locomotive 28 Not discouraged at all, the nineteen year-old University of Wisconsin student made a Reconsidered note on his calendar, ‘In re: Sherlock Holmes’, as a reminder to write a story in imitation Featured Case: The 32 Lost Locomotive of Doyle’s creation. The date is lost in the mists of time, but August Derleth did in fact sit Solar Pons & the 33 down and produce The Adventure of the Black Narcissus in one afternoon, starring Solar Cthulhu Mythos Pons and Dr. Lyndon Parker. It appeared in the February, 1929 edition of Dragnet and Solar Pons & Sa- 40 rob(bery) Press Derleth would produce over seventy more tales before passing away in 1973. British au- thor Basil Copper added over two dozen more Pons stories with the blessing of Derleth’s He Takes My Mind 42 From Better Things Estate. Copyright notice: Solar Pons is the sole property of the August Derleth’s Pons stories received praise and support from noted Holmes fans like Edgar Derleth Estate. The Wallace, Vincent Starrett, Anthony Boucher and the cousins jointly known as Ellery illustrations used in the Queen. And it’s safe to say that quite a few of today’s Sherlock Holmes readers are famil- masthead were created by Frank Utpatel. iar with and enjoy Solar Pons. However, Pons is not a major (cont on page 2) Page 2 The Solar Pons Gazette August Derleth & Solar Pons (cont. from page 1) In 1934, Rex Stout introduced Nero Wolfe and character in the the history of detective literature, Archie Goodwin, a pair that blended the hard nor are the books best sellers. But one unique boiled private eye with the armchair genius best aspect of the series, worthy of mention, is that personified by Mycroft Holmes. Stout was a well Derleth was going against type. known Sherlockian and the Holmes stories ex- erted a great influence on the Wolfe books, As I stated in my essay, Hard Boiled Holmes, “The which remain popular today. However, Stout era of British detective fiction between the two was astute enough to know that pulp magazines World Wars is known as The Golden Age. This was set the style of American detective fiction and the time of the country cozy and the locked room Wolfe and Goodwin very much read like contem- mystery.” Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Morrison porary mysteries, not throwbacks to gas lit Lon- were replaced by Lord Peter Wimsey and Miss don. Marple. In America, Caroll John Daly, Raoul Whit- field, Dashiell Hammett and others were counter- But Derleth continued to write new Pons tales ing with the hard boiled school, in style far more while the British Golden Age came to an end than just an ocean away from the British mystery and the pulp magazines fell by the wayside. story. Pons was a hobby that he indulged in out of af- fection for his boyhood idol, Sherlock Holmes. But Derleth chose to create a new detective that He wasn’t compelled to create a tough private wasn’t a part of either school. Because of his love eye or a gentleman thief to meet the demands for the Sherlock Holmes stories, he spent the next of mystery readers. Brett Halliday and Michael fortyish years periodically writing stories that, Shayne; Raymond Chandler and Philip Marlowe; while set in a London where cars had replaced John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee; Ross hansom cabs, immediately called to mind 221B MacDonald and Lew Archer: just a few of the Baker Street and all that went with it. popular detectives that American readers gob- bled up while August Derleth kept writing about The start of the hard boiled school can be definite- Sherlock Holmes’ successor. ly traced to April and May of 1923 when Black Mask contained Carrol John Daly stories featur- Solar Pons was a return to the earlier days of ing, first, Three Gun Terry Mack and then the long- detective fiction at a time when his peers had er-lasting Race Williams. By the time Solar Pons left that era behind. Fortunately, August Derleth made his first appearance, a fellow named was a fine writer and the Holmes fan who has Dashiell Hammett had published almost three not yet discovered Solar Pons has a treasure dozen Continental Op stories in Black Mask. Heck, chest ready to be opened. Sam Spade and Solar Pons both came into print in 1929. Hard to picture them solving a case to- gether! Page 3 The Solar Pons Gazette GREETINGS FROM adventure with Sherlock Holmes provides the clay PRAED STREET for a new essay on Pons, Holmes and Cthulhu, It’s been five years, but it ap- coming up in the summer issue of the Gazette. pears that Solar Pons has once And an undated excerpt gives us a never before again hung out his shingle at told adventure: it may well be Parker’s second 7B Praed Street. After a long attempt to chronicle a Pons case! break from the works of August Derleth, I’ve re- turned to the deerstalkered demesne of the Sher- Speaking of Cthulhu, one of the most in depth lock Holmes of Praed Street. I kick it off with my Ponsian essays I’ve ever read, Solar Pons and the second ‘introductory’ essay on Pons. Cthulhu Mythos is reprinted in this issue. To go with a redesigned and expanded website, And we dust off a piece by Sherlockian Chris Red- (to be launched soon), we’ve got Case Commen- mond from The Pontine Dossier. taries for The Norcross Riddle, The Lost Locomo- tive and The Seven Passengers. And speaking of The Lost Locomotive, we’ve got a brand new piece of Ponsiana from Andrew Norris looking at that tale. Last issue included a new Pons pastiche from Andrew; Solar Pons’ War of the Worlds. Well, how about another new one in this issue? Enjoy The Adventure of the Aspiring Animator, featuring a certain nefarious Baron. In Solar Pons & Sarob(bery) Press, I rant a bit about the ridiculous prices for a copy of Basil Cop- per’s Solar Pons & the Devil’s Claw. And another Derleth created the Mycroft & Moran label for his essay from the old Pontine Dossier is included; Solar Pons books. It was a part of his Arkham House this one from legendary Sherlockian Chris Red- imprint. The names are for Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock’s older brother) & Sebastian Moran (the mond. second most dangerous man in London). The Literary Agent, August Derleth published three excerpts from Dr. Parker’s Notebooks. I’ve published two further entries in prior Gazettes. And here’s the sixth installment. Written before he started chronicling Pons’ cases, see what the good doctor had to say about a famous American murder case;. Also, a vague reference to a shared Page 4 The Solar Pons Gazette Featured Case appeared in Gangster Stories in December of 1930. The Norcross Riddle, likely writ- (www.SolarPons.com) ten in 1930, had sat on the shelf along with several other Pons stories written but The Adventure of the Norcross Riddle- never published. NORC In 1944, Ellery Queen The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, was putting to- gether the won- 1944 derfully con- “In Re: Sherlock Holmes”: The Adventures ceived but ill- of Solar Pons, 1945 fated collection, The Misadven- Date - Mid April, 1928 tures of Sherlock Holmes. Derleth The Case touched up Nor- cross and submit- Benjamin Harrison Manton of Norcross Towers is ted it: Holmes married to the formerly widowed Lady McFallon, enthusiasts ap- whose husband disappeared in the fens at Norcross. plauded. Vincent Manton’s wife begins acting strangely at the same Starrett and Fred Dannay (with Manfred B. time that she tells him that she has rented out a Lee, half of Ellery Queen) learned that Der- ruined abbey on the property to a psychiatrist with a leth had several more tales and urged him lunatic and his assistant. Manton approaches Pons to put out a collection of the Pons adven- after she asks him for one thousand pounds and tures in book form.