The GreatDetectives An investigationof the modernmystery storyand its fascination to devotees theworld over, in whichwe attemptto unravelthe puzzleof why SherlockHolmes, InspectorMaigret and therest should live althoughthey were neverborn... [] The cookbookcalled for whiteinstead of red transcendentalplateau of literaturewhere their winein the coq-au-vin,with just a dropof sloegin fictionaldoings are, to thereader, intimate reality. 15 minutesbefore serving.The author,French We have come into their householdsjust as they foodcritic Robert Courtine, explained that this is have come into ours- in Holmes’scase a very what Madame Maigret prepares and ~simmers strangehousehold indeed. with love" for her husbandJules, better known It has beensaid, though with no suchdefinitive to detectivestory fanciersaround the world as proofas the subjecthimself would demand, that ChiefInspector Maigret of the Parispolice. Cour- SherlockHolmes is the best-knowncharacter in tinehad piecedthe recipetogether from references all of Englishliterature. He is a memberof that in severalMaigret stories. Since Madame Maigret most exclusivegroup of imaginativecreations is fromAlsace, he specifiedan AlsatianTraminger who have outlivednot only their creators,but both in the sauceand to be drunkwith the dish. their era. Throughfilms, radio, television and The use of the presenttense in the recipeis comicstrips, the peculiaritiesof Holmes’sperson- instructivein that it showshow certainliterary ality are known to vast numbers of people who creationscan loom so large in our minds as to have never read the originalHolmes stories. In becomevirtual living persons. Every reader of the what must be the ultimatetest of immortality, Maigretstories knows that Maigretis frequently many madmenevidently believe they are Sherlock detainedfrom sitting down to his wife’sdelicious Holmes. offeringsby the untimelydemands of his work. This probablywould have pleasedhis creator, Readers also know that Madame Maigret keeps ArthurConan Doyle,a spiritualistwho dabbled a tight rein on her patiencewhen this happens. in the ways of immortality.Conan Doyle hugely They sympathizewith both of them; she in her enjoyed the game of persuading readers that kitchenwith the dinnerover-cooking, he sitting Holmes was a real, if somewhat.shadowy,human with his stomach grumbling in a car on some being.He did thisby deftlyscattering references shabbyside-street waiting to confronta suspect. to actual persons and events throughout his To Maigretenthusiasts, the Chief Inspectorand stories.Their tonguesin their cheeks,Holmes his good wife are alive and--apartfrom the scholarsare onlytoo happyto keepthe gamegoing occasionalbout of indigestion-- well. to thisday. In the worldof detectivefiction Maigret stands The firstthing they will tell you is that the with the great SherlockHolmes himselfon that Holmes storieswere not writtenby Conan Doyle at all,but by a ratherstuffy but good-naturedunrealitylend him a specialair of reality. Inspec- chapnamed Dr. Watson. Sherlock Holmes societies tor Van der Valkof the Amsterdampolice, the everywhere(and they are everywhere)operate on creationof authorNicholas Freeling, is an avid the elementarypremise that Holmesand his readerof Maigretstories. He oftenwonders when apostlereally did maketheir headquarters in facedwith a particularlydifficult problem what theirlodgings at 212BBaker Street. The address Maigretwould do ina caselike this. doesnot exist now, but they explain that is be- Obviouslythe lastingappeal of the imaginary causeof demolitionand rebuilding since Holmes’s detectiveshas muchto do withthe type of story andWatson’s heyday. It is reportedthat the firm in whichthey are the leadingplayers. Everybody whichoccupies the nearestnumber to 212Bregu- lovesa mystery.Small children are enthralled larlyreceives mail addressed to SherlockHolmes. by themysterious, hence their passion for riddles So, longafter the lasthackney vanished from andhide-and-seek. Adults tend to likepuzzles of thegaslit streets of London, Sherlock Holmes still all kinds,none more than the puzzleof who is stridesconceitedly across the stage of fancy, prac- responsiblefor the corpseon the drawing-room tisingwhat Watson called his speciality-omni- floor. science.Since Conan Doyle’s copyright finally lapseda fewyears ago, new books and films about Otherheroes come and go, but Holmes’sadventures by otherauthors have been detectivesgo on forever appearingregularly, supposedly culled from hith- erto-undiscovereddocuments. Holmes is still In commonwith characters in comicstrips and capableof bowlingover readers and audiences televisionserials and situation comedies, fictional withthe might of hismental processes. He is doing sleuthsowe at leastpart of theirfamiliarity to verywell for a manof 125 years of age. the factthat they keep appearing in one story Whatis it thatmakes fictional detectives, above afteranother. But while the other types soon fade allliterary figures, live on agelessly inour imagi- frommemory when their stint in thelimelight is nations?A conversationamong any group of over,the detectivesretain their prominence mysterystory fans- which means almostany throughconstant retellings of their adventures in groupof peoplewho like to readfor relaxation-reprintedpaperback books and fresh adaptations willturn up endlessminutia about the livesof fortelevision, film and the stage. characterswho never existed in thestrict sense of Yet,despite the fact that no lessera literary the word.You mighthear about how CharlieChan figurethan EdgarAllan Poe is creditedwith not onlyhas a numberof sonsbut a daughter; writingthe first modern detective stories and such abouthow Hercule Poirot once failed to tellsome- splendidwriters as DashiellHammett and Ray- one whothought he wasFrench that he wasreally mondChandler have specialized in them,detec- Belgian;about how Nero Wolfe mightjust be tivefiction is stillnot fully recognized asa serious SherlockHolmes’s illegitimate son, the issue of a artform. The more earnest literary critics frown liaisonbetween the great detective and a forgottenuponmysteries. Only recently an historianof the ladylong ago in Montenegro(the clue is the detectivegenre put it downas "pre-eminentlythe similarityin thespelling of thetwo names; note literatureof the sick-roomand therailway car- theidentical vowels). riage".But if artis any reflection of the preoccu- In atleast one instance a fictional detective may pationsof society,then the persistent demand for be foundslipping into this state of mindhimself, crimefiction in allmedia should make it an impor- withthe curiouseffect that his excursionsinto tantvariety of art. In thetelevision age, the literary critics have beenjoined by theircounterparts whosit in judg- menton TV in suggestingthat the publicreally oughtto turnits mindto somethingbetter than our PhilipMarlowe or Lew Archeror Kojak,is crimeand mystery.They complain that far too reallya reincarnationof that man riding in pur- manytough cops and cleversleuths come and go suitof a holygrail, that rescuer of endangered on thescreens in ourhomes. But it shouldbe noted maidens?If so,does that account for the detective’s thatas fastas suchshows go, new onesemerge, pullon theimagination? Is there something deep and old onesmake a reappearance.Their attrac- withinus thatmakes us wantto believein the tivenessmust say somethingabout the inner realityof sucha man,even though we areaware feelingsof their consumers, including anatavistic thathe existsonly on paperor on a screen? fascinationwith robbery and murder.Still, if Therecan be no questionabout our psychological peopleare interestedin crimefor its ownsake, needfor heroes.A herois someonebigger than theyare also interested in punishment.They like life,and the detective certainly fills that bill. He is thethrills that go withdeception and pursuit, but smarterand, in mostinstances, stronger than most theyare not on the sideof the criminal.They ofus, and he hasa keenersense of integrity. Heis wantto seejustice triumph in theend. usuallyas much a protectorof the weak and Thisis wherethe fictionaldetective comes in- innocentas a hunterof the guilty. as an instrumentof justice.He is theman (or, in rarecases, she is thewoman) who overcomesall Softnessand humanityin the the perplexingand occasionally dangerous obsta- chiefof thehomicide squad clesto see to it thatwrong-doers pay fortheir crimes.Moreover, the detective achieves justice Perhapsthe most unusual of alldetective heroes whenit seemsas if it willnot be donethrough --andsome thinkthe greatest-is the above- ordinarychannels. If itwere not for his skill and mentionedInspector Maigret. Maigret makes a diligencein penetrating to the heart of the mystery goodfocal point for any discussion of the differ- whereless intelligent and intrepid people would encesand similarities among fictional detectives, havefailed, the culprit would have got off free. andof whythey are capable of living in ourminds. Maigretis the creationof an acknowledged Theimage of thedetective writerof genius,Georges Simenon. Simenon has as a modernknight errant writtenmore than 150 novels,the bulkof which are not mysteryor detectivestories; Maigret Accordingto somehistorians, the detective’sfiguresin onlyabout one-third of the author’s non-fictionalantecedents are considerablyless works.In his othernovels, Simenon deals with noble.The original detective, they say, was at best themeslike sickness, old age, ignorance, suicide a spy and at worsta stool-pigeonwho operated and madness. on the seamyfringes of the centralizedpolice