# Contemporary Sherlock Holmes-like detectives **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979 "2004-06-01T00:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/1 "2004-06-01T00:19:49Z")
One of the guys that works for me is a huge fan of SH (and I loved his books as a youth.) I don’t read detective novels much any more, but would like to find a series that have the same “feel” as SH did to pass along to him. Are there any such? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/2 "2004-06-01T02:03:22Z")
There is a positive mania today for writing pastiches of Sherlock Holmes. A pastiche is a novel in the style of, using Holmes himself or one of the subsidiary characters. Some star Mycroft Holmes or Irene Adler, for example. Most of these are serious in intent, although some are comical. Parodies are a different animal, mocking Holmes or Holmesiana in some way. Hundreds of these novels now exist. I loathe them myself (though I’m a parody fiend), so I can’t point you to any. But I have found some lists. [Recommended Quality Sherlock Holmes Pastiches](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/NGN2LTY6GX6Y/103-2698158-2766265) [Reviews of Pastiches & Parodies](http://www.sherlockiana.net/books/pastiche.html) These just scratch the surface. Any Borders or B&N probably has a whole section of “new” Holmes books. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/3 "2004-06-01T04:27:21Z")
There was a PBS series in the late 70s called _The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes_ about all the also-ran contemporaries cashing in on the Holmes craze in the 1890s. I don’t remember a one of them, though. Maybe Fantomas or Spring-Heeled Jack for villains of the same era? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/4 "2004-06-01T04:34:00Z")
I misread the OP and thought he meant contemporaries _of_ Sherlock Holmes. Still, here’s a quote from the IMDB about _The Rivals of Herlock Holmes_ for those interested: > [@](#): > > Plot Summary for > “Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, The” (1971) > > Page 8 of 9 > > This British TV series, shot almost entirely on videotape, dramatized short mystery fiction by authors who were contemporaries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Many of these authors were virtually unknown to modern audiences, although all of the detectives portrayed had appeared in popular ongoing series of short stories or novels. “Rivals” featured the only dramatizations to date of such period characters as Jacques Futrelle’s “The Thinking Machine”, R. Austin Freeman’s “Dr. John Thorndyke”, and W. H. Hodgson’s “Carnacki The Ghost Finder”. Production values were high, although the limitations of early '70’s video technology are painfully obvious. The casts included the cream of British television’s character actors, featuring a few faces that will be recognizable to American audiences. ---
**Author:** ![mbacko1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@mbacko1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbacko1)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/5 "2004-06-01T15:54:23Z")
Try any of the Lincoln Rhyme series of books by Jeffery Deaver. \*The Coffin Dancer \* and \*The Bone Collector \* are very good. They are about a brilliant forensic detective who is crippled in an accident on the job and analyzes cases from his apartment. Its well written detective fiction. Mike ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/6 "2004-06-01T16:04:18Z")
Check out who’s on the cover of [Sherlock](http://www.sherlockholmes.com/index.htm) magazine. I was going to say Gil Grissholm of CBS’s CSI…but this affirms it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/7 "2004-06-01T18:34:54Z")
My two all-time favorite detectives are Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe. Both series have similarities: a super humanly smart but eccentric detective, an assistant who narrates the stories but doesn’t really know what’s going on, a bumbling police chief/foil. The Nero Wolfe stories are set in contemporary New York (they begin in the 1930’s and end in the 1970’s although the characters don’t age that much) and are really entertaining. Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe’s assisant, is a bit more of a smart-ass than Watson tho’. The Nero Wolfe series is written by Rex Stout. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/8 "2004-06-01T19:12:21Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Check out who’s on the cover of [Sherlock](http://www.sherlockholmes.com/index.htm) magazine. I was going to say Gil Grissholm of CBS’s CSI…but this affirms it. 🙂 If we’re allowed to mention TV shows, I’ll say Det. Goren from _Law and Order: Criminal Intent_. The guys knows everything there is to know and doesn’t miss the tiniest clue. He has that Sherlock Holmes arrogance as well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/9 "2004-06-02T00:53:40Z")
In the wake of the PBS series **The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes** they published three paperbacks containing the original stories. They were: **The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes More Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Cosmopolitan Crimes: The Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes** You might be able to dig these up on-line, at a used crime bookshop, or at a mystery con. Of the Sherlock Holmes imitators, I have to give my vote to the stories collected as **The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes** , written by Adrian Conan Doyle (Sir Arthur’ son) and John Dickson Carr. More tha any other imitation, I feel these best capture the “feel” of Doyle’s originals. (Others disagree, I know) You might also look up other Doyle collections, if you really want the feel of the original – Doyle wrote other mysteries besides the Holmes stories, and they have been variously anthologized. In fact, some mention an un-named detective (who _might_ be Holmes. Or, some suggest, Watson), and these stories have beenb called “the Apocrypha”. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/10 "2004-06-02T01:14:03Z")
There are some Japanese manga and anime homages to Sherlock Holmes as well. A manga series called [The Kindaichi Case Files](http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=KID&categorycode=BMG) is aimed at a younger audience (I guess closer to Encyclopedia Brown than Sherlock Holmes) and is really pretty entertaining. In anime, there’s a long-running series called Detective Conan, named after Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s currently running on the Cartoon Network as “Case Closed.” Again, it’s aimed at a younger audience. Probably not what you’re looking for, but they’re entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/11 "2004-06-02T01:50:34Z")
[The List of 7](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380720191/qid=1086140927/sr=8-2/ref=pd_ka_2/002-8336498-3240063?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) is an entertaining Holmes pastiche. Not what the OP was asking for, though; the thread seems to have veered off-course a bit. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/12 "2004-06-02T01:59:08Z")
The thing that made Sherlock so great in his day, was the fact that he knew almost every person in England. You could name somebody and not only would he tell you about the person’s occupation but also give you a brief geneology of his family. If he didn’t know the name, surely he had it in his “files”. That kind of personal information is not something one could use in todays scenarios. My vote for the closest has to be Grissom as well. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/13 "2004-06-02T02:02:27Z")
I read the List of 7 and its sequel The Six Messiahs. They weren’t bad, but not up to the original, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/14 "2004-06-02T02:35:54Z")
Just to elaborate, the protagonist of _[The List of 7](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380720191/qid=1086142392/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-4254747-3628626?v=glance&s=books)_ and _[The 6 Messiahs](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380722291/qid=1086142630/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/103-4254747-3628626?v=glance&s=books)_ (by [Mark Frost](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004111/), co-creator of the _[Twin Peaks](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098936/)_ television show) is Arthur Conan Doyle (playing on the myth that the Holmes stories were semi-autobiographical). I loved those books (and am disappointed that Frost has yet to continue the series) but I wouldn’t consider them very Holmes-like. I also recommend the [Sherlockian.Net](http://www.sherlockian.net/) website (which **Exapno Mapcase** has already mentioned) as a good place to look for other works of mystery. Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/15 "2004-06-02T02:59:19Z")
The movie version of _The Name of the Rose_ was very deliberately Holmesian. I can only assume the original book by Umberto Eco was similar. _Johnatan Creek_ seems to be sort of cunningly clever in that way too. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/16 "2004-06-02T03:43:10Z")
I too would suggest Nero Wolf as the closest contemporary fictional detective to Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/17 "2004-06-02T04:44:57Z")
I’m with Lisa. I beleive that Det. Goran on Law and Order: Criminal Intent is modeled on Holmes. He’s amazingly smart, has devoted his intelligence in its totality to learning how to fight crime, is eccentric and at least a bit arrogant, and tends to solve crimes in progress rather than puzzling them out after the fact. The one person able to defeat him was an attractive young woman who he underestimated because she was attractive and female. All nice parallels to Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/18 "2004-06-02T04:46:08Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I too would suggest Nero Wolf as the closest contemporary fictional detective to Holmes. Of course there is Baring-Gould’s theory that Wolfe was Holmes’s son… ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/19 "2004-06-02T07:34:03Z")
> [@Lisa-go-Blind](#): > > If we’re allowed to mention TV shows, I’ll say Det. Goren from _Law and Order: Criminal Intent_. The guys knows everything there is to know and doesn’t miss the tiniest clue. He has that Sherlock Holmes arrogance as well. Indeed, even the creators of the show describe Goren as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. (No cite – you’ll just have to trust me when I say I read this in an old issue of _TV Guide_.) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contemporary-sherlock-holmes-like-detectives/247979/20 "2004-06-02T10:08:10Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The movie version of _The Name of the Rose_ was very deliberately Holmesian. I can only assume the original book by Umberto Eco was similar. Yes it was, and much better than the movie too.