Word: sherlockian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...simply that she is more consciously literary than most of the other detective story writers . . ." Despite Wilson's judgment, Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey, her witty sleuth, have become two of the most beloved figures in detective fiction. An engaging mix of upper-class sang-froid and Sherlockian intellect, Wimsey set new standards in highbrow snooping. As viewers of the PBS series can testify, only Wimsey would drive a Daimler to the scene of the crime, sport a monocle, and dine out with marquesses and murderers...
...Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. " evertheless, if a man goes to bat for me, the least I can do is listen to his tale. And, in point of fact, both Dibdin and Estleman observe the law, grant them that. As the mystery writer Dorothy Sayers will write of the Sherlockian pastiche, "The rule of the game is that it must be played as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord's." Neither writer mocks; both stories are formal. Both will have readers clued to their seats. But face it, old fellow, your speech is pathetically easy to echo...
Waxwork by Peter Lovesey (Pantheon; $7.95). Lovesey's mysteries are set in late 19th century London, which in too many other authors' hands now seems exclusively Sherlockian. He writes with accurate verbal and social perception about the upper and lower reaches of Victorian sanctimony and contrivance. Waxwork, 41-year-old Lovesey's eighth novel, is at once charming, chilling and as convincing as if his tale had unfolded in the "Police Intelligence" column of April...
...hound Toby, but the scent they are following is not the foul musk of creosote, that criminal excrescence from The Sign of the Four, but the rather innocuous odor of a man who is steeped to the ankles in vanilla extract. This may be a fine touch for the Sherlockian satirist--and there have been plenty of them--but it hardly befits the genius of Watson. Because of preposterous insertions, like this pun: "You've a real gift for telling a tale, Watson, and a flair for titles, too, I'll be bound," or the following canard: "On that previous...
...book depends on its originals, it also detaches itself from the concerns of the detective novel. The narrator appears to mock the readers or himself, to perform little changes in the Sherlockian from that betray his aloofness. For instance, in spite of his skillful story, the author endeavors to give the piot a fine little flaw (involving the two women of the adventure). In addition, some of his sentences are disjointed in a profoundly jarring way, as if they have been lifted straight from the canon and scrambled slightly to fit the story here...