Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Crossover Cover: The Limehouse Text

Will Thomas has written a series of novels about detective Cyrus Barker. It is mentioned that another private enquiry agent named Hewitt sometimes takes the cases for which Barker is too busy. Though not explicitly stated, Cyrus is clearly meant to be the same Barker, Sherlock Holmes’ “hated rival upon the Surrey Shore,” that appears in Doyle and Watson’s “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman.” In Win Scott Eckert’s story “No Ghosts Need Apply,” Barker’s first name is given as Cecil. His full name is probably Cecil Cyrus Barker. Hewitt is private detective Martin Hewitt, who appeared in stories by Arthur Morrison in The Strand at roughly the same time as the Holmes stories.

1 comment:

  1. It is worth noting that Holmes was being facetious about the "hated rival." By the time of the "Retired Colourman" Holmes had outgrown a lot of his vanity.

    It always seemed to me a given that someone would write a series of novels about Barker. I mean he had to have had untold adventures.

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