Spring 1909
ROULETABILLE AT THE OLD BAILEY
French journalist Rouletabille reports on an English homicide. Another reporter, Ben Bates, points out the prosecution leader, Sir Wilfrid Robarts; his junior, T. C. Rowley; and Edward Leithen and Impey Biggs representing the defense. The judge is Mr. Justice Wargrave. The prosecution calls consulting detective Harry Dickson, who worked for Nick Carter when he was younger. Dickson has his offices in Baker Street, as do all four of London’s greatest detectives: Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake, Sir Seaton Begg, and Victor Drago.
Short story by Martin Gately in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 14: Sang Froid, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2017; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 24), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018, and Les Nouveau Exploits de Rouletabille, Rivière Blanche, 2019; and in The New Exploits of Joseph Rouletabille, Black Coat Press, 2020. Rouletabille is from Gaston Leroux’s detective novels. Ben Bates is from the 1988 TV mini-series Jack the Ripper. Sir Wilfrid Robarts is from Agatha Christie’s “The Witness for the Prosecution.” T. C. Rowley is from John Mortimer’s Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Edward Leithen is from the works of John Buchan. Impey Biggs is from Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey novels. Mr. Justice Wargrave is from Christie’s And Then There Were None. Harry Dickson appeared in German, Belgian, Dutch, and French pulp novels, the latter mostly written by Jean Ray. Nick Carter is one of the most famous dime novel detectives. Sherlock Holmes needs no introduction. Sexton Blake is an iconic British penny dreadful detective. Seaton Begg is an AU version of Blake seen in Michael Moorcock’s The Metatemporal Detective, but apparently a distinct version separate from Blake exists in the CU. Victor Drago, created by Chris Lowder and Mike Dorey, appeared in the British comic Tornado.
This post is dedicated to author Martin Gately, who sadly passed away last week. Martin was a great guy and a very talented writer with decades of experience, and I will miss him a lot.
This crossover writeup is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!
Slight correction. T.C. Rowley ('Uncle Tom') originally appeared in the first series of "Rumpole of the Bailey". "Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders" was published many years later and changes the continuity of the series in a number of significant ways
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