Crossover of the Week

Summer 1888

THE CASE OF MRS. NORTON 

The former Irene Adler hires Erik’s Opera Ghost Agency (whose current operatives are Ayda Heidari, Ysabel de Ferre, and Hagar Stanley) to determine whether her husband Godfrey Norton is the good man he appears. Appearing or mentioned are the Persian; the Countess de Cagliostro; Liddle, Neal, & Liddle; the King of Bohemia; A. J. Raffles; Professor Moriarty; Sherlock Holmes; Trilby; Coppélius; Spallanzani; Olympia; Irma Vep; Les Vampires; La Marmoset; and Mr. Calhoun. 

Story by Kim Newman in Angels of Music, Titan Books, 2016. Erik and the Persian are from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. Irene Adler, her husband Godfrey Norton, and the King of Bohemia are from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes tale “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Ayda Heidari is the future wife of Bob Ferguson from “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.” Professor Moriarty is Holmes’ greatest foe. Ysabel de Ferre is a foe of detective Sexton Blake. Hagar Stanley is from Fergus Hume’s Hagar of the Pawn-Shop. Josephine Balsamo, the Countess of Cagliostro, is the archenemy of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman burglar Arsène Lupin. Liddle, Neal, & Liddle is from Arthur Morrison’s Martin Hewitt story “The Case of Laker, Absconded.” A. J. Raffles is E. W. Hornung’s amateur cracksman. Trilby O’Ferrall is from George du Maurier’s Trilby. Coppélius, Spallanzani, and Olympia are from Jacques Offenbach’s opera Tales of Hoffmann. Irma Vep and Les Vampires are from Louis Feuillade’s silent film serial named for the latter. La Marmoset and Mr. Calhoun are from Albert W. Aiken’s “La Marmoset, the Detective Queen; or, The Lost Heir of Morel.” 

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!

Sherlock Holmes: The Coils of Time

Sherlock Holmes, the Time Traveler, and a Scotland Yard inspector travel to the future to prevent the birth of the Morlocks. Charles Marlow (from Joseph Conrad’s “Youth,” Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, and Chance), Martin Hewitt (Arthur Morrison’s sleuth) and Sebastian Zambra (a detective created by Headon Hill) are mentioned. The Time Traveler’s real name is given as Moesen Maddoc rather than Bruce Clarke Wildman, so I consider this an AU.

Upcoming Crossover: The Albino's Treasure

This upcoming pastiche by Stuart Douglas pits Holmes and Watson against villains called the Albino and the Lord of Strange Deaths. The Lord of Strange Deaths is one of Fu Manchu's appellations. The Albino is almost certainly Sexton Blake's foe Zenith the Albino. Douglas has also apparently written a story for an anthology of Zenith stories that portrays him as having taken Fu Manchu's elixir vitae. Douglas also contributed a story to the anthology Encounters of Sherlock Holmes where a character compares Holmes favorably to Hewitt and "that foreign chap Dupin."

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.

Crossover Cover: Encounters of Sherlock Holmes

This anthology from Titan Books has a few crossovers. In Stuart Douglas' "The Adventure of the Locked Carriage," an actor tells Holmes that he considers him a superior detective to Hewitt and "that foreign chap Dupin," referring to Arthur Morrison's Martin Hewitt and Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin. Mark Wright's "The Property of a Thief" pits Holmes against gentleman thief A.J. Raffles. Since Holmes and Raffles' creators were brothers-in-law, it is perhaps not surprising that there have been many crossover pastiches involving the two over the years. Paul Magrs' "Mrs. Hudson at the Christmas Hotel" reveals that as of 1925, Mrs. Hudson is now Professor Challenger's housekeeper. However, she must have gone back to working for Holmes at some point, since she is his housekeeper in Manly Wade Wellman's 1941-set story "But Our Hero Was Not Dead." Given Challenger's formidable temper, it's easy to guess why Mrs. Hudson's tenure as his housekeeper did not last. All of these stories fit into Crossover Universe continuity, but there are also three tales that have to take place in alternate universes. Editor George Mann's story "The Curse of the Night Crawler" has Watson working with Sir Maurice Newbury, agent of the Crown, and his assistant Veronica Hobbes. Newbury and Hobbes appear in a series of novels by Mann, which are set in a Steampunk London where Queen Victoria is kept alive by a crude life-support system, airships are common, and automatons perform menial jobs for lawyers, the police and journalists. A few of Mann's other books are set in the same universe as the Newbury and Hobbes books. Nick Kyme's "The Post-Modern Prometheus" has Holmes and Watson joining forces with Frankenstein's monster to defeat Dr. Henry Jekyll (aka Edward Hyde), who is using Victor Frankenstein's work for his own twisted purposes. Jekyll's activities and death in this story conflict with his role in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Finally, Eric Brown's story "The Tragic Affair of the Martian Ambassador" takes place in an alternate reality where the Martians from The War of the Worlds made a second, peaceful voyage to Earth, and settled there after overcoming their vulnerability to terrestrial germs.