This year we got a new Solar Pons collection that finally provides us with what many Pons fans have hoped for: cases where Pons teams up with his predecessor, Sherlock Holmes. It’s The Meeting of the Minds: The Cases of Sherlock Holmes and Solar Pons, which I think is fitting.
I’ve posted on Solar Pons, the Holmes “pastiche” created by August Derleth when he learned no new Sherlock Holmes stories were forthcoming. Instead of making him a copy, he is a separate character who sees Holmes as his mentor and predecessor. Holmes had retired to Sussex Downs around the turn of the century (1903 to be exact), though he did come out of retirement to aid Britain during WWI (and a few other times).
Pons’ career was mainly in the 1920s and ’30s, though he started in 1907, with a pause during WWI for military intelligence work, and in 1918 (or was it 1917?) started living on Praed Street with Dr. Lyndon Parker. They returned to military service in WWII, with Pons again working for military intelligence, and he most likely retired after that. But as he occasionally visited or consulted with Holmes during his career, there were opportunities for them to work together either in the teens, 1920s, or ’30s.
This is actually a two-volume collection from Belanger Books, with 18 new adventures.
I’m familiar with several of the contributing authors from their Holmes or Pons stories.
We also get a pair of forewords to set the stage by Roger Johnson and David Marcum, who has been overseeing the new Pons stories.
The stories are arranged chronologically, starting from a little before 1907 and running through 1933, though the last story doesn’t quite neatly fit in. While many stories are narrated by Watson, some are narrated by Parker. Volume 1 has eight stories; volume 2 has 10.
Sean Venning provides us a story set early in Pons’ career when Inspector Lestrade meets him on a case. In fact, Pons is still apprenticing under Holmes. The framing story is a nice touch. Hopefully people will get the reference.
Marcum gives us a sort of re-write of Conan Doyle‘s final Holmes story, set on the eve of WWI when he dealt with German spy Von Bork. Here we learn the truth of Holmes “retirement” and see Pons assisting him.
In Thomas A. Burns Jr.‘s tale, German agents take Holmes in an attempt to free Von Bork. Pons is on the case with Watson, but will they succeed?
In a more classic piece, we get a case of murder and misdirection with the work by John Linwood Grant. Both Holmes and Pons must work out not just whodonit, but why.
The son of a poisoner that Holmes dealt with returns to take revenge against Pons in a piece by Naching T. Kassa.
We get a return of Von Bork in Andrew Salmon‘s story, that gives us the death of Holmes (?!?) and dangerous anarchist bombers in the post WWI years.
Another tale from David Marcum has Holmes and Pons dealing with a serial killer that also involves some other literary characters, a few of whom appeared in Derleth’s Pons tales. But when the serial killer claims he didn’t kill one victim, they must re-evaluate things, and this takes them in a different direction and a dangerous conspiracy against England.
Publisher Derrick Belanger provides a strange little tale were Holmes and Pons must solve a bizarre set of crimes with a strange thief called “The Croaking Creeper.”
In a different, and very welcomed change, Mark Mower gives us a puzzle-based “treasure hunt” that was left by a deceased linguist that Holmes and Pons help solve.
Harry DeMaio‘s piece starts off with a bang, with Dr. Parker being shot at an event with Dr. Watson. While he is recovering, the others work to figure out who did it so that Parker wouldn’t be under threat.
A different style of team-up is given by Nick Cardillo. Here Pons is sent a new Sherlock Holmes story written by Watson of a case where he wasn’t able to prove the crime. A perfect crime? But can Pons figure it out if the story is a real case, and if so how it was done?
In Thaddeus Tuffentsamer‘s story, a man whom Holmes had helped years prior comes looking for help, but instead is directed to Pons. Someone seems to be threatening his adopted daughter on the eve of her engagement. Can Pons and Holmes figure things out before the assassin succeeds?
A strange young boy, with an equally mysterious guardian, comes from India to live with his grandfather in Jayantika Ganguly‘s tale. It’s claimed they are cursed and should be sent away. Holmes steps in and, with the help of Pons, solves the mystery behind these two.
We get a tale that takes Pons and Parker to America, where they meet up with Holmes. I think this is the first for Pons. Chris Chan takes them to Wisconsin, where they are fortunate to meet August Derleth. Derleth and Parker figure out they are related. This will lead to Derleth being Parker’s literary agent. But also Pons and Holmes must work to save the President from an attack by the Hodag!
David Marcum gives us another story, set after the passing of Watson. Pons and Parker are visiting Holmes in Sussex, when someone is apparently killed in an explosion. It seems connected to a package intended for Holmes that the man had picked up by mistake. So what happened? There is also an interesting reference to a certain female character connected to Holmes by another author, which I’ve read and reviewed here. Wonder how many will get the reference?
Pons and Parker are dealing with another case and drop in on Holmes looking into the murder of a judge in Stephen Herczeg‘s work. The judge is apparently killed by an ice pick, but that is covered up by a blow to the head. Strangely, it seems linked to a murderer Holmes helped put away when others related to the case are found dead. But the murderer was executed decades ago, so who is responsible?
A strange case of stolen gold is the focus of Robert Stapleton‘s piece. Where did the gold go? The thieves work to misdirect the police, but they can’t fool Holmes and Pons.
I.A. Watson, who has written a lot of Holmes stories put out in Airship 27‘s collections, gives us an usual tale. We get a case that Holmes and Watson handled back in the early days, which Watson wrote up as an early tale but never published. This is interspersed with Pons and Parker dealing with the outcome in their time.
This is another great collection of Solar Pons stories. It’s incredible in the past few years how many new Pons stories we’ve gotten — about 60, and about to equal the number written by Derleth. What will we see next?
I haven’t heard if another is in the works, and wouldn’t expect another until next year at the soonest.
Will it be another theme volume, such as some of the recent Holmes volumes from Belanger Books (pairing him with real characters, literary characters, occult detectives, etc), or a general collection? As we’ve had tales with Watson by himself, maybe a solo Parker tale or two? Or one that teams Pons with Watson? More tales in America? Will we ever see another Pons novel? Only three have been done (two by Derleth, one by Copper). Whatever we get, I’ll be happy.
We recently got the second new Pontine Dossier (see my review), so hope to see another in 2022.
