Now we move to the second Solar Pons collection from August Derleth, The Memoirs of Solar Pons. It first appeared from Mycroft & Moran in 1951, then was reprinted by Pinnacle in the ’70s as the third volume. I have no idea why.
This time we get 11 stories. Four appeared elsewhere. One was first published in Dragnet in 1929. One story originally appeared as a Sherlock Holmes story, before being converted into a Solar Pons tale. If you want to read the original version, that is in volume 8 of the Belanger Books series, The Apocrypha of Solar Pons.
As with the others, we get two forewords by David Marcum and Derrick Belanger. David first gives a background on this volume and points out a few of the stories before repeating the rest of his forewords from the other volumes. Derrick focuses on the atypical stories that appear here, which I feel is one of the appeals of Pons. We see in this volume an expansion of the world of Solar Pons, as well as how he is separate from Holmes, which continues in the next volume.
Moving on to the rest of the volume, we get the introduction by Ellery Queen that appeared in the original volume. We get a long list of Holmes pastiches that had been created up to then. Then we get an forward from Luthor Norris, who established the Praed Street Irregulars, the young boys who help Pons with his investigations. This one appeared in the Pinnacle edition.
The conversion from a Holmes story, “The Adventure of the Circular Room,” provides an interesting little mystery for Pons. A young nurse approaches Pons with a concern for her charge. An elderly widow, recently released from a mental home after the passing of her husband, is living with her niece and nephew. But she claims of ghostly voices and changes in her room, which is circular. Is it all in her head or is there more to it? Pons and Dr. Parker are on the case!
In “The Adventure of the Perfect Husband,” we get a story that seems more a cliche of PIs. A wife approaches Pons with a problem with her “perfect husband.” He is suddenly distracted and when she looks into things, finds him with another woman. When she approaches him on the street, he acts like he doesn’t know her! Then this other woman is found dead! What is it all about? Did the husband murder a former wife or flame? Can Pons get to the bottom of things?
Another of the original pulp stories, “The Adventure of the Broken Chessman” gives us another story of political intrigue. After learning of an unknown man being found dead recently, Pons is visited by a disguised foreign envoy, whom he easily identifies. He is asked to look into the case of this dead man, as he is a sinister agent of his government — but not to solve the murder, but to prevent it from being solved. Why? And will Pons do so? And how does the broken chessman fit into the story?
A murder (or suicide?) is the focus of “The Adventure of the Dog in the Manger,” which deals with a bizarre death of a middling actor. Complicating things is this occured at his home with four other very prominent actors who had been invited by him. All of these actors had had prior issues with him, and had been invited so their host could make amends. Can Pons figure out who killed the actor?
With “The Adventure of the Proper Comma,” we get another appearance of the Praed Street Irregulars, this time lead by David Benjamin. They will appear off and on in the stories. In this one, they actually bring him a case after they were passing a sanitorium, and one of the patients, a wife of a promient man, passes them a message on a stone. Why is she there, and why is she asking for help? Pons even has Dr. Parker check in as a patient to get to the bottom. Will Pons succeed?
Another first is in “The Adventure of Ricoletti of the Club Foot,” as we are introduced to Bancroft Pons, Solar’s older brother who works in the British Government in a role similar to Mycroft Holmes. We are told that Pons had mentioned him previously to Parker, but here Parker (and we) meet him for the first time. Bancroft needs Pons to look into a matter regarding one of his cryptography experts in the Foreign Office, Ricoletti. Someone enter the Foreign Office and went into Ricoletti’s office and desk. Nothing was stolen, but who did it and why? Is there an attempt to breach state secrets or is it something else? Pons needs to find out.
“The Adventure of the Six Silver Spiders” starts out with an interesting matter. A group of six collectors are notified of an exclusive auction of rare books. They are works like the Necronomicon and others from H.P. Lovecraft, et al, though we are told these books do not exist in the world of Solar Pons (really?). But it’s all a ploy to have the collectors out of their homes so someone can get access to one of six silver scarabs each of them have. However, only four were accessed. They contain clues to a “treasure.” Can Pons work out what the treasure is with remaining two? And can he identify the person behind it?
A puzzling case in “The Adventure of the Lost Locomotive” has looking for a missing locomotive. A man who has to get to a meeting in the north of England has hired it to get there in time for a meeting. But it disappeared along the route. How does a train engine just disappear? Strangely, the fireman shows up in a daze, and the engineer had been sent on an emergency and wasn’t on the train. And who is the man who hired the special? Is why it disappeared as important as how? Can Pons solve both questions?
With “The Adventure of the Tottenham Werewolf,” we learn that Parker is a member of the Diogenes Club. As it was a club for “unclubable men,” I guess it’s a little different if Parker is a member. There he sees an interesting gentleman, whom he brings Pons to see. This leads us into our story. A man thinks he’s a werewolf, and now it appears he has killed his uncle. Is he a werewolf? And if not, did he kill his uncle, or was it someone else? Can Pons get to the bottom of things before anyone else is killed? We also learn in this one that Parker is married. I don’t recall this mentioned much or him moving out.
Pons again helps the government in “The Adventure of the Five Royal Coachmen,” though he is brought in by the Foreign Secretary rather than Bancroft. A group of diplomatic envoys are trout fishing while negotiating, when one of them disappears. He is an important part of the English group, and has certain information that was being discussed, so not only does he need to be found, but it’s important to make sure the information he has is safe. So can Pons find him, and understand how the Royal Coachmen, which are dry flies for fly fishing, fit in?
An interesting tale is “The Adventure of the Paralytic Mendicant,” which makes me think of some of the Holmes novels. A housekeeper approaches Pons about her employer. He has been living in his house for 14 years, but has started acting strangely in the past couple of months. Strange letters has arrived, including one with a tiny glass dagger that Pons states is really carved from diamond! When Pons arrived, they find the man dead from a slit throat. But it’s hard to believe he was murdered, as the only one who had seen him recently is a crippled beggar with a macaw. Pons learns the man is connected with several others — several who are now dead — so they travel to the last man. Can Pons figure things out and put a stop to them?
It’s another great collection with several interesting tales. Some of the ones I found interesting are the “Proper Comma,” “Six Silver Spiders,” and “Paralytic Mendicant.” Now moving on to the next Pons review.
