In Re: Sherlock

5W August Derlecth with forward by Vincent Starrett. Sauk City, Wisconsin: Mycroft and Moran, 1945. First Edition SIGNED

Notes

"In Re: Sherlock" is a short story by August Derleth, part of his Solar Pons series—a well-known pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Rather than directly copying Holmes, Derleth created Solar Pons, a brilliant detective operating in 1920s–30s London, who mirrors Holmes in both manner and method. Pons resides at 7B Praed Street, has a companion named Dr. Lyndon Parker (akin to Dr. Watson), and often investigates bizarre or unusual cases.

“In Re: Sherlock” is a meta-fictional and affectionate tribute to Conan Doyle and Holmes. In this particular tale, Pons is confronted with a curious situation involving Sherlock Holmes himself—though not as a character, but as a fictional figure who has somehow begun to overlap with reality. The story plays with the idea of Holmes’s influence on real-world detection and Pons’s own identity as his spiritual successor. It's a reflective and clever story, blending homage with mystery, and serves as a bridge between Doyle’s canon and Derleth’s respectful imitation. For fans of Holmes, it’s both nostalgic and inventive, highlighting how Holmes’s legacy continues to shape fictional detectives.

Description

Black cloth binding with original dust jacket. Signed by August Derlecth on front endpaper. Minor discoloration to the top edge of the boards. Rubbing to the extremities of the dust jacket.