David Stuart Davies - The Darke Chronicles
Yorkshire man David Stuart Davies is, as you my know, a noted author, editor and playwright, a noted Sherlockian a member of The Detection Club, The Crime Writers` Association etc.
When I began reading this collection I was initially unsure if I would relate to the character of Luther Darke.
Needn`t have worried as in fact I thoroughly enjoyed the stories. In an interesting twist, Darkes` `Watson`, is a professional detective, Inspector Thornton, whereas Darke is a kind of `not-Holmes`. He sums up their relationship in the first story ;
"Ah, we see the world from different hilltops, you and I, Edward. You are the professional, scientific detective with a demand for rationality and feasibility ; whereas I am the amateur, an artist, doomed to view things from a different angle and able to see shifting and often unusual perspectives. We are two halves of the perfect whole."
Whether he is quite as `not-Holmes` as this statement implies is debateable. However, this is a fine collection of stories.
There is perhaps one where I thought the eventual solution to a case was a touch weak, but overall well worth reading. In any case, I am entirely unable to resist a set of short stories with titles like `The Curse of the Griswold Phantom` and `The Vampire Murders Intrigue` and The Illusion of the Disappearing Man` !
