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The Sherlock Holmes stories were so popular that many contemporary authors came up with their own detectives, some Holmes-like, some not (depending on whether the author wanted to pastiche or contrast). Most of them have long been forgotten, while Holmes goes on and on. There are a few exceptions, however, that still have drawing power, at least among mystery aficionados. Among the lasting favorites are: Max Carrados (the blind detective), Martin Hewitt (the professional private investigator), Carnacki (the Ghost Finder), Dr. Thorndyke (the forensic scientist), The Old Man in the Corner (armchair, or rather, tea-room detective), and The Thinking Machine (nutty professor).
I will list the detectives (and authors) in The Rivals of Sherlock
Holmes series by Hugh Greene, Graham's brother (not the titles).
You probably have heard of most of them, but if not you may want to try them.
- Rivals: Bernard Sutton (Max Pemberton), Martin Hewitt (Morrison),
Simon Carne (Guy Boothby), Dorrington & Hicks (Morrison), Romney
Pringle (Clifford Ashdown), Eric Vandeleur (Meade & Eustace), Duckworth
Drew (Le Queux), Old Man in the Corner (Orczy), Thorndyke (Freeman),
Lady Molly (Orczy), Carnaki (Hodgson), Max Carrados (Bramah).
- Further Rivals: Loveday Brooke (Catherine Pirvis), Hewitt again,
Dick Donovan (by eponymous author), Dorrington & Hicks again, Paul
Beck (Bodkin), Hagar Stanley (Fergus Hume), Dora Myrl (Bodkin),
Gilchrist (Meade & Hallifax), Archer Dawe (Fletcher), Garron
(Futrelle), Judith Lee (Richard Marsh), Thorpe Hazell (Victor
Whitechurch), Carrados again.
- American Rivals: Madelyn Mack (Hugh Weir), Barnes & Mitchell
(Ottolengui), The Thinking Machine (Futrelle), Luther Trant (MacHarg
& Balmer), Average Jones (S.H. Adams), Calvin Sprague (Lynde), no name
(Flynt & Walker), Quincy Adams Sawyer (Pidgin & Taylor), Craig Kennedy
(Reeve), Godahl (Anderson), Wharton (R.H. Davis) -- this is a generally
obscure collection, and leaves out Uncle Abner (Post) intentionally
because he is out of period.
- Foreign Rivals: Colonel Clay (Grant Allen), Inspector Lipinzki
(George Griffith), Cecil Thorold (Arnold Bennett), Eugene Valmont
(Barr), Thinking Machine again, Arsene Lupin (Leblanc), Eigil Holst
(Rosenkrantz), Dagobert Trostler (Groller), Laxworthy (Oppenheim),
November Joe (H.H. Prichard) -- a real mixed bag, some written by
non-English authors, others just set in different countries.
In a different vein, I'd also like to recommend "Latin Blood" edited
by Donald Yates in 1972, a collection of Latin American detective
stories. Borges, of course, included, but many others of great merit.
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