PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

March 26, 2025

NOTHING IS REALLY NEW UNDER THE SUN

One of the items that I inherited from father was The Complete Sherlock Holmes by A. Conan Doyle.  By the time I graduated from high school I had read the book a number of times.  Even today, I reread it at least once a year.

About twenty years ago I bought from Readers Digest Books a four volume paperback set of Rex Stout Nero Wolf mysteries.  This led to my acquiring a collection of a complete set of the Nero Wolfe corpus which I read through at least once a year.

Critics have had a field day making connections between Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson with Nero Wolf and his right hand man Archie Goodwin.  Some have even gone so far as to create a direct literary linage between Holmes and Wolfe.

Presently I am reading through Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot corpus.  Several times Christie makes reference to Holmes, usually making a distinction between him and Poirot.  In her first Poirot mystery, The Murder on the Link (1923) Christie writes:  “He (Poirot) had a certain disdain for tangible evidence, such as footprints and cigarette ash (a reference to Holmes’ method), and would maintain that, taken by themselves, they would never enable a detective to solve a problem. … Then he would … remark … ‘The true work, it is done from within.  The little grey cells – remember always the little grey cells, mon ami!’” (The Murder on the Links, Berkley Edition, pp. 7, 8)

In one case Poirot make a bet with Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard that he can solve a crime without ever leaving his home.  With the help of his friend Captain Hastings to do his leg work, he wins the bet.

Nero Wolfe hardly ever leaves his home, especially to work on a case.  Just as Hercule Poirot uses Captain Hastings (a friend), Miss Lemon (his secretary) and George (his valet) to gather information and facts, Wolfe uses Archie Goodwin along with a cadre of other detective to do his grunt work.  For both Poirot and Wolfe what is of upmost importance to solve a case is a few essential facts and the little grey cells.

Poirot has an abnormal need to have everything in its proper place.  Poirot’s uncanny ability to solve crimes is somehow related to his compulsion to have everything in order.  Poirot’s quirks are carried to the next level in the just completed television series “Monk.”  Adrian Monk suffers from a variety of compulsive habits that stem from the tragic death of his wife, Trudy.  His quirks give him a unique perspective on life that allows him to discover connections that escape others.

In Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse mystery Last Bus To Woodstock (1975) Gaye, a barmaid, makes the following observation of the Oxford police procedures.  “It wasn’t exactly what she’d come to expect from her reading of Holmes or Poirot, who by this time would doubtless have interviewed the chief suspect, and made some startling deductions from the most trivial phenomena.” (Last Bus To Woodstock, Ballantine Books, pp. 16, 17)  In contrast to Poirot and Monk, Inspector Morse uses his little grey cells, very often unsuccessfully, in the context of an undisciplined and chaotic lifestyle to finally solve the case.

Limited space does not allow me to do more than just give a hint of the possible connections between Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, Inspector Morse, and Monk.  It would be interesting to go back and see what lies behind Holmes.  The creator of each of these fictional detectives is dependent upon those who have gone before.  What each of the authors has done is cast the material in a new setting with a new cast of characters.  As the Book of Ecclesiastes puts it, when all is said and done “what has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc. 1:9)

(This article was originally published March 15, 2012.  Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)