Sherlock Holmes in America

Of all the disguises in the canon, one that Sherlock Holmes never adopted is that of a cowboy. Dicky Neely remedies that lack in his novella, Sherlock Holmes and the Texas Adventure. In it, Holmes and Watson are hired by an impressive south Texas ranch owner to find her missing son.

The short book is illustrated throughout by delightful Dicky Neely cartoons. My favorite shows Holmes and Watson in their cowboy duds.

The idea of Holmes in America is far from far-fetched, of course. He did live in the United States during the two years that he adopted the identity of the Irish-American Altamont during his spy service in the Great War. But that's not enough for pastiche writers. A look through the shelves of my modest library finds quite a few tales set on these shores. Here's a quick rundown:

• Sherlock Holmes in Dallas, later published as The Case of the Murdered President, by Edumund Aubrey. Holmes investigates the Kennedy assassination.
• The Adventure of the Stalwart Companions by H. Paul Jeffers. Holmes joins forces with New York City Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt. 
• Anomalous by Samuel Williams Jr. In his Altamont guise, Holmes mixes it up with Jack Johnson and Al Capone on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Sherlock Holmes and the Red Dragon and Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance by Larry Millett. These are just two books out of a larger series on Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota.   

It's only fair, I suppose, that pastiche writers should bring Sherlock Holmes to America. Holmes expressed a fondness for Americans, and American have always been among his greatest admirers.