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Welcome! Like the book of the same name, this blog is an eclectic collection of Sherlockian scribblings based on more than a half-century of reading Sherlock Holmes. Please add your own thoughts. You can also follow me on Twitter @DanAndriacco and on my Facebook fan page at Dan Andriacco Mysteries. You might also be interested in my Amazon Author Page. My books are also available at Barnes & Noble and in all main electronic formats including Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBooks for the iPad.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Fredddy the Gateway Drug


One of the neat -- and possibly unique -- programs at the Magna cum Murder mystery conference in Indianapolis is called "Continuing Conversations." The idea is that mystery writers talk shop, and fans listen in. Writers cycle in and out of the discussion for half-hour stretches throughout the day.

Just as I was out to depart "Continuing Conversations" at Magna last October, the talk turned to books that we read when we were young. As I stood up to leave, as I asked, "Did anybody read the Freddy the Pig books?" Sensation! Lots of them had. "Freddy the Detective was the first mystery I ever read," said one writer. 

The deerstalker hat on the cover of Freddy the Detective is no fluke: The plot line is that reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes inspires Freddy to become a sleuth in his own porcine way. He quotes Holmes constantly. 

As a child, I was amazed at how many of my cohorts had never even heard of Freddy. As an adult, I feel an instant bond of kinship whenever a run into a fellow baby boomer who is a Freddy fan. Our numbers are not small. In fact, there's a dedicated group called Friends of Freddy with a website.

For the uninitiated, Freddy was the hero of 26 books between 1927 and 1958 by Walter R. Brooks, who also created the talking horse "Mr. Ed" of TV fame. Freddy and all of his fellow animals on the Bean Farm in upstate New York also talk. But more than that, Freddy is "Everypig," as the Murder Ink entry on him said. Some of the book titles will clue you in on what that means: Freddy the Politician, Freddy the Magician, Freddy the Cowboy, Freddy Plays Football. The Collected Poems of Freddy the Pig.

I only own a couple of first editions, which can be very expensive. But I was fortunately able to buy copies of all of them when they were reprinted in hardback a few years ago. My first retirement project several years from now will be to read them all again in order.

Are there any friends of Freddy reading this?

10 comments:

  1. Oh, yes! I have bunches and bunches of them -- nowhere near all of them, though. Mrs. Wiggins is my hero. :)

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  2. Jinx the cat may have been Freddy's best friend, but the bovine Mrs. Wiggins was the common sense half of the Bean & Wiggins detective agency!

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  3. One of my Sherlockian friends sent this to me because he knows I'm a Freddy fan. Always glad to hear of another one.

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  4. I'm a Freddy and Sherlock fan in Phoenix, AZ. Looking forward to the next season of Sherlock to make it's way over.

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  5. I didn't come across Freddy until I was an adult, but quickly acquired all the books. Freddy is a true people's hero, all things to all readers. Hail, Freddy.

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  6. How heartening to hear from all you Freddians!

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  7. Freddy the Detective is now available in paperbook and as an ebook from The Overlook Press. All of the hardcovers have been published by Overlook, with most of them also available as paperbacks.
    http://www.overlookpress.com/freddy-the-pig.html

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    1. I have all of the Overlook hardbacks, and a few first editions. I always look in vain for them at used book stores. I think fans snap them up!

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  8. My 10 year old LOVES Freddy, by far his favorite series! He can quote Freddy and has read his Freddy books over and over. We tell everyone we can. Getting a kid to read 26 books for the shear enjoyment...what could be better?

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