Harry Dickson - Overview

Overview

The adventures of Harry Dickson and his young assistant, Tom Wills, have delighted several generations of French readers. Because they were written by a master of horror fiction, they are far more fantasy-oriented than the true Holmesian canon. The best and most fondly remembered Harry Dickson stories are those that pit the Great Detective against some supervillains such as Professor Flax, the mad scientist known as the Human Monster, and, later, his daughter, the equally deadly Georgette Cuvelier, a.k.a. The Spider (with whom Dickson had a love-hate relationship); Euryale Ellis, a beautiful woman who had the power to turn her victims into stone and who may be a reincarnation of the legendary gorgon Medusa; Gurrhu, a living Aztec god who hid in the Temple of Iron, an underground temple located beneath the very heart of London, filled with scientifically advanced devices; the last, living Babylonian mummies who found refuge under a Scottish lake; a nefarious blood-drinking serial killer dubbed the Vampire with Red Eyes; the enigmatic, tuxedo-suited avenger known as Cric-Croc, the Walking Dead; the supervillain Mysteras, who relies on elaborate and deadly illusions; the bloodthirsty Hindu god Hanuman, etc.

Harry Dickson's fame in France rivals that of Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin.