Southern Medical Journal:
July 2003 - Volume 96 - Issue 7 - pp 731-732
Special Article: Letters to the Editor
Physicians as Detectives in Detective Fiction of the 20th Century
Wurlitzer, Fred MD, FACS
Author Information
University Park, FL
Letters to the Editor are welcomed. They may report new clinical or laboratory observations and new developments in medical care or may contain comments on recent contents of the Journal. They will be published, if found suitable, as space permits. Like other material submitted for publication, letters must be typewritten, double-spaced, and submitted in duplicate. They must not exceedtwotypewritten pages in length. No more than five references and one figure or table may be used. See Information for Authors for format of references, tables, and figures. Editing, possible abridgment, and acceptance remain the prerogative of the Editors.
To the Editor:
Dr. Anderson's article in the October 2002 issue of Southern Medical Journal1 contains notable omissions. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) wrote about Dr. Watson, who assisted Sherlock Holmes in his detective work. Dr. Watson certainly was not incidental to the plots, and quite arguably he was a physician-detective. Although Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock in 1893 in The Final Problem, the last story in Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 2 he succumbed to appeals from readers and Collier's Weekly by writing The Return of Sherlock Holmes3 in 1903. Watson also appears in Laurie King's 20th-century series about a teenage girl who works with Sherlock. Adrian Doyle, Conan's son, and John Kickson Carr collaborated to write The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes. 4 Other knockoffs that mention Watson are Nicholas Meyer's The Seven Per-Cent Solution5 and Michael Hardwick's The Revenge of the Hound. 6
C.L. Grace wrote a series about Kathryn Swinbrooke, a 15th-century physician, and her partner, King's Commissioner Colum Murtagh, working in Canterbury, England, in The Book of Shadows7 and Saintly Murders. 8 Georges Simenon wrote of the physician-detective Jean Dollent, MD, in The Little Doctor. 9 Bill Pomidor wrote of Calista Marley, MD, a young forensic pathologist who works with her deputy coroner husband and family physician Dr. Plato Marley in Anatomy of Murder10 and Murder by Prescription. 11 Louise Hendricksen wrote of Amy Prescott, MD, a forensic pathologist who works in the Western Washington Crime Lab in Seattle. Amy joins her father, B.J. Prescott, MD, a medical examiner who does detective work in With Deadly Intent12 and Grave Secrets. 13
The article was fun. Dr. Anderson did a good job. However, I still have not recovered my equilibrium after seeing two of my favorite characters, Dr. Alex Delaware and Dr. Alex Cross, excluded because they are psychologists. Some of my additions were found by cross-checking Google searches of physician detective. No doubt this amended list has omissions, too.
Fred Wurlitzer, MD, FACS
References
1. Anderson D. Physicians as detectives in detective fiction of the 20th century. South Med J 2002; 95: 1134-1139.
2. Doyle AC. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. London, Harper & Brothers, 1902.
3. Doyle AC. The Return of Sherlock Holmes. New York, McClure, Phillips & Co., 1905.
4. Doyle AC. Exploits of Sherlock Holmes. New York, Random House, 1954.
5. Meyer N. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. New York, Dutton, 1974.
6. Hardwick M. The Revenge of the Hound. New York, Villard Books, 1987.
7. Grace CL. The Book of Shadows. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1996.
8. Grace CL. Saintly Murders: A Medieval Mystery Featuring Kathryn Swinbrooke. New York, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2001.
9. Simenon G. The Little Doctor (J Stewart, transl). New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981.
10. Pomidor B. The Anatomy of Murder: A Cal & Plato Marley Mystery. New York, Signet, 1996.
11. Pomidor B. Murder by Prescription. New York, Signet, 1995.
12. Hendricksen L. With Deadly Intent: A Dr. Amy Prescott Mystery. Boston, Kensington Publishing, 1994.
13. Hendricksen L. Grave Secrets. New York, Gemstar eBook Editions, 1994.
© 2003 Southern Medical Association