Believe that it would have been harder for Conan Doyle to write detective stories than Colin Dexter; this is because now there is a lot of forensic science that helps Inspector Morse to solve his cases, but Conan Doyle

Compare and Contrast two crime writers who used clever detectives as their main characters

Sherlock Holmes was created by one of the most famous crime writers from the pre-20th century; his originators name was Conan Doyle.

Sherlock Holmes is identified by most people from his famous phrase,

“Elementary my dear Watson”.

However, a lot of the readers of Conan Doyle would realize that Sherlock Holmes under no circumstances actually used the phrase.

Sir Author Conan Doyle was an intelligent doctor who used his knowledge to write novels. His Sherlock Holmes stories were used in Egypt and China as part of their official police training. This confirms that Sherlock Holmes is exceptionally eminent around the world; it also establishes that Conan Doyle was a man of great intelligence.

Equally, one of the most well-known and popular 20th century crime writers Colin Dexter also used a clever detective as his main character. His character was entitled ‘Inspector Morse’.

Colin Dexter’s stories are set in the 20th century, in North Oxford. Therefore the settings in his stories were also typical 20th century people, buildings and cars. In Colin Dexter’s stories men and women are both considered to be equal. Many of the people are very ordinary, although they’re also a lot of University students due to Oxford University.

Conan Doyle stories are set in the Victorian era. This was a time when horse drawn cabs were used for transportation.

“I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab drove up to Briony Lodge”.

Pathologists did not exist at that juncture, and nor did forensics, these words were not even used. There was not an actual Police Force at the time of Conan Doyle. However, it was the very early days of Police being formed by Robert Peel, who was later knighted.

But, all of these do exist know, and also when Inspector Morse was created.

As Conan Doyle lived in the Victorian era, his stories consisted of cobbled streets that were dimly gas lit. Sherlock Holmes mainly dealt with very rich people; there were always mansions in the stories,

“Briony Lodge”.

Colin Dexter lives in the world of today, therefore his stories are set very differently to the ones of Conan Doyle, his stories include the technology, forensics and the pathologists. Lewis often uses the computers to find out about relevant information to their case. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Morse stories also have vivid streetlights, cleaner rods made from adhesive.

The Sherlock Holmes stories always begin at 221b Baker Street where someone very wealthy and prosperous people turn up to request the support of Sherlock Holmes. The case always commences at this point.

“It was close upon four when the door opened”. Dr. Watson is talking about the door of 221b Baker Street, where he and Sherlock Holmes shared a flat when Dr. Watson was a bachelor.

Inspector Morse stories always begins with a phrase or passage from a different book. The phrase is always connected with the story, the readers realise when they understand the plot ...

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“It was close upon four when the door opened”. Dr. Watson is talking about the door of 221b Baker Street, where he and Sherlock Holmes shared a flat when Dr. Watson was a bachelor.

Inspector Morse stories always begins with a phrase or passage from a different book. The phrase is always connected with the story, the readers realise when they understand the plot of the story. ‘The Inside Story’ began with the phrase; “Dido attempted to raise her heavy eyes again, but failed; and the deep wound gurgled in her breast.”

Colin Dexter’s actual stories usually started by Inspector Morse shouting,

“Get a move on!”

I believe that this is the technique of the writers to always have their own commencement as such, of their stories so that the readers can recognize who’s book they are reading.

The Inside story is written by Colin Dexter, its setting is like the typical Inspector Morse stories, which I have already described. I feel that the story has two parts to it. The first part sets off with Inspector Morse waiting for Lewis to arrive at 14 Jowett Place where a murder has been committed,

“Get a move on!”

Shouts Inspector Morse, because he is at the scene of the crime before Lewis, however, Lewis is often there first. This shows the attitude of Inspector Morse towards Lewis.

In the story a character called Sheila Poster has been stabbed to death, she is the charwoman at ‘The Grange’ where she has been employed by Mrs. Spencer Gilby. The suspect of the murder is Paul Bayley.

The clues that Morse and Lewis found at 14 Jowett Place were post cards that had the same handwriting as Sheila Posters.

“The handwriting was more than a reasonable match”

There was also a very strange add for a cleaner, this was because at the bottom of it, it said,

“Graduate preferred”

This was very odd because it was asking for a cleaner to be graduated from University.

The second part is the next story within the story, it is the ‘Inside Story’ written by Sheila Poster.

When Inspector Morse gets hold of this book, he reads it and discovers what is happening and he cracks the case.

‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ was written by the legendary Conan Doyle. This was the only story in which we see that Sherlock Holmes has highly respected a woman as equal.

“To Sherlock Holmes she was always the woman”.

In this story like the others Sherlock Holmes is working for a wealthy and powerful person, but I must point out that this time he was working for an incredibly rich and powerful person. He was working for the ‘King of Bohemia’. The King who tries to hide his identity almost immediately says,

“You may address me as the Count Von Kramm”. But Sherlock Holmes knew his actual identity by his detective skills.

The King claims that he is being blackmailed by a woman by the name of Irene Adler. She is blackmailing him because they had a love affair, and the King has decided to get married to the daughter of the King of Scandinavia, and he is due to announce his engagement in three days time, therefore he wishes to keep his affair with Irene Adler a secret. But, Irene Adler has a photograph of the King and her, and she threatens to reveal it on the day of the engagement.

The King wants Sherlock Holmes to get hold of that photograph; he gives Sherlock Holmes a bag of gold and notes to be getting on with.

Holmes discovers that Irene Adler is to marry another man.

He then disguises himself as a clergyman and sets off to Irene Adler’s house. Holmes very cleverly goes through a procedure to discover where the photograph is hidden.

When Holmes and Watson go to Irene Adler’s house the next day, they are told that she has left England. This lady also gives Sherlock Holmes an envelope addressed to him.

When Holmes opens it he finds that it is from Irene Adler. She explains that she understood what was going on, and she knew about the procedure Holmes and Watson went through to find where the photo was.

This amazed Holmes because she was always one step ahead of him. She also wrote in the letter that she was going to start a new life with her husband, and she has taken the photograph with her, but promises that she would never use it against the King.

This experience changed the views of Sherlock Holmes towards women. He now respected than a great deal more than he did before, and in particular Irene Adler.

Sherlock Holmes was a private Detective who lived on 221b Baker Street. He was extremely clever as we can see by reading the books of Conan Doyle. He has a lady housekeeper, but he did not have any time for women until the day he met Irene Adler. Moriarty was his Archrival and his worst enemy he once even had a physical fight with him. Sherlock Holmes was known to be a sleuth and a drug addict. His audience would be very familiar with his appearance; he is still well known for wearing a checked suite with his dear-stalker hat.

I think Conan Doyle has given a very good description of his character because I could just imagine Sherlock Holmes wearing exactly the same clothes playing his violin, or he’s either smoking his pipe.

In Conan Doyle’s stories only Sherlock Holmes is intelligent enough to solve the mystery.

He also has a sidekick, Dr. Watson.

Inspector Morse works for Thames Valley Police H.Q. He lives in a flat in Oxford. He is an ex-student from the University of Oxford and is enormously into literature and therefore loves reading books and poems. He also loves listening to Opera music. He likes living on his own, and he hates Christmas. He is a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge; he always makes his sidekick Lewis pay for the drinks. Drinking helps him think, it makes his brain work faster. Lewis drives Inspector Morse’s red Jaguar very often, this is because Inspector Morse does not drink and drive.

Both the characters, Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse have sidekicks that I have already mentioned. Rightly so, they personally were fond of their partners to a great extent. And they were both admired by their partners.

Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick is Dr. Watson; he is the narrator of all the Sherlock Holmes stories. By Dr. Watson being in the story it helps us, the audience, to understand the story better. This is because like most of the readers we do not understand what Holmes is doing, so we would find it awfully harder to get the picture of the story if Holmes was narrating, as Dr. Watson also cannot grasp what is going on, therefore when Sherlock Holmes explains to him what is happening, he is also explaining it to us.

Dr. Watson has gained a medical qualification as a Doctor in the army; however, he is not as clever as Sherlock Holmes, but a very close friend. Even though Dr. Watson is not a good detective, Sherlock Holmes still finds it a pleasure to have him serving him on the case that he is going to crack. Dr. Watson was definitely admired by some for the reason that he did not have an over bearing personality.

However, Lewis would often argue with Morse. Nevertheless, he was a loyal and well-trusted colleague. Lewis looks at Inspector Morse as his intellectual superior. He was a solid policeman who had gained a promotion to be a Sergeant.

Lewis also had a life out of Thames Valley; he had a family back at home. I get the impression that his wife feels he is too much into his job, and should pay more attention to his home life.

Every Christmas, Lewis reads a Dickens novel. He spends Christmas time with his family.

The language in the stories of Conan Doyle is archaic, so it is very different to the modern English that we read and speak. The newer books even have a glossary for words that may be difficult for most readers to understand. The language is very formal; there is never colloquial speech in it. The reader will also never ever find any language that is inappropriate for reading to a child of nowadays. Vulgar language would be forbidden in the time of Conan Doyle, the pre-20th century.

However, in ‘Inspector Morse’ the language would be of a mixture of standard and non-standard English. Profanities are allowed in this time; as a result the reader would find the odd swear words. The average reader of a broadsheet would find it easier to read the stories of Colin Dexter than the average reader of a tabloid.

It was very enjoyable to read and to study about the two crime writers, Colin Dexter and Conan Doyle. I discovered that they both used excellent detective techniques, which made their stories very interesting. I believe that it would have been harder for Conan Doyle to write detective stories than Colin Dexter; this is because now there is a lot of forensic science that helps Inspector Morse to solve his cases, but Conan Doyle came up with the most fascinating ways to solve the cases in his stories. This is what makes me feel that Conan Doyle was a better writer than Colin Dexter. After reading Conan Doyle’s stories I feel that he must have been a very wise man. However, I did enjoy Inspector Morse, because I found his character very peculiar compared to other crime detectives.