A TV Sherlock You Might Never Have Heard Of

A THREE-PIPE PROBLEM.
By Julian Symons.
Collins Crime Club.
1975.
Now available on Kindle.

Before Cumberbatch and even before Brett, there was Sheridan Haynes:

[TV actor Sheridan] Haynes, in his role of Holmes, becomes gradually more involved in a case known as the Karate Killings, to the consternation of all. He states that Sherlock Holmes could have solved the case, then sets out to do it with the help of a Watson, and some Baker Street Irregulars (actually Traffic Wardens).

Sher Haynes is a sympathetic character and the book, if improbable, is a lot of fun and very well done. Sherlockians should enjoy it. — Jeff Myerson, MYSTERY*FILE (9 November 2010)

However:

This isn't very successful. Symons didn't believe in Great Detectives, and so, although he solves the mystery, it's more by inept bumbling than by reason, and there's none of the grandeur or vitality of Conan Doyle's splendid melodramas. Instead, 1970s London is drab and sordid, full of gangsters, actors, and motor-cars. — Nick Fuller, The GAD Wiki [Note: SPOILERS.]

Category: Detective fiction