Relatively speaking, Sherlock Holmes and Dracula came onto the scene at about the same time. Holmes came to the world in 1887 and Dracula (the vampire, not his historical forebear) came along in 1897. Both were the figureheads for entire genres, entire entertainment cultures, that would follow: Vampires and genius detectives. It’s a very illuminating thing to consider where we are now with those two legends and their respective cults.

The Originals
Both the sixty tales of Sherlock Holmes and the single novel of Dracula have withstood the test of time. Both are considered classics by all but the snobbiest of English lit professors, both have been adapted for film and television time and again. Both endure, available in any mega-bookstore and most of the remaining little corner bookshops, and draw new, curious readers each year. On those points, they score pretty evenly.

On Television
Both have heirs with current television shows, Holmes with the popular House and a bit more cult-followed Monk, and Dracula with that awful thing called Moonlight (Wow, a vampire who walks around in broad daylight . . . spooky!) and reruns of Angel. If you count C.S.I. at all in the “Holmes” column, I think our hero is winning that particular battle.

The Fans
Here’s where it starts to get interesting. We know Sherlock Holmes has his fan clubs. A quick check on the internet will tell you that Dracula does, too. But here’s the odd thing about Dracula . . . he has a whole lot of fans, people who’s life and hobbies that he’s directly responsible for, who really don’t respect the old guy.

Consider this. While I’m a huge fan of the Master of Detectives, as this site will attest, for my fiftieth birthday last year, I decided to make my birthday party a vampire ball. My co-workers, lunch companions, family, and friends loved the idea and dove headlong into it. Vampires of every sort showed up for the party, and only one or two of them looked anything at all like good old Dracula. Now, imagine I’d have held a consulting detective party . . .

Somehow, I think people would still be scratching their head as to what costume to come in. I know I would be. Anyone can get turned into a vampire. Becoming a Sherlock Holmes-level detective, however . . . that is something else entirely. While Sherlock Holmes is just as cool as Dracula ever was, you don’t see entire Goth groups doing consulting detective role-playing. And every one of them has it in his or her head that their particular vampire persona is probably even better than old grandaddy Count Dracula. Which brings us to . . .

The Descendents
Look at every vampire character who came along after Dracula, and are still coming along, more every year. A whole lot of them actually do ooze all the dark and sexy fearsomeness of the original himself. Some may even do him a tad better. Sexier, scarier, etc. – these days you can be a lot more graphic in both areas than Bram Stoker ever could. But what happened to the proteges of Sherlock Holmes? Sometimes I wonder if his best heirs are long behind us: Nero Wolfe, the Thinking Machine, Ellery Queen, Hercule Poirot . . . all of those fellows peaked a long, long time ago. Now we’re suddenly seeing shelves of mystery fiction that has to do with wacky detectives wandering through some adventure involving cats or NASCAR until they bump their forehead on the answers. Is anyone out their in his genre doing what Holmes did, just as well?

Do we cling to Sherlock Holmes so tightly because he is one of a kind? Is it actually possble, and I certainly hope not, that we will not see his like again. There are plenty of vampires who can hold their own for a late-night reading on a stormy night against the old master vampire. But the master detective?

It takes more than a bite on the neck to pass on those skills.

Your humble correspondent,

Brad Keefauver