Back in the 1890s the most serious rival to Sherlock Holmes, as far as popularity with reading public was concerned, was probably Martin Hewitt. He was the creation of Arthur Morrison, a writer who achieved considerable acclaim also for his stories of life among the poor of London. The Best Martin Hewitt Detective Stories gathers together nine stories, all written in the mid-1890s. They’re very similar in style to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, very cleverly plotted and extremely entertaining. Martin Hewitt himself is a likeable detective although rather less colourful than Holmes. He’s also rather less arrogant, and is even inclined to be polite to policemen! The stories are remarkably consistent in quality.