Origin
Born in New York, but raised and educated in England (at the behest of his father), Harry Dickson forged a career (at a pretty young age) as a detective throughout most of Europe. Aided by his sidekick, Tom Wills, Dickson tackled not only criminals and spies, but also opponents who bordered on “supervillain”, as well as strange and bizarre/supernatural cases.
Creators
In 1927, a Dutch translation of the original German series, changed things even more by renaming the lead character Harry Dickson “de Amerikaansche Sherlock Holmes” or Harry Dickson the American Sherlock Holmes.
In 1928 a Belgian publisher writer Jean Ray to translate the original German stories, finding them boring he soon just started using the titles as a starting point and began writing his own stories, changing the character even more with him Harry Dickson became even less like Sherlock Holmes who was a rationalist who disregarded the possibility of the supernatural, while the French language Harry Dickson regularly dealt with vampires, mummies, ghosts and monsters of all sorts, including mad scientists and what would one day be known as super villains.
Over the years others have continued the adventures of Harry Dickson, with most of his adventures seemingly taking place in the 1920s.
Today, while all but unknown in England and America, Harry Dickson, the American Sherlock Holmes, is as well known in Belgium and France as the original Sherlock Holmes.