Augustus Van Dusen and Craig Kennedy American Sherlocks

A number of American writers of mystery and detective fiction have been called “American Conan Doyle,” but only two created fictional detectives that have been called “American Sherlock Holmes,” Jacques Futrelle, creator of Professor Augustus Van Dusen, and Arthur B. Reeve, creator of Professor Craig Kennedy.
Jacques Futrelle was an American journalist and mystery writer. He created Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as “The Thinking Machine,” one of the “American Sherlock Holmes” featured in a number of short detective stories.
Futrelle’s writing career was cut short as he died at the age of 37 in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. In addition to the stories in which The Thinking Machine solves locked-room puzzles, kidnappings, and murders, he wrote seven novels, including “My Lady’s Garter” that was published posthumously.
“The Chase of the Golden Plate,” the first novel-length story written by Jacques One of the short stories, ‘The Yellow Diamond Pendant,’ is lost, but May Futrelle, Jacques’ wife, has written a story with the same title, although without The Thinking Machine.
Arthur Benjamin Reeve (known simply as Arthur B. Reeve), also an American mystery writer, created the character of Dr. Craig Kennedy, scientist detective, the second “American Sherlock Holmes.” Kennedy is a professor at Columbia University, who uses his knowledge of chemistry and psychoanalysis to solve cases. He also employs at time devices like detectors, gyroscopes, and portable seismographs, now common but new at the time.
The adventure of Craig Kennedy have been published in numerous short stories that appeared almost monthly in “Cosmopolitan” magazine between 1910 and 1918, and later in some stories published in the Pulps. The stories were then collected and republished in book form.