Howard Lachtman

Howard Lawrence Lachtman (born July 8, 1941) is an American academic, literary critic, editor and author, who has written extensively on the life and works of Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle, and on crime fiction as a whole.

Early life and career Born in San Francisco on July 8, 1941, Lachtman is the second-born child of Florence (née Jacoby) and George Lachtman. He attended Winfield Scott Elementary School, Lowell High School, UC Berkeley and UC Hastings Law, and obtained his M.A and Ph.D. from University of the Pacific.

Reviewing Lachtman's 1982 anthology, Sporting Blood: Jack London's Greatest Sports Writing, the El Paso Herald-Post's David Innes notes that the book "could serve as a pattern for what a good theme anthology should be," adding that "Lachtman's introductory essay is a fine one, as are his short, scene-setting paragraphs." Regarding the 1984 collection, Young Wolf: The Early Adventure Stories of Jack London, El Paso Times critic Dale L. Walker writes:

Writing two years later in the same paper, Walker calls Lachtman's Sherlock Slept Here a "superb and authoritative little study [of] Arthur Conan Doyle's debt to the United States," commending in particular Lachtman's "thoroughly fascinating analysis of that most American of Holmes stories, 'The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor'."

A decidedly unimposing fictional character named Howard Lachtman, who happens to be at least the nominal leader of a small group of Sherlock Holmes devotees, figures prominently in Chapter II of Stuart Kaminsky's 1983 detective novel He Done Her Wrong.

Personal life Since 1962, Lachtman has been married to the former Mendelle Corren,

Works Books Sporting Blood: Selections from Jack London's greatest sports writing. Novato, CA : Presidio Press. 1981 . Young Wolf: The Early Adventure Stories of Jack London. Santa Barbara, CA : Capra Press. 1984. . Sherlock Slept Here ; being a brief history of the singular adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in America, with some observations upon the exploits of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Santa Barbara, CA : Capra Press. 1985. .

Essays "Man and Superwoman in Jack London's 'The Kanaka Surf'" .] Western American Literature. Summer 1972. Vol. VII, No. 2, pp. 101–110 "All That Glitters: Jack London's Gold". Jack London Newsletter. September–December, 1972. pp. 172–175, 196–178. "Doyle in Dreamland: The education of an eminent Victorian". The Los Angeles Times. October 30, 1977. Sec. Reviews, pp. 3, 20. "The Nine Lives of Jack London". The San Francisco Examiner. November 6, 1977. "Oscar in California: A Wilde West Show". The Los Angeles Times. September 24, 1978. "Willard Wright's Philo Vance: A Dandy in Acid". Los Angeles Times. June 3, 1979. Sec. Reviews, pp. 3, 25. "Mysterious Case of the Gardner-Chandler Friendship". The Los Angeles Times. January 4, 1981. "When Jack London Answered the Call of the Orange Blossoms". The Los Angeles Times. March 30, 1981. Sec. Reviews, pg. 3.

Poetry "Losses for Review" (1970) "Three Poems: Fat City, The River Merchant to His Wife: A Letter, News from Thermopylae" (1972) "Elegy for William Claude Dunkenfield (W. C. Fields)" (1972) "Handiwork" (2021) "Sentry" (2021) "One of the Lucky Ones" (2023)