Howard Lachtman


Howard Lawrence Lachtman 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 and George Lachtman. He attended Winfield Scott Elementary School, Lowell High School, UC Berkeley and University of California, [Hastings College of the Law|UC Hastings Law], and obtained his M.A and Ph.D. from University of the Pacific.
Assessing Lachtman's contribution to a 1979 collection of London's own essays entitled Jack London: No Mentor But Myself, Los Angeles Times critic Sal Noto states:

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 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'."
Lachtman also reviewed books—primarily mysteries—for the Los Angeles Times between 1976 and 1981, and, from 1977 to 1986, for the San Francisco Examiner.
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, a union which produced at least one child, their daughter, Tiffany.

Works

Books

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. , .
  • "Doyle in Dreamland: The education of an eminent Victorian". The Los Angeles Times. October 30, 1977. Sec. Reviews, pp. , .
  • . The San Francisco Examiner. November 6, 1977.
  • . 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. , .
  • . The Los Angeles Times. January 4, 1981.
  • . The Los Angeles Times. March 30, 1981. Sec. Reviews, pg. 3.

Poetry

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