Aliases

[003] ... [Reading]

I like reading mystery, detective and sometimes those bordered on horror, coupled with the humorous - an odd combination!

I prefer the older detective ones where they applied their mind logically to unfold a mystery with clues however small, than the present day mode of mobile number tracking, location co-ordinates, and all that forensic stuff where science takes over.

The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he answered with a sidelong glance.

"No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always awkward doing business with an alias."

A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," said he, "my real name is James Ryder."

This as you might remember is a dialog between Sherlock Holmes and the suspect in "The Case of Blue Carbuncle". What surprised me is the way that a casual mention of alias probably spawned a bevy of so many later mystery novels. Some authors seemed to rely purely on that, keeping it a secret till the end, while some managed to push it in-between.

But before assuming, like the chicken and egg story, we aren't sure which came first. Whether aliases were already in practice to evade in the Nineteenth century that others of the era were well aware of to build stories around, or if Doyle thought of it and mentioned it matter of factedly...