History Creator / MichaelKurland

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Ves Romero in ''The Whenabouts of Burr'', whose full name, courtesy of an excessively patriotic papa, is Amerigo Vespucci Romero.

Michael Kurland is a writer of SpeculativeFiction and MysteryFiction. Michael Kurland is also a character in the [[HugoAward Hugo]]-nominated science fiction novel, ''The Butterfly Kid'', by Chester Anderson (which also starred Anderson), and its sequel, ''The Unicorn Girl'', by...Michael Kurland (which introduced the character of Tom "T.A." Waters, who wrote the third book in the series). The entire series can be found at ''Literature/TheGreenwichTrilogy''.

* AlternateUniverse: ''The Whenabouts of Burr'' involves quite a bit of world-hopping.

* AmnesiacLiar: In the Moriarty novel, ''The Empress of India'', [[spoiler:SherlockHolmes]] manages to do it to himself. He has a secret identity as [[spoiler:a criminal, as a way of keeping an eye on the criminal underworld]]. When he suffers a TapOnTheHead and wakes up in this lair, he deduces that this is his true identity, and proceeds to become [[spoiler:a successful criminal.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Moriarty, to no one's great surprise, but also Cecily Perrine.
** In ''The Empress of India'', Margaret St. Yves and Peter Collins bond over their mutual snark.
* DefectiveDetective: in the ''Moriarty'' series, SherlockHolmes is portrayed as rather more defective than in the original series, especially when it comes to analyzing matters involving Prof. Moriarty himself.
* DemotedToExtra: The Barnetts after ''The Great Game.''
* DevilInPlainSight: [[spoiler: Count D'Hiver]] in ''Death by Gaslight''.
* DiscriminateAndSwitch: Early in ''The Great Game,'' we meet a pawnbroker and moneylender who complains about being constantly on the receiving end of antisemitism. Except that he isn't Jewish...
* {{Expy}}: In the Moriarty series, as you'd expect. Moriarty for Holmes, Benjamin Barnett for Watson, Cecily Perrine for Mary Morstan, and the Mendicants for the Baker Street Irregulars. Moriarty also has his own version of Irene Adler. Irene herself [[spoiler: shows up in ''Who Thinks Evil'' as a nun.]]
* HypocriticalHumor: Moriarty, sneering at Holmes' DefectiveDetective personality, remarks that Holmes has remained a bachelor. Cue Barnett pointing out that so has Moriarty. The good professor has to concede the point.
* JustLikeRobinHood: Although Moriarty doesn't work for free, he's also not committing crimes ForTheEvulz, either, and some of his activities are intended to help right ''other'' crimes that the law doesn't touch.
* LawOfInverseFertility: The Barnetts want children, but as of ''The Great Game,'' Cecily has had two miscarriages. By the time of ''Who Thinks Evil,'' set several years later, they're still childless.
* MasterOfDisguise: Moriarty. Holmes' efforts in this respect become a RunningGag.
* NotSoDifferent: The Moriarty novel ''The Infernal Device'' makes this point about Holmes and Moriarty: by and large, they're the same person on different sides of the law. That being said, the novels represent Moriarty as a more stable personality than Holmes (see DefectiveDetective).
* OneLetterName: Moriarty's housekeeper, Mrs. H.
* ResetButton / StatusQuoIsGod: Moriarty and Holmes wind up working together in every novel, but Holmes' opinion of Moriarty at the end always remains unchanged.
* ServileSnarker: Moriarty's servants Mr. Maws and Mummer Tolliver.
** Djuna in ''The Empress of India.''
* ShoutOut: In ''The Empress of India,'' Moriarty is assaulted by [[TabletopGame/{{Clue}} a man named Plum wielding a lead pipe]].
** The Moriarty novels in general avoid WholePlotReference, but ''The Empress of India'' does the equivalent of "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" from the criminal's point of view.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Holmes is the private version of this in the Moriarty novels. Lestrade averts the trope, as he usually rolls his eyes whenever Holmes goes off on a Moriarty tangent.
* SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler: Chardino]] in the Moriarty novel ''Death by Gaslight.'' Lampshaded by Moriarty, who thinks that the best road to justice would be allowing the killer to keep going, and who also [[spoiler: doesn't stop Chardino from setting off a bomb that kills twenty-six more people at the end.]] Even Holmes has to agree.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Several times with Holmes and Moriarty in the Moriarty novels.
* VillainProtagonist: Deconstructed. Moriarty is a crook when the need arises, but he's as honorable as Holmes.
* WorthyOpponent: In the Moriarty novels, Holmes sees Moriarty this way. Moriarty usually doesn't return the compliment, although he does express genuine admiration for Holmes' skill in ''The Great Game''.

!! Works with a page on this Wiki:
* ''Literature/LordDarcy'' (two of the novels in the series)
* ''Literature/TheGreenwichTrilogy'' (the second novel in the series)

!! Other works by Michael Kurland include:

* NoodleIncident: Holmes was Moriarty's student at one point, but ''something'' happened. Five novels and several short stories in, it's still not clear what that something was.

* {{Expy}}: In the Moriarty series, as you'd expect. Moriarty for Holmes, Benjamin Barnett for Watson, Cecily Perrine for Mary Morstan, and the Mendicants for the Baker Street Irregulars.

* ShoutOut: In ''The Empress of India,'' Moriarty is assaulted by [[{{Clue}} a man named Plum wielding a lead pipe]].

* DeadpanSnarker: Moriarty, to no one's great surprise, but also Cecily Perrine and Moriarty's servants Mr. Maws and Mummer Tolliver.

* NotSoDifferent: The Moriarty novel ''The Infernal Device'' makes this point about Holmes and Moriarty: by and large, they're the same person on different sides of the law. That being said, the novels represent Moriarty as a more stable personality than Holmes (see DefectiveDetective).

* WorthyOpponent: In the Moriarty novels, Holmes sees Moriarty this way. Moriarty doesn't return the compliment.

* {{Expy}}: In the Moriarty series, as you'd expect. Moriarty for Holmes, Benjamin Barnett for Watson, Cecily for Mary Morstan, and the Mendicants for the Baker Street Irregulars.

Michael Kurland is a writer of SpeculativeFiction and MysteryFiction. Michael Kurland is also a character in the [[HugoAward Hugo]]-nominated science fiction novel, ''Literature/TheButterflyKid'', by Chester Anderson (which also starred Anderson), and its sequel, ''The Unicorn Girl'', by...Michael Kurland (which introduced the character of Tom "T.A." Waters, who wrote the third book in the series).

!!Works by Michael Kurland provide examples of:
* AlternateUniverse: ''The Unicorn Girl'' features quite a bit of world-hopping, as does ''The Whenabouts of Burr''.

* DevilInPlainSight: In ''The Unicorn Girl'', the people with the WeirdnessCensor regarding nudity are easy prey for immodest criminals.
* FlyingSaucer: One repeatedly shows up around the same time as the world-shifting [=BLIPs=] in ''The Unicorn Girl''.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: In ''The Unicorn Girl'', Michael and friends are visiting a Victorian-style world, when they come across a bunch of people frolicking naked in a field, who begin to spell out obscenities with their bodies as the travellers pass by.
* ShoutOutLiterature: In ''The Unicorn Girl'', Michael and friends end up visiting the world of Literature/LordDarcy (years before Michael took over the job of writing Lord Darcy novels).
* StageMagician: When Michael encounters fellow author Tom Waters in ''The Unicorn Girl'', he (Tom) is working as a fortune teller and trickster at a traveling carnival. (In real life, Tom Waters was indeed a professional magician and member of the Magic Castle.)
* WeirdnessCensor: In ''The Unicorn Girl'', in the Victorian-style world they visit, most people are utterly unable to see anyone nude. This proves handy for our heroes when they have to make a hasty escape.

* SpyFromWeightsAndMeasures: used as a cover for his two agents in ''The Whenabouts of Burr''.

* StageMagician: When Michael encounters fellow author Tom Waters in ''The Butterfly Kid'', he (Tom) is working as a fortune teller and trickster at a traveling carnival. (In real life, Tom Waters was indeed a professional magician and member of the Magic Castle.)