Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 1859-1930

His Life:

His father's hobby was cartooning. Because of this, he became known in the literary and artistic communities of that day. Young Doyle was exposed to literary celebrities, including William Makepeace Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair. As a consequence, his imagination was encouraged, and literature became a constant companion.

Childhood to College:

His family was Roman Catholic, and as a boy Doyle was sent off to a Jesuit school in northern England. Later, he attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit college. There, he had a reputation for his ability to tell a good story and he often kept his classmates entertained for hours with mystery/adventure stories. His instructors likewise marveled at his ability to write poetry.

Doyle was also becoming quite good at many different sports. Singlestick (similar to fencing, but played using a wooden sword- stick), boxing, cricket and soccer were among his favorite activities.

In 1875 he went to Feldkirch College in Austria for a year to attend school. While there, Doyle founded a newspaper, which had the motto "Fear not and put in print." The college was Jesuit-run, but while he attended classes there, he began to question his Catholic faith. He eventually withdrew from organized religion, but never became an atheist.

The next year, Doyle studied medicine at Edinburgh University. It was here that he met the man who was to become the inspiration for his world- famous character Sherlock Holmes. (See photo at left) Dr. Joseph Bell was the man's name, and he was physically and intellectually a match for the detective. Bell was a very remarkable man in body and mind. He was thin, wiry, dark, with a high- nosed acute face, penetrating grey eyes, angular shoulders, and a jerky way of walking. His voice was high and discordant. He was a very skilful surgeon, but his strong point was diagnosis, not only of disease, but of occupation and character. Doyle went on to explain how Bell, through a simple series of questions, found out that one patient was recently discharged from the army, a non-commissioned officer who had been stationed in Barbados. Bell was able to tell these facts by simple observations about the person.

"It is no wonder that after the study of such a character," Doyle continued, "I used and amplified his methods when in later life I tried to build up a scientific detective who solved cases on his own merits and not through the folly of the criminal."

In 1887 Doyle created the most celebrated amateur detective in all fiction, Sherlock Holmes, in his very first book, A Study in Scarlet. From then until 1927, the year of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle was virtually the prisoner of his own creation. He wrote a number of full-length detective novels, of which The Sign of Four in 1890 and The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1902, were outstanding. He also wrote a long series of short stories about Sherlock Holmes to satisfy the demand of the public.

Even though he was also the author of excellent historical novels, such as Micah Clarke in 1888, a tale of Monmouth's rebellion, The White Company in 1890, and Sir Nigel in 1906, the public wanted more Sherlock Holmes.

His interest in science came out strongly in the Professor Challenger stories, of which The Lost World in 1912 is best known.

It has been only in the recent past that the science fiction and adventure stories featuring Professor E. Challenger have resurfaced and become recognized for the quality works they are.

The exploits of Professor Challenger, chronicled in The Lost World, The Poison Belt," "When the World Screamed," "The Disintegration Machine," and The Land of Mist, bear an important similarity to the Holmes stories. In both series, the adventures of a famous man are told by a lesser man. Professor Challenger's narrator is the young newspaper reporter Edward Malone, but the two are joined in some of their adventures by outdoorsman Lord John Roxton and Professor Summerlee.

In later years he became a convinced spiritualist and wrote a number of works on that subject. Doyle and the Fairy Photographs

His creation of Sherlock Holmes, with Dr Watson as his friend and foil, is his greatest success. He created a character that has become a modern myth, a hero whose exploits are more in intelligence than in action, a familiar but evasive figure who has the qualities both of a magician and a favourite uncle.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and to his right Lady Conan Doyle at the Great Divide, Jasper National Park, June 1914.
Source: Western Canada Pictorial Index

His Books about Sherlock Holmes

This is the first story Conan Doyle wrote about his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes.

In this short novel, Dr. Watson is presented to Holmes as a potential Baker Street roommate. Holmes utters the immortal line, "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive," and the adventures begin. A Study in Scarlet introduces and fleshes out the characters of Holmes and Watson, while initiating readers to the world's first consulting detective. Valuable to Sherlockians as the beginning of an ageless saga, this novel is also an interesting mystery. It allows Holmes a chance to outwit Scotland Yard, and readers get to see how he resolves the mysterious murder at Lauriston Gardens.

This book may be read free at Classic Literature Library

Yellow fog is swirling through the streets of London, and Sherlock Holmes himself is sitting in a cocaine-induced haze until the arrival of a distressed and beautiful young lady forces the great detective into action. Each year following the strange disappearance of her father, Miss Morstan has received a present of a rare and lustrous pearl. Now, on the day she is summoned to meet her anonymous benefactor, she consults Holmes and Watson.

Sherlock Holmes had already been officially killed off by 1902 - but the public was so loud in wanting to hear more stories about him that Sir Doyle relented and wrote a new story. He set it in a real house this time, based on a real legend. This Holmes tale has been voted by many groups as the best of all Holmes stories. Indeed, there are at least 30 different versions of dramatizations of the story.

What is interesting is that the story isn't a typical puzzle where Holmes works through the clues one by one while you watch. Instead, we get some brief time with Holmes and Watson at the beginning, as they interact with a Doctor. Then Watson goes off with the Doctor and Sir Henry Baskerville, recently come over from Canada. It turns out Henry is now owner of a manor in the Baskervilles. The family has been under a curse involving a large hound. In fact the reason the home is now his is that his relation was apparently slain by such a hound.

Only Holmes and Watson can get to the bottom of this baffling murder mystery. John Douglas is found in his study blasted faceless with a sawn-off shotgun. There is no obvious motive or suspect. Douglas and his wife, Ivy, a rich and locally popular couple, have lived for years in the ancient, moated Birlstone Manor House. Despite Douglas' nightly ritual of raising the drawbridge, a perpetrator had concealed himself, shot Douglas, and made a clean getaway.

Does the mystery have something to do with the "interesting" relationship between Cecil Baker, Douglas' only friend from his obscure past, and the surprisingly merry widow? There are plenty of clues, including a brand mark on the deceased arm and the fact that his wedding ring is missing, but not the ring that he always wore above it.

This omnibus faithfully chronicles all the sixty cases of Sherlock Holmes by his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The famous Baker Street detective has captured the hearts and imagination of both the young and old, generation after generation. Now, by popular demand, this precious, complete collection of Sherlock Holmes cases is available to his fans in ebook format! The individual titles in this volume by the publisher are also available: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, the Return of Sherlock Holmes, the Hound of the Baskervilles, the Valley of Fear, His Last Bow and the Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.