The Man Who Would Be Sherlock

Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, intrigues us because he seems to "embody the past and belong to the present," writes Sandford (Houdini and Conan Doyle). Considering the criminal cases and contemporary causes that engaged Holmes's author throughout his prolific life (1859–1930), many of which crept into his fiction, one can believe the same of Conan Doyle. Never one to flinch from an intellectual challenge or a cause célèbre, Conan Doyle frequently brought his unique mix of cold logic, rational belief, and innate chivalry to the underdog's aid, especially when he believed that a serious miscarriage of justice had occurred. This book pays particular attention to two famous examples. Conan Doyle's championing of George Edalji, accused of maliciously wounding livestock, and Oscar Slater, accused of murdering a Glaswegian woman he'd never met, led to the reconsideration of their cases and eventual freedom for both. In stark contrast, the creator of the world's greatest detective remained a proponent of spiritualism to his death, despite many questioning his sanity.