Arthur Conan Doyle Books

Michael Hardwick is one of the most prolific and accomplished of Sherlock Holmes scholars. Prior to the writing of this book, he had several other titles in print regarding Holmes, including surveys and biographical texts. This book represented a complete recapitulation of the Holmes canon, not quite in the manner of an encyclopedia (such had already been done recently by Jack Tracy), but a ready reference work with different organisational principles.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail adddressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales; it has become somewhat traditional to try to fill in the gaps, things left out of the 'canonical' stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- 56 short stories and 4 novels. The official tales allude to happenings beyond them -- some authors take up the point there, and others create fanciful tales altogether.

Michael Hardwick sticks to the canonical texts here. Hardwick also has a biographical introductory chapter about Conan Doyle himself and the beginnings of Holmes wrapped up in this experience, as Holmes in many ways derives from Conan Doyle's own experiences with one of his professors, Dr. Joseph Bell, who had a method of analysis and deduction that doubtless inspired Conan Doyle.

Hardwick follows the basic ordering of the publications -- The first two novels ('A Study in Scarlet' and 'The Sign of Four'), and then through collections of short stories as they appeared in 'The Strand' magazine (later brought together in recognised collected groupings). The other two novels ('The Hound of the Baskervilles' and 'The Valley of Fear') are brought in according to their publication order; however, as Hardwick indicates, this was a writing out of sequence -- Holmes had 'died' at Reichenbach Falls, and this publication was a reflection back upon an earlier, unchronicled case. Of course, Holmes was discovered not to have died at the Falls for the later books.

Hardwick includes a chapter which is in fact a glossary of names, a who's who of characters in the stories. These each consist of a two-to-four sentence description of the person and his or her significance -- very few characters are left out. Following this, there is a chapter on unchronicled cases -- the Hound of the Baskervilles at one time being presented as one such, it is intriguing to speculate what these other cases might have been (and, indeed, some authors have risen to the challenge to try to write such mysteries in Holmesian style). There is a list of 'the writings of Sherlock Holmes' -- these are the titles of purported writings (not always published, and not always finished) by Holmes himself.

The book is well written and useful. Hardwick does not give the case or character fates away, but presents in short form the major details of each of the cases, a sort of Cliff's Notes without the endings. Hardwick's style is engaging, and should motivate any reader to explore the actual canon of Conan Doyle for himself or herself.

Professor George Edward Challenger is the lesser known creation of Sherlock Holmes' creator, Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). Unlike the cool and calculating Homes, Challenger is irascible, domineering and extremely outspoken. In short, he is a lot of fun to read. However, unlike Holmes, Professor Challenger never caught on and as such only five Challenger stories were ever written. This book combines all five of the Professor Challenger stories together in one book:

The Lost World - originally published in 1912 - 5 stars - This is the greatest, and the best known of the Professor Challenger stories. Professor Challenger has heard of a plateau in South America where dinosaurs still roam, and he loses no time in setting up an expedition to this strange place. However, when the expedition finds itself marooned on the plateau, the team faces many dangers and adventures.

The Poison Belt - 1913 - 5 stars - Professor Challenger has learned that the Earth is moving towards a poisonous section of space, and has figured out a way that he can save a few members of the human race - the last people left on Earth!

The Land of Mist - 1926 - 1 star - The worst of the Professor Challenger stories, this one is really just a polemic, written to convince the reader of the wonder (or whatever) of Spiritualism. This story might have been what killed the series.

The Disintegration Machine - 1927 - 5 stars - A Latvian scientist has created a machine that can disintegrate matter, and reintegrate it again...or not. This is something that Professor Challenger must see for himself if he is to fully understand its ramifications.

When The World Screamed - 1928 - 5 stars - Professor Challenger is digging a well or mine of some sort in southern England, but what is he up to? It seems that the eccentric professor has a new theory - that the Earth is really a living creature!

Although more than a little dated, scientifically, I found these stories to be well written and quite exciting. (Well, four of the five that is.) They reflects a world that is now gone, but is quite interesting to read about. If you like adventure stories, then you will like this one. Read this book, and learn about A.C. Doyle's other hero!

These 1,122 pages contain the authorized text of every Sherlock Holmes story ever written. The copyrights to these stories expired around 1972 so any writer can appropriate the characters in new fiction. Yet no one has been able to equal, let alone surpass, A.C. Doyle in world-wide popularity. Has anyone analyzed these stories to understand their wide-spread appeal? Erle Stanley Gardner and Agatha Christie wrote more novels but were not as popular. One reason is the short stories about Sherlock Holmes were more amenable to wide distribution as in school books on literature. (Chesterton's short stories had a religious bent.) Their classic restraint made them preferable to the stories of Hammett and Chandler. Novels written for 19th century adults often became stories for 20th century children (as Mark Twain). [One technical problem is that one volume is less handy than two or three volumes.]

The introduction by Christopher Morley tells of his admiration for these stories. The character of Sherlock Holmes was inspired by the famous Dr. Joseph Bell of the Edinburgh Infirmary whose diagnostic skills startled his patients and pupils. The name "Holmes" was homage to Oliver Wendell Holmes who first warned about practices that caused "puerperal fever". "Sherlock" was a common Irish name, Doyle's strike against prejudice. Doyle often fought against unjust convictions and for his other beliefs. Chesterton's comment about "a man who believes in nothing winds up believing in anything" was aimed at Doyle. He went from a Catholic to an agnostic to a believer in a spirit world. Aging can affect a person's mind and beliefs.

There are four novels and five collections of short stories. The novels are: "A Study in Scarlet", "The Sign of Four", "The Hound of the Baskervilles", and "The Valley of Fear". The short stories are the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (12 stories), the "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (11 stories), "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (13 stories), "His Last Bow" (8 stories), and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" (12 stories). There are probably more books about Sherlock Holmes than about A. C. Doyle. Aside from legal considerations, it is easier to handle finite fiction than complex real life. Has anyone written books about "Hercule Poirot" or "Perry Mason"? The "James Bond" series goes on in new novels and action films but they are not as popular as the originals. Even fictional characters have a life-span.

According to the bible God created man from dust. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle nearly matched the Almighty. He created a man from ink.
His ink-man morphed from the pages of the Strand Magazine into someone just as real as your neighbor across the street or your uncle Ned or even your brother. Few, if any, other literary birthlings have become as real as Sherlock Holmes. That said----no review can match the testimonial of universal acclaim; especially a review from a literaturial microbe such as me. But I did want to say something about how this book was put together. It has a lovely red and gold cover, as you can see from the image I uploaded. It has an informative introduction, from which we learn that the Strand paid Conan Doyle $175.00 for the first Holmes stories. When his popularity bloomed, Doyle raised his price to $250.00. There's plenty more info, such as why Doyle decided to Kill Holmes and why he had to bring the famous detective back from the dead.
Perhaps the biggest bonus in this edition is the inclusion of ALL THE Original illustrations by Sidney Paget. Paget was hired in error-the forward explains. The editors thought they were hiring Paget's brother. And indeed, Doyle did have a complaint about his illustrator. He thought that Paget made Holmes far handsomer than he was intended to be.
To sum up, I come here not to review Holmes, but to praise him.
Bill Russo-9 November 2007

I was so glad to find this out of print edition of the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes. I had it when I was a boy and read it so often that it literally fell apart. Now I have it again.
There are many other volumes that have some of the stories, and one particularly handsome book that has facsimiles of the original Strand Magazine stories, but this is, to my knowledge, the only book that contains every one of them, including the novels. It also boasts an introduction by that renowned Sherlockian Scholar, Christopher Morely. His obvious affection for Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation makes for delightful reading in its own right, even as he ruminates on the inconsistencies in the texts: Is Watson's first name John or James? Was his wound in the shoulder or his leg? How many Mrs. Watson's were there? These are questions the discussions of which shorten the evenings for true Holmes fans such as myself.
These stories are not reprints of the periodicals for which Doyle wrote, but rather the books that came later. The stories are divided by the titles of those: The Adventures, The Memoirs, The Return, His Last Bow, and the Case Book. Interspersed among them and in the order in which they were written are the novels: A Study in Scarlet, (Holmes's first appearance) The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear.
Because they are arranged chronologically, and because of the completeness of the collection, one can actually trace the development of the characters over a period of some thirty years. The only defect in the book is its lack of the famous illustrations by Sidney Paget. For those, one would have to buy a facsimile volume such as "The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes" which is still in print and reviewed elsewhere.

This book, which overlaps somewhat Jack Tracy's 'Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha', is a book of the 'leftovers', those things that didn't make it into the official canon of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail adddressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales. The official canon is 60 stories -- 56 short stories, and 4 novels, published at various times during Conan Doyle's life. However, Conan Doyle wrote far more than he ever published -- even this collection (and Tracy's) do not include all of the previously unpublished Holmes material, as some is being intentionally withheld by the Conan Doyle estate until a future time (which Tracy mentions, but Haining does not).

The collection here consists of twelve pieces Haining declares are essential to the overall collection -- this being a supplementary volume to the 'existing definitive two-volume edition of the stories', by which Haining undoubtedly means the Baring-Gould collection. The twelve pieces can be broadly classified as follows:

- Commentaries by Conan Doyle about Holmes
- Two parodies of Holmes by Conan Doyle himself
- Some complete short stories, albeit with interesting stories about them
- Two plays, one possibly done with William Gillette
- Atypical pieces, a proto-Holmesian tale, and a poem

Haining has interesting commentary on the various pieces. Like Tracy, he traces the ambiguities of some of these tales -- 'The Man Who Was Wanted' is a good case in point. Whereas Tracy sees it as a forgery (however, a very good forgery), Haining doesn't see the case as clear-cut. In other pieces, such as 'How Watson Learned the Trick', the history between the two editors covers the same material with essentially the same conclusions.

Haining includes three pieces in the appendix, very rare indeed -- two pieces by Conan Doyle about Holmes, including a rare interview about Holmes' 'death' at Reichenbach Falls (prior to his 'resurrection'), a piece for 'The Strand' in which there was a competition for selecting the best Holmes story, and a very early, pre-Holmes short story by Conan Doyle that foreshadowed the later 'Hound of the Baskervilles'.

Haining provides commentary on each piece, as well as some general history and publication data. Haining also refers to pieces not included in this collection (additional plays, for example, based upon stories, including the very famous 'Sherlock Holmes' performed and amended by William Gillette) included in Tracy's collection, but not here.

For the sake of completeness, any Sherlock Holmes fan will want both volumes. However, each gives a clear indication of the breadth of Holmes beyond the official canon. This volume is well done and entertaining.

Peter Costello's Conan Doyle: Detective is one of the most fascinating true crime books published in the 21st Century. Like his fictional creation, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a detective.

However, Doyle was strictly an amateur and many of his cases, such as that of Jack the Ripper, were approached as an armchair detective who based his theories more from newspaper accounts and gossip rather than from first hand investigation.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have been a disappointment as a would be detective, but this absorbing, well written book is anything but a disappointment.

Most recommended.

This is a great book detailing Doyle's inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. This book is also a fine introduction to a wonderful man in Joseph Bell. Joseph Bell is the subject of a number of fictionalized movies which are certainly worth your time and money.

B.K. Loder

Some listings of biographical archives appear at the end of the book. Charles Doyle, the father, was by profession an architect. Charles Doyle liked fishing. Arthur was educated by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst. At age 15 he visited relatives in London and was a rabid sight-seer. He studied in Germany for one year. He went to medical school at the University of Edinburgh, living at home. It was 1876 when he began.

At holiday on the Isle of Arran in 1877 he met Dr. Joseph Bell. Bell used his powers of deduction to impress the students. Conan Doyle took his medical degree in 1881 and signed on to be a ship's physician on a voyage to the Gold Coast, the west coast of Africa. Arthur's London relatives were prepared to do him favors but they believed in the teachings of the Catholic Church and he did not. He decided to open a practice in Portsmouth. His mother and aunt supplied him with furniture.

In 1883 one of Arthur's stories was accepted by CORNHILL MAGAZINE. He joined the literary and scientific society. A commission from the Gresham Life Insurance Company helped his income. The more he saw of medical practice, the more he turned to writing. He learned that he could write fiction that readers would take for absolute truth. He worked by fits and starts. He married a Miss Hawkins. Her mother lived with the couple. Married life stimulated his mental powers.

A STUDY IN SCARLET as written in 1886. He sold the copyright for twenty five pounds. His favorite writers were Stevenson and Meredith. The book of his he prized was THE WHITE COMPANY. He put a vast amount of research into it. THE SIGN OF FOUR appeared in 1896. Two Holmes series were brought out in 1891 and 1892. The stories ran in THE STRAND MAGAZINE.

He moved to Davos, Switzerland for the sake of his wife's health. Conan Doyle introduced skiing as a sport in Switzerland. On an American visit he saw Kipling in Vermont. He met Jean Leckie in 1897 and fell wildly in love. He fought the devil for ten years. He steadied himself by reading Renan. In a new study at his house called Undershaw he determined to bring back Sherlock Holmes. He wrote a play and sent it to Beerbohm Tree. William Gilette, an American, was interested in playing the part. The actor infected Conan Doyle with his own enthusiasm. He spent about five months in South Africa at the time of the Boer War manning a hospital dealing with a fever epidemic. He received a knighthood.

In 1907 he married Jean Leckie. After World War I and the loss of his oldest son Conan Doyle pursued the cause of Spritiualism. Sherlock Holmes was revived again in HIS LAST BOW.

Although I LOVE reading vampire novels/stories, there was a time I believed that it may not be correct that I read these stories, or have them in my house because of my religious beliefs. So, I sold a couple of my books in a garage sale, Dracula's Brood, included! I couldn't stop regretting it (for years), and I didn't stop thinking about it until I found it again- that's how much I enjoyed that book!