Man Who Would Be SherlockThe Man Who Would Be Sherlock: The Real Life Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle

When Arthur Conan Doyle was a lonely 7-year-old schoolboy at pre-prep Newington Academy in Edinburgh, a French émigré named Eugene Chantrelle was engaged there to teach Modern Languages. A few years later, Chantrelle would be hanged for the particularly grisly murder of his wife, marking the beginning of Conan Doyle's own association with some of the bloodiest crimes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. This early link between actual crime and the greatest detective story writer of all time is one of many. Conan Doyle would also go on to play a leading role in the notorious case of the young Anglo-Indian lawyer George Edalji, convicted and imprisoned as the 'mad ripper' who supposedly prowled the fields around his Staffordshire home by night looking for animals to mutilate; and the equally chilling story of Oscar Slater and his alleged murder of an elderly spinster as she sat in her Glasgow home one winter's night in 1908, a crime with a spectacular denouement 18 years later. Using freshly available evidence and eyewitness testimony, Christopher Sandford follows these links and draws out the connections between Conan Doyle's literary output and factual criminality, a pattern that will enthral and surprise the legions of Sherlock Holmes fans. In a sense, Conan Doyle wanted to be Sherlock - to be a man who could bring order and justice to a terrible world. 'Meticulously researched.' - Stewart Lamont, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre 'Sandford's accomplished, well-crafted work brings Conan Doyle into sharp relief as a man of scrupulous fairness and great integrity.' - Library Journal 'Adds a new dimension to our understanding of the creator of Sherlock Holmes.' - Hugh Ashton, author and reviewer When Arthur Conan Doyle was a lonely 7-year-old schoolboy at pre-prep Newington Academy in Edinburgh, a French émigré named Eugene Chantrelle was engaged there to teach Modern Languages.A few years later, Chantrelle would be hanged for the particularly grisly murder of his wife, beginning Doyle's own association with some of the bloodiest crimes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. This early link between actual crime and the greatest detective story writer of all time is one of many fascinating and sometimes chilling connections. Using freshly available evidence and eyewitness testimony, Christopher Sandford follows these links and draws out the connections between Doyle's literary output and true crime in a pattern that will enthral and surprise the legions of Sherlock Holmes fans. In a sense, Doyle wanted to be Sherlock – to be a man who could bring order and justice to a terrible world. 'Meticulously researched.' - Stewart Lamont, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre 'Sandford's accomplished, well-crafted work brings Conan Doyle into sharp relief as a man of scrupulous fairness and great integrity.' - Library Journal 'Adds a new dimension to our understanding of the creator of Sherlock Holmes.' - Hugh Ashton, author and reviewer When Arthur Conan Doyle was a lonely 7-year-old schoolboy at pre-prep Newington Academy in Edinburgh, a French migr named Eugene Chantrelle was engaged there to teach Modern Languages. A few years later, Chantrelle would be hanged for the particularly grisly murder of his wife, beginning Doyle's own association with some of the bloodiest crimes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. This early link between actual crime and the greatest detective story writer of all time is one of many fascinating and sometimes chilling connections. Using freshly available evidence and eyewitness testimony, Christopher Sandford follows these links and draws out the connections between Doyle's literary output and true crime in a pattern that will enthral and surprise the legions of Sherlock Holmes fans. In a sense, Doyle wanted to be Sherlock to be a man who could bring order and justice to a terrible world. "Though best known for the fictional cases of his creation Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle was involved in dozens of real life cases, solving many, and ... campaigning for justice in all. Stanford ... makes the case that the details of the many events Doyle was involved in, and caricatures of those involved, would provide Conan Doyle the fodder for many of the adventures of the violin-playing detective"--Publisher marketing This book tells the story of the extraordinary link between actual murder and the greatest detective story writer of all time.