Creating Sherlock Holmes: The Remarkable Story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

by Charlotte Montague

During his lifetime, writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was involved in many public feuds. He argued with Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, over the sinking of the Titanic and fell out with American magician, Harry Houdini, over the trickery of spiritualist mediums.

But the life-long feud that Doyle fought with his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, proved to be the greatest feud of all. Holmes was so popular with readers that Doyle grew to hate him. The Great Detective was taking over the author's life - and-Doyle decided to kill him. So it was that Sherlock Holmes died in 1893, killed off by a writer who felt overshadowed by his main character. But Holmes would not die so easily, and eventually, due to overwhelming demand, Sherlock Holmes made a comeback in The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901.

Holmes went on to feature in a total of 56 short stories and four novels written by Doyle between 1903 and 1927. Not only did Holmes become more famous than his writer, but he outlived him. Since then Sherlock Holmes has become the most prolific character in the history of entertainment, featuring in over 25,000 productions and products, including stage and screen adaptations starring many fine actors from John Barrymore in 1922 to Sir Ian McKellen in 2015.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

192 pages, Hardcover

Published April 7, 2017

About the author

Charlotte Montague is an author specializing in maritime history. Her father was a naval office, and as a child, she travelled the world with her family. She travels for most of the year, but returns frequently to her home, a remote 18th century cottage close to a famous smuggler's cove on the Cornish coast.

Reviews

[Michael Beyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arthur Conan Doyle was at least as fascinating as his greatest creation. He had an impact on how detective work makes use of forensic evidence. He supported the Boer War even though he hated the atrocities the British committed. He lost a son to WWI. And he would become a leading advocate of the belief in spiritualism, putting him on the opposite side of the issue as has good friend Harry Houdini.
And the book familiarizes you in depth with the greatest of detectives in the history of detective fiction, Sherlock Holmes. This book is an excellent combination of a biography of Doyle and a literary examination of the character Sherlock Holmes, along with the incredible influence he had on both literature and culture.

[Stan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mix of A Conan Doyle's biography and a summary of Sherlock Holmes stories and history. The biographical part is a fascinating look at Conan Doyle's life, however the synopsis of the Holmes stories leave much to be desired. If you haven't read the stories, after reading these synopses you wouldn't really care to read them. The final chapters are an overview of Holmes post Conan Doyle, in cinema, literature and games.

Note that it is also released as "Creating Sherlock Holmes", which is the title of my copy.

[Gus Scholtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about the life of Sir Doyle. It does list all the stories that he wrote in the cannon and does give a review of each. And at the end it goes into pastiches and media reproductions.
However this is a delightful study of the life of Doyle . The book is large and the photos, pictures and reproductions are very nice on the oages that are top quality paper.
It goes into great detail what Mr. Doyle was doing , the society of the day and his contemporaries of the time.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been re-released under the title Creating Sherlock Holmes--The Remarkable Story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is split between a bio of Doyle and synopsis of the Holmes stories. The biography portion is quite interesting; however, the synopsis were sub-par. In fact, if I had not read the canon, I would not have been tempted to read the stories based on the synopsis.

[Margret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is nicely produced with lots of information. The biography is quite interesting and the synopsis of Sherlock Holmes it’s excellent. This book format was wonderful and engaging. This book has been re-released under the title Creating Sherlock Holmes-The Remarkable Story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

[Dennis Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the career of Arthur Conan Doyle and the stories of Sherlock Holmes, and more.
My copy (via Barnes and Noble) was titled “Creating Sherlock Holmes, The Remarkable Story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. I learned quite a bit. This is a very pretty book and has lots of pictures.

[Sjors · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adequate, well-illustrated, very unpretentious. Work of a hobbist, I'd say.