Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography

by Nick Rennison

“An in-depth biography of the world’s most famous detective that will intrigue Sherlockians and non-Sherlockians alike.” —Publishers Weekly   He has been called a genius and a fraud, a hero and an addict, but who really was Sherlock Holmes? With an attention to detail that would make his subject envious, Nick Rennison combs the literature for clues, omissions, and inconsistencies in Dr. Watson’s immortal narration. He delves into Holmes’s contact with prominent historical figures—including Oscar Wilde and Sigmund Freud—and uncovers startling, new information.   How did a Cambridge dropout and bit player on the London stage transform himself into a renowned consulting detective? Did he know the identity of Jack the Ripper? When did Holmes and his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, first cross paths? Did Sherlock Holmes, protector of the innocent, commit the very act he so often worked to prevent, the cold-blooded, premeditated murder of Moriarty?  Sherlock The Unauthorized Biography answers these questions and many more as it careens through the most infamous crimes and historic events of the Victorian age, all in pursuit of the real man behind the greatest detective in modern fiction—and, just perhaps, nonfiction.

Genres: Biography, Mystery, Nonfiction, History, Classics, Crime, 21st Century

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Nick Rennison is a writer, editor and bookseller. His books include Sherlock Holmes: An Unauthorised Biography, Robin Hood: Myth, History, Culture, The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide and 100 Must-Read Historical Novels. He is a regular reviewer of historical fiction for both The Sunday Times and BBC History Magazine.

Reviews

[notyourmonkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most delightful thing about this book is the sheer glee the author seems to be taking in rolling around in his Holmesy geekery. That enthusiasm is enough to pull me through the slightly dull bits when he's recapping history just because he can, only loosely tied to the story he's crafted for Holmes.

Definitely quasi-academic and not really curl-up-on-a-rainy-day sort of reading, but more than amusing enough to hold my attention in the fits and spurts I gave it.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very "rich" book; full of facts and details trying to create a complete life for Sherlock Holmes. As the author as biographer notes, there are 56 short stories and 4 longer ones as written by Watson (a couple penned by SH) and published through Conan Doyle. That's not much when you consider it spans a working life of more than 25 years. (Of course no pastiche, no matter how well-written is used as material for this book.) It is to fill in the blanks in both Holmes' ancestry and long life (he dies in 1929) that the author turns his energy and creativity to.


To have produced this book required a considerable amount of research in to Victorian and post-Victorian England. Not merely to glean the "flavor" of the times and the people, but to get the facts about criminal, social, political and international events during the 80-odd years that the book covers in some depth. The author begins with historical facts about these elements (including education and English country life) and produces a book that tells us of Mycroft, Sherlock, Watson; how their lives ran, how they interacted, and how they influenced history. It's easy to tell that Mr. Rennison took this task to be a most serious one and wanted it to be taken seriously by SH fans. All-in-all, he has done an admirable job and this is a book that many readers will enjoy.


I write all this because it is a very full book and a very serious one. It presents its "facts" with a straight face throughout just as Conan Doyle's tales purport to be real cases. For many people they will be perfectly satisfied with the end product of the author's labors. The book does succeed in being a comprehensive biography of the man, but I found a couple of problems. First off the book is very dry and second it is too short and I think these two issues are linked.


The style of the book is; fact, fact, fact, inference, fact, inference, etcetera. The anecdotes that are included are meant to explain away some period of time. Seldom are they used to color the man. Because there has been so much written about Holmes and how every nuance of every story is tells us about the man, I suspect that the author wanted to hold to a neutral course as much as possible. He does present specific comments on certain major events in the detective's life (e.g. Irene Adler), but these are few. It only takes comparison with some of the great biographies of the last 20 years to see the differences.


One of the key differences is the "richness" of the biography, which inevitably means making a book longer. Richness is accomplished in a couple of different way. First, by putting in both longer and more excerpts from published and unpublished materials. Second, by humanizing the story with more views (sources) and more commentary (or analysis). However, incorporating more material into the book could have made it merely a longer, dry book. Ultimately it is the author's style that determines the tone of the work. Perhaps I will look up another work by Mr. Rennison to see what his is.

If you like inventive fiction (within certain hard constraints in this case) and have any affection for the Great Detective, then I do recommend this book. Perhaps you will agree with my opinion, perhaps you will think that it is an engaging (it is mostly) and perfectly lush description of his life and times. Not matter what I hope you will enjoy it.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a weird book. At first, mixing the imaginary with the reality irked me a bit but then I began to enjoy it. It made sense that Sherlock Holmes was engaged in many more famous cases than the ones described and published by "Watson". I particularly liked the theoretizing concerning what he was up to during the three years following his "death" at Reichenbach falls. It was really interesting also from the perspective of how the Great Game was played and how some exotic localles (Tibet, Persia, Sudan) looked at that time.

The downside of having Holmes take on famously *unsolved* cases like Jack the Ripper mysteries or IRA terrorist attacks, makes him seem far more fallible than presented in Watson's stories.

Reading this book made me check various things in the internet, to see if they were real, I particularly enjoyed learning that "Holmes" advertised laxative pills.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great reference for those interested in Sherlock Holmes, Victorian England, and Edwardian England. Rennison's writing style was wonderful. I enjoyed how he was able to meld fiction and fact into a very descriptive and interesting narrative.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My real complaint about this book is that I read it on my Kindle, which makes it difficult to flip back and forth to re-read parts. But this is a good-fun-read for any 'lightweight' fan of Sherlock Holmes and brings a sense of realism to the character.

The best thing about it? It made me realise just how much I love the Sherlock Holmes stories and I am going to dig out my copy and read his adventures again.

Five stars for bringing Sherlock to life for me.

[Janny · Rating 3 out of 5]

the research put into this book is incredible and with the background fabricated by rennison, you sometimes forget that sherlock holmes is a fictional character. this book really has very little to do with arthur conan doyle and much more to do with siphoning holmes' character from all of his documented adventures and making him as well-rounded and tangible as he could be. this book even fills in the gap in the time between stories, including the two year gap between reichenbach falls to his re-emergence as a costumed opium addict, to attempt to present his life in "real time". at the point of reading this book, i had already finished about 3/4 of of the complete novels and short stories volume 1 and 2, but retain very little details from each story except for random episodes that stood out in my mind. far from being a holmes expert, i found the book slow and distracting at times when recanting details from documented and undocumented cases. however, they did provide a welcomed refresher. i would recommend this book to any sherlock holmes fan, it really does make reading his adventures richer and provides good fodder when quizzing the character actors at the sherlock holmes museum.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am speachless at the detail and history in the story that was presented. I loved it, every word, but I am sorry, I cannot believe it. I want to, more than I can say, but no, it is still fiction. Steller fiction at that.

[Mateicee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Sterne

Eine nicht autorisierte Biografie über den größten und einzigen beratenen Detektiven der Welt? Jawoll!

Jeder kennt Sherlock Holmes aus Büchern, Filmen, Serien, etc., aber niemand weiß wirklich wer dieser Mann ist. Wie wuchs er auf, wie entwickelte er sein Interesse für Kriminologie, woher seine Mysogynie, was machte er in der Zeit wo er seinen Tod vortäuschte, wieso starb er einsam? Alles Fragen auf die hier eine Antwort gegeben wird. Das Leben und Wirken Sherlocks wird anhand von Dokumenten und den überlieferten Geschichten des Doktor Watson rekonstruiert und analysiert. Geschickt wird Fakt und Fiktion miteinander verknüpft und man hat mehr als einmal das Gefühl die Biografie einer realen Person zu lesen.

Das Buch hat seine Längen, in denen z.B. über Unruhen innerhalb der britischen Kolonialherrschaft berichtet wird, ich hätte drauf verzichten können, aber sie gehören dazu. Man lernt wo die Holmesbrüder ihre Finger mit im Spiel hatten. Sogar Jack the Ripper hat seinen Auftritt...

Ich habe die Biografie sehr genossen, sie war unterhaltsam auf die britische Art und man hat etwas neues über Sherlock Holmes gelernt. Ich könnte mir vorstellen dieses Buch wieder mal zur Hand zu nehmen.

[Krysztyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autor ciekawie wplata prawdziwe fragmenty historii XIX-wiecznego Imperium Brytyjskiego w fikcyjną opowieść o życiu jedynego na świecie detektywa-doradcy (konsultanta). Książka jest skarbnicą wiedzy o sprawach kryminalnych i skandalach XIX-wiecznej Wielkiej Brytanii (m.in. kłopoty z Irlandią). Pomijając wzmianki o fikcyjnych postaciach wymyślonych przez sir Arthura Conan Doyle'a, można wiele nauczyć się z przekazu Nicka Rennisona.
Czytelnik gubi się w domysłach, co jest fikcją literacką, a co faktami z przeszłości. Co więcej, Rennison nagina wydarzenia tak, żeby pasowały do rzekomego życiorysu Holmesa.
Autor tak manipuluje czytelnikiem, że pod koniec książki byłam prawie skłonna uwierzyć w istnienie prawdziwego Sherlocka Holmesa z krwi i kości oraz innych, znanych z kart nowel i opowiadań, postaci.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decidedly useful reference for the Great Game, Rennison's faux biography of Holmes fills in many of the blanks with plausible and compelling "evidence" of Holmes's unrecorded life and interactions. Perhaps the only black mark against it is how dogmatic Rennison is to some of his own interpretations, bringing up traditional theories or hypotheses about Holmes only to shoot them down as improbable.

[Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rennison’s Game Is Afoot

Rennison’s unauthorized bio of Sherlock Holmes leaves little to the reader’s imagination because Rennison has employed his so well. As any true Sherlockian knows Watson left many frustrating gaps in Holmes’ career. One can piece together a patch work quilt of events, but there are enough holes to leave quite a draft. Rennison manages to see everything up in a nice, plausible bundle.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this book but was left unimpressed. The style was ambitious but I found I didn’t really care. Some aspects were well researched in the original texts but other boys were just randomly made up. I didn’t like the negative comments on autism. I also didn’t like how the author inveigled Sherlock into the lives of real people- this was annoying and felt odd to me. Overall, this was a good idea but it didn’t sit well with me.

[Brian D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent capstone to reading the canon. Explains various loose threads in a believable way. Written in the spirit of The Great Game. Thoroughly researched. I could not tell the difference between the “real” and the “fictitious” history. Highly recommended for all Sherlockians.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but knocked off a star due to outdated view of autism. E.g. the author argues that Holmes couldn't possibly be autistic because he was upset when Watson was injured that one time and displayed emotion.
That aside, there's plenty to enjoy here. I learnt a bit of history.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant story! I had a lot of fun reading this.

[Christine Jeffords · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique take on Holmes, showing how, in between the cases recorded by his Boswell, he took part in various adventures related to British national security.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great idea, poor execution. The author tries to be too cool.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

More about the various players, or suspected players, in the mysteries than Holmes.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

It just amazes me that books like this can get published. What was the point of this book? It's not exactly fiction and it's not exactly a take-off of William S. Baring-Gould. It's not funny and it's not inspired and it adds nothing to the Sherlock Holmes universe. If Sherlock Holmes was real and had relations were still alive, they should sue.



The Sherlock Holmes described in this book is not recognizable as the Holmes in the Canon. However, this book helped get me drowsy enough to go to sleep, so I suppose that's a virtue. Maybe. In a parallel universe.



It's still a good title though. Perhaps someday someone could write an Albert Goldman or a National Inquirer job, spicing up Sherlock's life in a parody to make him the Caligula of the detective world.



Or not.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh.

I LOVED the idea of this book. And I am just having the hardest time putting my finger on why I didn't really enjoy it that much.

It wasn't too long and wasn't grueling to read. But I found myself annoyed with the very thing I thought I would enjoy--placing Sherlock Holmes into the real world of the time his tales were set. Partly it's that the author didn't (or wasn't able to) come up with enough real evidence to support the "biographical account." So instead it all comes across as assumption without much reasoning behind it. It may be that the tales don't give much support for any very detailed invented biography of Holmes. If so, I might have abandoned the project if I were the author.

Instead, Rennison chooses to write "we can presume that..." and similar phrases regularly throughout the book. For me, that really detracted from the original idea of the book somehow. I know it's an invented biography of a fictional character, but for me the whole point of that structure is to provide a feeling of scholarship and legitimacy.

[Kevin de Ataíde · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a history of the Victorian era than a biography, this book is a marvellous attempt to piece together the involvement of the fictional detective in the civil and criminal life of the City over the last decades of the nineteenth and the first of the twentieth century. It almost seems believable through the book that Holmes was a historical figure. Given that the only information we seem to have about Holmes is from the few publications made by Arthur Conan Doyle as given by Holmes' friend and assistant, Watson, the difficulty is understandable and the effort in this book remarkable. From beginnings in the Yorkshire moors, to Cambridge university, detective consultancy in London, to sensitive cases for European concerns and diplomatic missions on behalf of the government to Tibet and Sudan, Holmes seems indeed to have contributed to Victorian history. A good read, this one, and not very long.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been fond of Sherlock Holmes ever since my mom let me, age 10 or so, confiscate her library card when I'd gone through most of the children's section. This highly entertaining, well researched, and well written pseudo-biography brought back good reading memories and the compulsion to go back to those clever stories I've been reading for decades.

Rennison does a superb job of putting together all the pieces of Holmes' life -- all the ones he can find, that is -- as well as Mycroft's and Watson's and even Moriarty's; and supplementing that scant information with the history, the actual history, that was going on during his supposed lifetime. The biography must be shelved with fiction, of course, but it has the clamor of truth in its exploration of the times of the several decades on either side of the last century.

[Alma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really appealed to my loves of fiction, history and biography. I have read the Sherlock Holmes stories for many years, and although their plots and denouements are sometimes a little hard to swallow, I have always been fascinated by the characters of Holmes and Watson themselves. This “biography” is an extremely detailed blending of real history and fiction, something akin to the Indiana Jones stories with footnotes. I learned new facts of Victorian era history and gained a greater feel for the climate in England from the 1880's to the First World War. The facts and fiction are so perfectly intertwined that you end up thinking that maybe Holmes really DID exist. If nothing else, the book is an amazing reference that pulls all the details of the stories together and explains many of the historical allusions.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 3.5 star rating, bumped up by the obvious ingenuity and careful crafting by the author. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has ever taken the time to look up the background surrounding the Holmes stories. I think it speaks the the excellence of the book, and some of the problems, that my main problem with it was how difficult it was to untangle the parts invented by the author from the meticulous historical research obviously undertaken by the author.

I read this at the same time I watched season 2 of the updated Sherlock with Cumberbatch and was pleasantly surprised how well they meshed with one another. I think the only irritation I have with the narrative was that it turned him into a sort of proto James Bond type character. I just didn't buy into it.

[Edoardo Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having finished this biography of the eminent Victorian, one is left with mixed feelings about Holmes's Boswell, Dr Watson. Without his testimony, we would know next to nothing about Holmes's remarkable career, for Mr Rennison's exhaustive researches have revealed remarkably few other references to Holmes in the records of the time. But if only Dr Watson had been as diligent a biographer as James Boswell, what an insight he would have given us into the late-Victorian/Edwardian era! As it is, we are left pondering what might have been, and hoping that, maybe, when the official papers are released after the expiring of the 100-years-rule, that we may learn more of Holmes's role in the affairs of high-Imperial Britain.

[Dane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got about halfway through and gave up. I'm sure the author put a lot of work into this book, but I just didn't like it. It was deadly boring up until the Jack the Ripper chapter, which I struggled to get to. That chapter was mildly interesting, but without much payoff, interest-wise, as to who Holmes thought the Ripper was. The very next chapter after that throws a little bit of mud of Holmes.

When you can make the life of Sherlock Holmes deadly boring, when your chapter on Sherlock Holmes figuring out the identity of Jack the Ripper is only mildly interesting, and when you dare malign Holmes even a little bit (in addition to the rest of that, anyway), then I do not care to read the rest of your book.

[Theresa Leone Davidson · Rating 2 out of 5]

So you decide you want to be an author, only perhaps you have a somewhat limited imagination and no original story to tell. What do you do? Use the creation and the mysteries of another author(the more successful the better, so use Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) and use his most well known character, in this case Sherlock Holmes, and write a fictional biography of his life. Throw in some real people who were alive during the same time period Sherlock sleuthed and voila! You've got yourself a book! OK, I'm being harsh but I did not especially like this one, it was a tad dull even for a 'biography,' and the only thing original was making up a whole backstory for Sherlock and John Watson. It was ok but not great.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished it. It wasn't bad but I do not recommend it for anyone who has not read all Sherlock Holmes books/stories. Written from the premise that Holmes and Watson were real and the stories of Doyle were based on real crimes and mysteries from 1880 to 1920 as related to Doyle via Watson with Holmes' approval. There is the tie to British governemnt inovlvement in some matters and that Holmes elusive brother played a part. Immense detail that can overwhelm the story.

[Rozonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been attempted before, but not so perfectly or successfully. A biography of Holmes as a real character, seamlessly woven into real characters and facts of his era, until it could fool even very seasoned Sherlockians- with reflreshing views into much tackled issues like Holmes and Jack the Ripper, the Great Hiatus or "friends" like Wilde or Conan Doyle himself. A great work of research to feed the imagination- it may sound paradoxical but it is not. Wonderful.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can a biography of a fictional character be classified as nonfiction ... Of course, when it's a character as indisputably real as Sherlock Homes.

But Rennison does much more than scribble down the "facts" of Holmes' life. He explores the culture and historic events that are the context of Holmes' times, even including what he was doing during that Great Hiatus after the Reichenbach Falls incident.

Great fun for a Sherlock fan.