Sherlock Holmes, "The World's First Consulting Detective", was so influential as a fictional character that he still inspires and challenges criminologists today.
A wickedly smart and rollicking journey through the birth, life, and afterlives of popular culture's most beloved sleuth.
Today he is the inspiration for fiction adaptations, blockbuster movies, hit television shows, raucous Twitter banter, and thriving subcultures. More than a century after Sherlock Holmes first capered into our world, what is it about Arthur Conan Doyle's peculiar creation that continues to fascinate us? Journalist and lifelong Sherlock fanZach Dundas set out to find the answer.
The result is The Great Detective: a history of an idea, a biography of someone who never lived, a tour of the borderland between reality and fiction, and a joyful romp through the world Conan Doyle bequeathed us."This reader's companion to the casework of Sherlock Holmes explores the methodology of the world's most famous consulting detective. From analyzing fingerprints and decoding ciphers to creating disguises and faking one's own death, readers will learn how Holmes solved his most celebrated cases - plus an arsenal of modern techniques available to today's armchair sleuths. Along the way, readers will discover a host of trivia about the master detective and his universe."
This fascinating book is based on a remarkable discovery: Sherlock Holmes' methods of deduction and observation were actually those of his creator and used in order to solve real crimes.
Peter Costello draws on entirely new research to follow the tracks Conan Doyle left as he entered the real world of Sherlock Holmes. For Scotland Yard, Sherlock Holmes really existed in the form of his creator; it was to him that they wrote when attempting to solve some of the most notoriously elusive and brutal cases in criminal history.
Sherlock Holmes's astonishing investigative powers, and the adventures that they lead to, are literally brought to life as one witnesses, for the first time, just how his creator turned the skills of his great detective to solving true crime cases from the gaslight era. - from the book jacket
In Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, Holmes's exploits are presented from the point-of-view of his "Boswell" Dr. Watson.
In this "mock autobiography", Holmes gets the chance to show his side of events.
"...the first totally convincing account of the great man's life evokes magnificently a vanished world. Every reader of Watson's version of Holmes's great cases will want to have the master's own record which contains much vital information never previously put before the public."- from the book jacket
Visit the settings of some of Holmes's most famous cases.