Through a Glass, Darkly: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Quest to Solve the Greatest Mystery of All

How did the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who once stated, “The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply,” come to believe not only in communications from beyond the grave but in fairies? Readers in search of an answer will be left unsatisfied by this interesting but uninsightful look at the evolution of Arthur Conan Doyle’s belief in the supernatural. The authors do not aspire to providing answers—they describe the book as a “jolly romp,” writing that “While raising the profound questions inherent in this material, we aimed to favor high spirits, delicious speculations, and compelling scenes and characters.” They do offer a decent survey of the development of spiritualism, starting with the mid-19th-century Fox sisters, who claimed that the dead communicated with them through a series of taps. And those unfamiliar with the details of Conan Doyle’s life will learn about his initial skepticism regarding mediums and eventual turn to full-throated advocacy. However, the subject has been better served elsewhere, both in general biographies, such as Daniel Stashower’s Teller of Tales, and in books focusing just on this aspect of Conan Doyle’s life, such as Kelvin Jones’s Conan Doyle and the Spirits. [em](June) [/em]