The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Lycett, biographer of Rudyard Kipling and Dylan Thomas, turns his attention to the father of detective stories in this enjoyable if densely packed biography. From his early years in Edinburgh to his life at boarding school, Conan Doyle developed a love of storytelling and mythology. After finishing medical school, he turned to writing as a way to explore his paradoxical interest in spiritualism and science. While writing his first Holmes story, “A Study in Scarlet,” published in 1886, Conan Doyle continued to practice medicine and tend to his growing family. Lycett shows that Conan Doyle often viewed his laconic detective’s stories as inferior to his other work, which included everything from the social novel to a history of Britain’s involvement in WWI. With his detailed descriptions of the Doyle family tree, Lycett often overwhelms the reader with names and dates, but fans won’t be disappointed with his unearthing of the origins of the famous detective’s name (fellow student Patrick Sherlock and Oliver Wendell Holmes) or Conan Doyle’s associations with everyone from Oscar Wilde to Harry Houdini. Those looking for a close reading of the Holmes canon should look elsewhere, but fans of the in-depth literary biography will find this a satisfying read. (Dec.)