Arthur Conan Doyle
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930)
BIOGRAPHY
Although best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle's work includes science fiction, historical romance and books on warfare and spiritualism. Born in Edinburgh, he qualified as a doctor and practised in Southsea before turning to writing as a means of supplementing his income. The first Sherlock Homes novel appeared in 1887 and the fictional detective soon brought fame and fortune - though Doyle always maintained his historical romances held more worth. His personal interests were far ranging: he was a strong advocate of a tunnel between England and France, of inflatable life jackets and, in one unfortunate incident, of a (faked) photograph of fairies. But it was for a paper justifying Britain's involvement in the Boer War - where he had served as a physician - that he received his knighthood. Influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, Doyle's work often demonstrates a similar contrasting of the rational and the imaginative.
STORIES
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A young clerk lands what appears to be an ideal job - but soon begins to suspect he may be part of an elaborate trick.
- Length: 21 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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The first case Holmes ever solved - while at university, he helps out a friend who's father is dying of nervousness following a visit from an ex-shipmate who seems to hold some power over him.
- Length: 21 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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A university friend asks Holmes to help explain the disappearance of a butler shortly after he had been discovered taking an interest in a strange family ritual.
- Length: 21 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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A trip to the country, supposedly for a rest, lead Holmes into a mystery involving an apparently random burglary and the murder of a coachman.
- Length: 22 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars
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Holmes investigates the murder of a popular and apparently happily married Colonel.
- Length: 19 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars
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A reputable doctor comes to Holmes for advice when a mysterious benefactor, resident at his clinic, becomes paranoid about the security of the clinic building.
- Length: 22 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars
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An interpreter seeks Holmes' advice after being abducted and forced to translate a conversation with a bound and gagged man. A story that also involves Sherlock's even more observant brother, Mycroft Holmes.
- Length: 21 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars
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Holmes comes to the aid of a civil servant who has fallen on hard times following the theft of an important treaty placed in his care.
- Length: 39 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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Holmes reveals the existence of a single organiser behind half the crime in London - an evil genius named Professor Moriarty - and soon finds himself in mortal danger.
- Length: 19 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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Holmes comes to the aid of the King of Bohemia, a case which brings him into contact with the adventuress Irene Adler.
- Length: 25 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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When Mr. Charles McCarthy is shot in a wood near Boscombe Pool, all (circumstantial) evidence appears to point at his son. But Holmes has doubts.
- Length: 25 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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Holmes investigates a case that begins when a young man finds his uncle terrified by five orange pips he receives in the mail.
- Length: 20 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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Holmes goes in search of a missing man, last seen, by his wife, looking agitated in the second floor window above a seedy opium den.
- Length: 26 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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A woman dies at night in a locked room, crying out in pain: 'It was the band! The speckled band!'. Holmes investigates.
- Length: 28 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
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A man arrives at Dr Watson's house with a severed thumb - an injury which apparently occurred in the most unusual circumstances.
- Length: 23 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars