ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930)
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.
A man seeks Holmes' advice when his wife's odd behaviour leads him to suspect she is hiding a terrible secret.
- Length: 20 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
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
Several years after the events described in 'The Final Problem', Dr Watson takes an interest in the murder of Ronald Adair who was shot in a locked second floor room.
- Length: 21 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
A professor at a top university seeks Holmes'
help with a possible case of cheating in a valuable scholarship exam.
- Length: 21 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
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
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
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
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
A hard-up young man receives a timely invitation to visit a mysterious, wealthy cousin at his country retreat - a bizzare menagerie of birds, reptiles and a man-eating black puma.
- Length: 21 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime, Fiction
An ill-tempered ex-ship's-captain is brutally murdered, pinned agaist the wall of his garden shed by a harpoon.
- Length: 22 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
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
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
Lestrade consults Holmes when a number of busts of Napoleon are smashed at various locations around London.
- Length: 23 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
Holmes investigates the disappearance of the top player in the Cambridge University Rugby team on the eve of a match against Oxford.
- Length: 23 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
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