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
Cover Image
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
Cover Image
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
Cover Image
Holmes investigates when the Californian bride-to-be of Lord St. Simon goes missing just before the wedding.
- Length: 23 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars
Cover Image
Holmes helps a banker from whom some expensive gems, taken as security on a loan to an important client, have been stolen.
- Length: 27 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
Cover Image
A young lady asks Holmes' advice as to whether she should accept an excellent appointment as a governess even though it comes with an unusual condition attached.
- Length: 27 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
Cover Image
A Christmas mystery for detective Sherlock Holmes beginning with a lost hat and an abandoned goose.
- Length: 23 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars
Cover Image
Holmes investigates the case of a fiancee who disappeared on the day of the wedding.
- Length: 19 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
Cover Image
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
Cover Image
When a popular local doctor is murdered, the angry brother of his ex-fiance seems the obvious suspect - until the doctor's uknown past begins to reveal itself.
- Length: 19 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
Cover Image
A job advert with a bizarre set of requirements leads a young entomologist off on a mysterious adventure.
- Length: 18 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
5 Stars
Cover Image
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
5 Stars
Cover Image
Holmes investigates the murder of a popular and apparently happily married Colonel.
- Length: 19 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime
4 Stars
Cover Image
A case which leaves a Lady of notoriously loose morals in a nunnery and her lover - a brilliant physician - in a vegetative state.
- Length: 12 pages
- Age Rating: PG
- Genre: Crime, Fiction, Horror
5 Stars
Cover Image
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
Cover Image
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