I’m sure the Sherlockians reading this post know the story of how Arthur Conan Doyle changed the name of his famous character from “Sherrinford Holmes” to “Sherlock Holmes.” And you probably know how Sherlock’s companion morphed from “Ormond Sacker” to “John Watson.” Michael Sims presents a lively biographical tale of how Doyle invented Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Sim shows how Doyle modeled his detective on his favorite professor, Joseph Bell. Bell taught his students the power of observation when dealing with patients. Doyle added Bell’s methods to Sherlock’s. In addition, Michael Sims convincingly shows that Doyle’s admiration of the detective tales of Edgar Allan Poe had an enormous impact on his writing. Arthur and Sherlock enlightens as it entertains. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Overture: Remembering 1
Part 1: Dr Bell and Mr Doyle
A SuperMan 7
Your Powers of Deduction 12
Art in the Blood 20
Seven Weary Steps 25
Athens of the North 30
No Man of Flesh and Blood 35
Ode to Opium 40
Drinking Poison 45
Intemperance 51
Dr. Conan Doyle, Surgeon 58
A Wealth of Youth and Pluck 63
The Circular Tour 69
The Unseen World 74
Part 2: Prophets and Police
The Method of Zadig 83
The Footmarks of Poe 87
How Do You Know That? 95
Games of Chess Played with Live Pieces 99
Part 3: Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson
Dr Sacker and Mr Hope 111
Bohemians in Baker Street 119
A Little Too Scientific 125
The Book of Life 133
A Basilisk in the Desert 137
A Born Novelist 144
The Preternatural Sagacity of a Scientific Detective 151
Truth as Death 158
Watsons Brothers Watch 166
Dread of Madhouses 174
Adventures in the Strand 179
Deerstalker 184
To My Old Teacher 191
Acknowledgments 199
Notes 201
Bibliography and Further Reading 223
Index 235
I wonder if Sherlock was a name at all or one he invented. The closest I cam think of is Shylock.
Patti, Sherlock was an actual name. I don’t want to give too much away, but Doyle went through a process before he finally settled on “Sherlock.”
In 2003, the BBC did a series called MURDER ROOMS with Ian Richardson excellent as Dr. Joseph Bell. It may have been loosely based on the truth but was entertaining to watch.
Jeff, I missed MURDER ROOMS. I’ll have to track down a copy! Thanks for the heads-up!
Ian Richardson is always good and this was fun, with a young Conan Doyle learning from his mentor.
Jeff, Michael Sims spends a couple of chapters on Dr. Joseph Bell’s influence on young Doyle.
This is the 3rd review or mention of it I’ve seen, and it does look interesting. I’m not sure how much is fact and how much supposition, but when the library gets it, I’ll check it out. Heh.
Many pastiches have Sherringford as the eldest of the three Holmes brothers.
Rick, ARTHUR AND SHERLOCK is a quick read. Just a little over 200 pages.
I’d heard about joseph bell, but not about the original names of holmes and watson. thanks
Maggie, the naming process of Sherlock and Watson isn’t commonly known outside the Sherlockians.