The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

‘Here is Conan Doyle the doctor, Conan Doyle the adventurer, Conan Doyle the journalist and, above all, Conan Doyle the spiritualist. The intention of the present book is to describe Conan Doyle the man, the composite of all of these aspects and of many more.’

Michael Coren presents his portrayal of a renaissance man, using his memoir, fiction and the little biographical information we have about Conan Doyle to give as full a portrait as he is able.

Aged twenty-seven, his idea for a detective originally named Sherrinford comes to fruition as Sherlock Holmes, with his partner John Watson (‘a drab, quiet name for this unostentatious man’). Coren documents the reaction to the death of Sherlock, the reappearance in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and the other stories Conan Doyle wrote, such as Rodney Stone about boxing and stories starring Professor Challenger.

After qualifying as a doctor Conan Doyle had sent stories to magazines, then travelled for a while across Africa during the Boer War, in which service he was awarded his knighthood.

Coren also details Conan Doyle’s personal life: his wife Louise passed away from illness and he married his second wife Jean Leckie, the object of his true desire.

He suggested reforms to the armed forces and to divorce laws, and stood unsuccessfully as an MP. Most interestingly of all, he received letters from members of the public asking for his help in solving crimes which had happened to them.

He gained much success in the United States, was an admirer of the baseball he had watched in Canada and was in demand as a writer of stories in England. Joseph Bell, Conan Doyle’s inspiration, praised prose which was ‘free from padding’.

He begun to develop an interest in spiritualism in the wake of the Great War, and Coren writes of the séances he attended and his short-lived friendship with Harry Houdini.

This biography is a brilliant illustration of the man behind the detective, in which a fan of Sherlock will learn a great deal.

‘An excellent new study...(with) merits of sober accuracy, sympathy and stylishness’ – Peter Lewis, Daily Mail

‘An extremely lively study’ – The Herald

‘An agreeably friendly biography...Coren follows the life diligently...and presents a fair picture of this good man’ – Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph

‘A revealing and deeply sympathetic study which should open the eyes of those who know him only as the begetter of Sherlock Holmes...Coren is an astute critic of Conan Doyle’s literary work.’ – Francis Wheen, Catholic Herald

‘Readers whose only knowledge of Conan Doyle is that he invented Sherlock Holmes should take a deep breath before opening this cogent and well-ordered account of an eventful life’ – Miles Donald, Literary Review

Michael Coren is an author, award-winning columnist and radio personality who hosted a long-running programme on Canadian television. He has written biographies of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and H.G. Wells, and has written at length on Christianity and Islam.

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