From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon

Summary

In From Holmes to Sherlock, Mattias Boström recreates the full story behind the legendary detective and his many incarnations—a real-life narrative of success, tragedy, and family secrets that has never previously been told in its entirety. The beginning is classic: a young Arthur Conan Doyle sitting in a Scottish lecture hall taking notes on his medical professor Dr. Joseph Bell's powers of observation. More than a decade later, Conan Doyle's short stories became a runaway success in the popular monthly Strand Magazine. A parallel Holmes soon evolved with a whole industry of plays, parody, and pastiche, and Boström skillfully follows the men and women who have perpetuated and recast the Sherlockian myth—including the actors who became famous for their personifications of Holmes; Conan Doyle's sons, who desperately wanted to make big business of the detective; the Georgian princess who ended up entangled in the Conan Doyle legacy; and finally the pair of modern-day fans who brainstormed the idea behind the TV sensation Sherlock. Written in novelistic prose, Boström's account is a singular celebration of the most famous detective in the world—a must-read for newcomers and experts alike.