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Summary
Summary
A rollicking look at popular culture's most beloved sleuth: "For even the casual fan, the history of this deathless character is fascinating" ( The Boston Globe ).
Today he is the inspiration for fiction adaptations, blockbuster movies, hit television shows, raucous Twitter banter, and thriving subcultures. More than a century after Sherlock Holmes first capered into our world, what is it about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's peculiar creation that continues to fascinate us? Journalist and lifelong Sherlock fan Zach Dundas set out to find the answer. The result is The Great Detective : a history of an idea, a biography of someone who never lived, a tour of the borderland between reality and fiction, and a joyful romp through the world Conan Doyle bequeathed us.
In this "wonderful book" ( Booklist , starred review), Dundas unearths the inspirations behind Holmes and his indispensable companion, Dr. John Watson; explores how they have been kept alive over the decades by writers, actors, and readers; and visits locales--from the boozy annual New York City gathering of one of the world's oldest and most exclusive Sherlock Holmes fan societies; to a freezing Devon heath out of The Hound of the Baskervilles ; to sunny Pasadena, where Dundas chats with the creators of the smash BBC series Sherlock. Along the way, he discovers the ingredients that have made Holmes go viral--then, now, and as long as the game's afoot.
Author Notes
Zach Dundas is co-executive editor of Portland Monthly magazine, a longtime journalist, and the author of The Renegade Sportsman. He is a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and the Diogenes Club.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Sherlock Holmes's popularity prompted Dundas (The Renegade Sportsman) to investigate how and why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's hero and his sidekick, Dr. Watson, have endured for so long. Dundas strives to use the detective's famed techniques to ferret out Conan Doyle's influences-Poe, pioneering surgeon Joseph Bell-and chronicle the influence Holmes has exercised through parodies, tributes, plays, films, TV series, and even comic books and fan fiction. The work is admirably exhaustive, but it's also exhausting. Despite a rigorous Sherlockian "commitment to the facts," lengthy personal digressions, such as Dundas's tour of Dartmoor, the setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles, with his family, seem more self-serving than illuminating. Dundas's admiration for Holmes is never in doubt, and he unearths some interesting anecdotes about Conan Doyle: Holmes's creator was an early auto enthusiast (who "collected speeding tickets") and had an interest in spiritualism, and as a writer, Conan Doyle was amusingly "reckless about accuracy" and character consistency. But Dundas's smug tone, strained attempts at humor with David Foster Wallace-like footnotes, and tendency to synopsize plots are wearying. If only Dundas, like Sherlock, had simply "seen and observed" his fascinating material. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Trident Media Group. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The author of this wonderful book has crammed it with enough research Holmesean, Watsonian, Doylean to bulge the seams. Learn, if you don't already know, that Doyle regarded his Holmes efforts not as crime stories but fairy tales. Or what happened when Doyle applied Holmes' methods to a crime on his own patch. Or why, since Holmes never wore a deerstalker, he's seen today wearing one anyway. Dundas' matey writing style makes the details easy to absorb while we wait for the real meat: the scraping away of a century of misunderstandings that have made the great detective something he's not, and, in the process, the revealing of what he really is a warmhearted man, kind and courteous, with a prankish sense of humor. Dundas might have said more about the furrow-browed scholarship Holmes is attracting lately, like the observation that Holmes' obsession with logic is a cover for his passion for justice. He would rather play tricks with the law of England than with his own conscience, as Holmes put it after he let a killer go free. A delight for Baker Streeters.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2015 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Journalist Dundas (The Renegade Sportsman) has written an entertaining investigation into the enduring and ever adaptable character and world of Sherlock Holmes. A fan himself, Dundas takes readers on his search across London for evidence of Holmes. At the same time the author provides a tour through the history of crime fiction, the life of Holmes's creator, Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), and the adventures of Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Along the way, we meet those who were the inspirations behind Holmes and his stories as well as the millions of readers affected by the characters-Dundas provides a glimpse into the annual meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars and the global network of fans. The book concludes with a discussion of the current incarnations of Holmes and -Watson, particularly that of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in the BBC's Sherlock. Also included is a list of the 20 "essential" stories, source notes, and an index. -VERDICT This quick-paced survey of all things Sherlock Holmes is best suited for fans who have not done much research on the stories or Conan Doyle. Well-written and fun, Dundas's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious.-Stefanie Hollmichel, Univ. of St. Thomas Law Lib., Minneapolis © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.