In the year 1900, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at the height of his success. A qualified doctor who had travelled widely, a keen and able sportsman, chronicler of the South African war, writer of historical novels, champion of the oppressed and, most notably, the creator of that honourable, brave, scientific and eminently sensible master detective Sherlock Holmes. Every new Holmes story was greeted with great anticipation and confidence, in the knowledge that however complex the crime, the supremely intelligent and logical detective would solve it. It therefore came as a great surprise to his readers when in 1916 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle declared that he believed in spiritualism.And when, in 1922, Doyle published a book in which he professed to believe in fairies, his devotees were nonplussed. How could the creator of the inexorably logical Sherlock Holmes claim to believe in something as vague and unproven as the paranormal? In this fascinating study of the life of the creator of one of the greatest detectives of all time, Dr Andrew Norman traces the story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's strange beliefs.
Can it be that Doyle's alcoholic father holds the key to the unanswered questions about his son? What was Doyle's involvement in the infamous Cottingley fairy affair? By delving into medical records and the writings of Doyle himself, Dr Norman unravels a mystery as exciting as any of the cases embarked upon by Sherlock Holmes, but in this case about the author himself.