The Sherlockian - Hardcover

Moore, Graham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067006520X ISBN 13: 9780670065202

Publisher: Viking, 2010

Synopsis

n December 1893, Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines in anticipation of Sherlock Holmes's next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero. London spiralled into mourning. Crowds sported black arm bands in grief and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin.

Then in 1901, just as abruptly as the author "murdered" Holmes in "The Final Problem,” he resurrected him. Though he kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After his death, it was discovered that one of his journals from the interim period was missing, and it has never been found. Or has it?

When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the pre-eminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he is about to be thrust into the hunt for the holy grail of Sherlockians: the missing diary. But when the world's leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold, using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories, who takes up the search, both for the diary and the killer.

About this title

Review:

Amazon Best Books of the Month, December 2010: The Sherlockian begins with Arthur Conan Doyle pondering the best way to kill off the character that brought him fame, fortune, and the angst of a writer desperate to be remembered for more than "a few morbid yarns." We then skip more than a hundred years into the future, to meet Harold White, a Sherlock Holmes devotee attending an annual celebration of hundreds of Sherlockian societies. When both Conan Doyle and White face grisly murders, Graham Moore's delightful debut novel really takes off, bouncing merrily between these two characters and time periods. Replete with winking cameos and Holmes-worthy twists, The Sherlockian is an inspired historical suspense novel that will captivate Holmes fans and anyone who loves a good twisty, clever mystery. --Daphne Durham

About the Author:

GRAHAM MOORE is a 28-year-old graduate of Columbia University, where he received his degree in religious history. He was born and raised in Chicago, the son of a criminal defence attorney and a political lawyer. He read his first Agatha Christie novel in grade two and has been obsessed with mystery fiction ever since. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 067006520X
• ISBN 13: 9780670065202
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368