Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography - Softcover

Rennison, Nicholas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802143253 ISBN 13: 9780802143259

Publisher: Grove Press, 2007

Synopsis

“A clever idea cunningly executed, and a welcome addition to the library of every Holmes fan.” —The Independent
He has been called a genius and a fraud, a hero and an addict. He advised kings in their glittering palaces, then disappeared into the darkest alleys of London’s criminal underworld. He was (and remains) a global icon, but who was this Sherlock Holmes? With an attention to detail that would make his subject envious, Nick Rennison gathers the clues of a life lived among the stars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from Oscar Wilde to Sigmund Freud, and uncovers startling, previously unknown information.  How did a Cambridge drop-out and bit player on the London stage transform himself into a renowned “consulting detective”? Did he know the identity of “Jack the Ripper”? When did Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty first cross paths? To where did Sherlock Holmes disappear after his presumed “death” in 1891? Sherlock Holmes answers these questions and many more as it careens through the most infamous crimes and historic events of the era, all in pursuit of the real man behind the greatest detective in modern fiction—and, just perhaps, non-fiction.

About this title

About the Author

Nick Rennison works as an editor, writer and bookseller. His books include a poetry anthology, a short study of Sigmund Freud and two guides to fiction, The Good Reading Guide (6th edition, 2003) and The Good Reading Guide to Crime Fiction (2nd edition, 2003). He has been fascinated by the life and career of Sherlock Holmes since reading about him as a child and wrote Sherlock Homes, published by Atlantic Books, in 2005. Nick Rennison works as an editor, writer and bookseller. His books include a poetry anthology, a short study of Sigmund Freud and two guides to fiction, The Good Reading Guide (6th edition, 2003) and The Good Reading Guide to Crime Fiction (2nd edition, 2003). He has been fascinated by the life and career of Sherlock Holmes since reading about him as a child and wrote Sherlock Homes, published by Atlantic Books, in 2005.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—Rennison covers the "life" of fictional Sherlock Holmes in depth while providing entertaining reading for anyone who has met the detective in print or on screen. There have been numerous Holmes mysteries written by authors other than Conan Doyle over the years, some of which have added to what we "know" about Holmes. Nicholas Meyer's The Seven Percent Solution (Norton, 1993), any of Laurie R. King's excellent series, or Michael Chabon's The Final Solution (HarperCollins, 2004) are a few of the good ones that preceded this clever extrapolation. Rather than presenting a Holmesian mystery, Rennison takes the history of a legendary man with extraordinary powers of deduction and attempts to demystify him. In presenting Holmes's life, he lays historical events side by side with Watson's related tales and shows how, by thinly veiling names and adjusting small facts, one can work out a real time line for Holmes's activities. This is a thoughtful and fun addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon, and a must for everyone who enjoys the greatest detective of all time.—Dana Cobern-Kullman, Luther Burbank Middle School, Burbank, CA
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Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802143253
• ISBN 13: 9780802143259
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304