The life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Hardcover

Carr, John Dickson

4.06

178 ratings by Goodreads

9781566194082: The life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1566194083 ISBN 13: 9781566194082

Publisher: Barnes & Noble, 1994

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This vivid biography, written by John Dickson Carr, a giant in the field of mystery fiction, benefits from his full access to the archives of the eminent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—to his notebooks, diaries, press clippings, and voluminous correspondence. Like his creation Sherlock Holmes, Doyle had "a horror of destroying documents," and until his death in 1930, they accumulated to vast amount throughout his house at Windlesham. They provide many of the words incorporated by Carr in this lively portrayal of Doyle's forays into politics, his infatuation with spiritualism, his literary ambitions, and dinner-table conversations with friends like H. G. Wells and King Edward VII. Carr, then, in a sense collaborates with his subject to unfold a colorful narrative that takes Doyle from his school days at Stonyhurst to Edinburgh University and a medical practice at Southsea, where he conceived the idea of wedding scientific study to criminal investigation in the fictive person of Sherlock Holmes. It also explores the private tragedy of Doyle's first marriage and long-delayed second as it follows him into the arena of public activity, propaganda, and literary output that would win him not only celebrity but also knighthood. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs are featured.

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About the Author:

John Dickson Carr (1906 1977) was one of the most popular authors of Golden Age British-style detective novels.Born in Pennsylvania and the son of a US congressman, Carr graduated from Haverford College in 1929.Soon thereafter, he moved to England where he married an Englishwoman and began his mystery-writing career. In 1948, he returned to the US as an internationally known author.Carr received the Mystery Writers of America s highest honor, the Grand Master Award, and was one of the few Americans ever admitted into the prestigious, but almost exclusively British, Detection Club.

Review:

"This treasure trove surpasses and supersedes all previous studies with a narrative-biography vigorously blending entertainment and scholarship."

"A beautiful piece of work....The combination of Carr and Doyle makes a notable biography."

"Thoroughly satisfying...highly entertaining."

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