Tag: Joseph Bell

The Ardlamont Mystery

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The Ardlamont Mystery: The Real-Life Story Behind the Creation of Sherlock Holmes

by Daniel Smith (Michael O’Mara, 2018)

Smith_Ardlamont Mystery

Whereas Smith sifts every last scrap of the defendant’s and victim’s backstories, the key medical witnesses—Joseph Bell and Henry Littlejohn, upon whom Doyle based Sherlock Holmes—have walk-on parts at best. An assiduously researched historical non-event with a reprehensibly misleading subtitle.

 

 

Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes

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Murder Rooms (The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes)

by David Pirie (BBC, 2000-2001)

Pirie_Murder Rooms

This cleverly written historical drama depicts a young Arthur Conan Doyle playing Watson to nascent Holmes figure Dr Joseph Bell (Doyle’s real-life tutor at Edinburgh University). Replete with Holmes-esque observational deductions, the feature-length mysteries are intriguing… but moreish at only six episodes.