The Great Detective

March 30, 2015
Sherlock Holmes’s popularity prompted Dundas (The Renegade Sportsman) to investigate how and why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero and his sidekick, Dr. Watson, have endured for so long. Dundas strives to use the detective’s famed techniques to ferret out Conan Doyle’s influences—Poe, pioneering surgeon Joseph Bell—and chronicle the influence Holmes has exercised through parodies, tributes, plays, films, TV series, and even comic books and fan fiction. The work is admirably exhaustive, but it’s also exhausting. Despite a rigorous Sherlockian “commitment to the facts,” lengthy personal digressions, such as Dundas’s tour of Dartmoor, the setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles, with his family, seem more self-serving than illuminating. Dundas’s admiration for Holmes is never in doubt, and he unearths some interesting anecdotes about Conan Doyle: Holmes’s creator was an early auto enthusiast (who “collected speeding tickets”) and had an interest in spiritualism, and as a writer, Conan Doyle was amusingly “reckless about accuracy” and character consistency. But Dundas’s smug tone, strained attempts at humor with David Foster Wallace–like footnotes, and tendency to synopsize plots are wearying. If only Dundas, like Sherlock, had simply “seen and observed” his fascinating material. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Trident Media Group.

June 15, 2015

Journalist Dundas (The Renegade Sportsman) has written an entertaining investigation into the enduring and ever adaptable character and world of Sherlock Holmes. A fan himself, Dundas takes readers on his search across London for evidence of Holmes. At the same time the author provides a tour through the history of crime fiction, the life of Holmes's creator, Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), and the adventures of Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Along the way, we meet those who were the inspirations behind Holmes and his stories as well as the millions of readers affected by the characters--Dundas provides a glimpse into the annual meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars and the global network of fans. The book concludes with a discussion of the current incarnations of Holmes and Watson, particularly that of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in the BBC's Sherlock. Also included is a list of the 20 "essential" stories, source notes, and an index. VERDICT This quick-paced survey of all things Sherlock Holmes is best suited for fans who have not done much research on the stories or Conan Doyle. Well-written and fun, Dundas's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious.--Stefanie Hollmichel, Univ. of St. Thomas Law Lib., Minneapolis

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