Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2011
224 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
A passionate lifelong fan of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda is a member of The Baker Street Irregulars - the most famous and romantic of all Sherlockian groups. Combining memoir and appreciation, On Conan Doyle is a highly engaging personal introduction to Holmes's creator, as well as a rare insider's account of the curiously delightful activities and playful scholarship of The Baker Street Irregulars.
On Conan Doyle is a much-needed celebration of Arthur Conan Doyle's genius for every kind of storytelling.
Edgar Awards, 2012
"Dirda's lifelong enthusiasm and keen critical skills underscore the timeless quality of the brilliant detective and his multifaceted creator." - Publishers Weekly
"Dirda is at his best in his sensitive appreciation of Doyle's style, direct, fluent, and surprisingly flexible as he moves from genre to genre, and in his account of manly civic inspiration as the value Doyle aimed above all to inculcate in his writing... an endearing, well-balanced introduction to a writer the Strand Magazine called 'the greatest natural storyteller of his age.'"- Kirkus Reviews
"[A] brief, elegant reflection... With thoughtful care, Dirda explains how Conan Doyle 'rose above the conventions of his time' in many of his writings." - LA TImes
"Charming... the adventures of Holmes comprise a mere fraction of the oeuvre... and one of Dirda's chief concerns is to give the rest of it appropriate attention." - Times Literary Supplement (UK)
"Dirda also provides an affecting brief account of Doyle's life. Doyle was a loyal, genial, and generous man, and he had many talents." - New Republic
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