Allan Massie
Odd Cove
Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes
By Andrew Lycett
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 433pp £20
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters
By Daniel Stashower, Jon Lellenberg and Charles Foley
HarperPress 720pp £25
Conan Doyle has not lacked for biographers. His life has been written by, among others, Hesketh Pearson, John Dickson Carr, Julian Symons, Owen Dudley Edwards and Michael Coren – evidence of the fascination he exerts. Now Andrew Lycett (author of lives of Ian Fleming, Rudyard Kipling and Dylan Thomas) comes up with a new one, and Jon Lellenberg, one of the compilers of A Life in Letters, himself published The Quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle twenty years ago. It may seem unlikely that there is anything new to be discovered about him, and indeed there is little that is novel in either of these books.
Reviewing Hesketh Pearson’s biography (1943), Graham Greene wrote: ‘One has seen that face over a hundred bar counters – the lick of hair over the broad white brow, the heavy moustache with pointed ends, the firm, good-humoured eyes, the man who is a cause of conviviality in other men, but
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
Give the gift that lasts all year with a subscription to Literary Review. Save up to 35% on the cover price when you visit us at https://literaryreview.co.uk/subscribe and enter the code 'XMAS24'