Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes

By Michael Hardwick

Book Overview

A revelatory personal memoir from world famous detective, Sherlock Holmes Perfect for fans of Don Libey, Nick Rennison, Vincent Starrett and William S. Baring-Gould.

Holmes sets the record straight at last...

Victorian England

So much has been written about the world's greatest detective - by other people. Here he tells his own story of how he began his illustrious career.

In a reflective mood in retirement, Holmes' thoughts drift back to the very beginning of his detecting days and how providence presented his first case. The young student, using newly formulated methods of observation and deduction, had found his calling.

Holmes reveals how he honed his craft and learnt his profession through an apprenticeship in the famous Pinkerton Agency in Chicago. It was here he learnt to be a criminal first, a detective second, and developed his supreme talent for disguise that was to become so essential to his success.

The casebook that was faithfully recorded by Dr Watson, Holmes tells for the first time, was not wholly true. Watson was misled and details hidden for very good reason. These secrets about old enemy Professor Moriarty are now revealed along with the true account of the dramatic events at the Reichenbach Falls and the missing years.

Who is the man behind the legend? What more is there to tell ?

And why did Holmes and Moriarty have to deceive and 'die'...?

SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE AND CRIMES is a fictionalised historical autobiography that will thrill fans of Sherlock Holmes and the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

THE DISCOVERED JOURNALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR WATSON SERIES:
Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes
Prisoner of the Devil
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The Private Life of Dr Watson

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0854953612
• ISBN13: 9780854953615
• Release Date: March 2024
• Publisher: Sapere Books
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Autobiography, my dear Watson...

In this book, written by Michael Hardwick (who has made a career of doing commentaries, novels, plays and other such Sherlock Holmes-related media, often in collaboration with Mollie Hardwick), we have an aging Holmes reflecting autobiographically upon his life from his early days up to the affair with Moriarty and his missing three-year period, the Great Hiatus, or, as Hardwick would have Holmes have it, the Great Lie. Sherlock Holmes is one of the most famous characters in literary history; his stories are legendary in langauges and cultures around the world, and for being a character so much a part of his time in Victorian London, he has attained a timeless and universal quality that makes him a character of global appeal. Scholars and fans have had organisations formed, historical markers erected to commemorate fictitious events, and, of course, a never-ending supply of commentary and 'fan fiction'. Hardwick's book is a hybrid, part invention, part commentary. Due to the nature of the material, those who become a Sherlockian or Holmesian love to follow the clues to solve the unknown, the mysteries -- Conan Doyle was not always diligent about filling in the details of Holmes' life; this is where authors like Hardwick come into play. Hardwick proposes answers to many of the questions of Holmes life, such as where he attended university, his American experiences, behind-the-scenes material on many major cases, and Holmes' true activities during his absence from the public eye after his supposed death at the Reichenbach Falls. Hardwick does a good job at incorporating the actual material from the canonical stories (56 short stories and 4 novels), as well as actual historical events of which Holmes could have been a part. His narrative is in keeping with the same style of writing as Conan Doyle for the most part; a bit flat at times, but then, Conan Doyle usually wrote as Watson, rather than Holmes. This is a memoir looking back on early days by an aged Holmes in his retirement, some time after 'His Last Bow', and indeed after the death of Watson. Sherlock Holmes scholars debate the material contained here -- this is presented without annotation as to the divergent strands of Holmesian speculation. As an autobiography, it is plausible if not entirely convincing, and will interest any fan of Holmes.