Arthur Conan Doyle, b. May 22, 1859, d. July 7,
1930, was an English novelist who is widely known as the creator of the
detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was also a medical doctor. His first story
featuring Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in
1887. After 1890 he pursued writing full time, completing such further Holmes
adventures as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894), the popular The Hound of
the Baskervilles (1902), and his last book featuring the detective, The
Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (1927). Doyle wrote 4 novels and 56 stories
involving Holmes. Blessed with an acute sense of deductive reasoning, Holmes,
with his genial but less quick-witted companion, Dr. Watson, devises ingenious
solutions to complex cases, some involving his archenemy Professor Moriarty.
When Doyle tired of the detective in 1893 and attempted to kill him off, public
outcry necessitated The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1904). The character has
frequently been the subject of books, plays, and films, not all of them based
on Doyle's novels.
Ironically, Doyle did not want to be remembered
for his detective stories but for what he viewed as his more notable work, the
historical novels, Sir Nigel (1906), Micah Clarke (1889), and The White Company
(1890); yet these works are less known today. Doyle also wrote other tales of
mystery and adventure, including the science-fiction novels featuring Professor
Challenger: The Lost World (1911) and The Poison Belt (1912). Knighted in 1902,
Doyle wrote two pamphlets condoning England's role in the Boer War. After his
son died in World War I, Doyle found comfort in the study of spiritualism and
later published History of Spiritualism (2 vols., 1926-27). In 1924 his
autobiographical Memories and Adventures appeared.
D. Martin Dakin
Bibliography: Baring-Gould, William, The
Annotated Sherlock Holmes (1967); Carr, John D., The Life of Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle (1949; repr. 1975); Cox, Don R., Arthur Conan Doyle (1985);
Dudley-Edwards, Owen, The Quest for Sherlock Holmes: A Biographical Study of
Arthur Conan Doyle (1983); Higham, Charles, The Adventures of Conan Doyle
(1976); Jaffe, J.A., Arthur Conan Doyle (1987); Nordon, Pierre, Conan Doyle
(1966); Pearson, Hesketh, Conan Doyle: His Life and Art (1961; repr. 1977);
Stavert, G., A Study in Southsea: The Unrevealed Life of Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle
(1988); Symons, Julian, Conan Doyle: Portrait of an Artist (1987).
(c) 1997 Grolier, Inc.