Kelvin I. Jones has been writing about Sherlock Holmes for over 50
years, and studied the real-life crime, criminals and criminalistics of
the late Victorians. Kelvin's forensic approach has already made a
significant impact on the Holmes aficionado, previous titles including
'The Sherlock Holmes Murder Files, ' etc. However, the first of this
three volume magnum opus on Holmes and crime covers absolutely
everything that the reader fresh to, or even more familiar with Holmes
wants to know about the murder and mayhem of his age.
And there is much more. We learn about the poisoners, the prostitutes,
the garrotters, the psychopaths and the abductors; in fact the whole
panoply of the dangerous criminal underworld once lorded over by
Moriarty.
This exhaustive study, with its grim descriptions of the savage
criminals of that age, is portrayed in graphic, uncompromising detail.
What also emerges is a profile of the real Conan Doyle. Here is a
profile of an author who knew more than is assumed about crime; and the
book includes an examination of the Ripper, plus Conan Doyle's theories
on the murderer's identity. Profusely illustrated, with many rare
illustrations from 19th Century documents. Overall, a stunning
contribution to the literature about Holmes, by someone who David
Marcum, the editor and author of Holmes pastiches, once described as 'a
Master Sherlockian.'
