Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Devon

The definitive tour guide for anyone looking to retrace the steps, physically or virtually, of Arthur Conan Doyle during his time in Devon and see the places that inspired the Sherlock Holmes stories. The book features a comprehensive tour map with GPS co-ordinates for around thirty key sites. Arthur Conan Doyle is best remembered for writing sixty tales that feature his legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes. Between 1882 and 1923, Doyle visited Devon on no fewer than ten occasions and he resided there for some four months in total.

Brian W. Pugh and Paul R. Spiring have both written a number of landmark books about both Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. Their previous joint collaborations include On The Trail of Arthur Conan Doyle and A Footnote to The Hound of the Baskervilles . In addition, Brian W. Pugh and Paul R. Spiring have recorded individual success with their works, A Chronology of the Life of Arthur Conan Doyle and Aside Arthur Conan Doyle respectively. The third author, retired Psychiatrist Dr. Sadru Bhanji is an acknowledged authority upon the history of Devon and he is also the author of a number of related books and learned papers.

A couple of years ago, Brian Pugh and Paul Spiring broke new ground with On the Trail of Arthur Conan Doyle: An Illustrated Devon Tour, of which their latest book, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Devon: A Complete Tour Guide and Companion is essentially an enlarged and improved version, benefiting greatly from the participation of a distinguished Devon historian, Sadru Bhanji. We knew that Conan Doyle was briefly in practice in Plymouth with the volatile Dr George Turnavine Budd, and that he later visited Dartmoor in company with his friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson to research local colour for The Hound of the Baskervilles, but Devon can claim another man, no less important to the success of the author and his immortal character Sir George Newnes, founder and publisher of The Strand Magazine. Each man s life and career, and his contribution to the life of the county, are summarised in the first hundred pages, with wellchosen illustrations. Then some 220 pages are devoted to the muchexpanded Devon tour. Even without the literary interest the tour would be worth undertaking, as the county is so remarkably varied and beautiful, but the chance to walk in the footsteps of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes is almost irresistible. The book s easy readability belies the awe-inspiring amount of research that s gone into it. - Sherlock Holmes Society of London