Description

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The sensational story of the real-life origins of the fictional Sherlock Holmes – and how crime fiction and crime fact collided in a case that gripped Victorian Britain

In 1893, young army officer Cecil Hambrough was murdered at the sprawling Ardlamont estate in Scotland, unleashing one of the most gripping court cases Victorian Britain had ever known. Even more remarkably, the case brought together two pioneering forensic experts – Joseph Bell and Henry Littlejohn – two men upon whom Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes happened to be based. It is their involvement in the Ardlamont affair that reveals how the world’s most famous detective came to be: the worlds of crime fiction and crime fact were about to collide spectacularly.

In this extraordinary book, Daniel Smith outlines the key roles of the two men whose powers of deduction had so inspired Doyle and explores the real-world origins of Sherlock Holmes through the prism of a mystery as engrossing as any case the Great Detective ever tackled.

About the Author

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Daniel Smith is a non-fiction author and editor who has written across a range of subjects, including politics, economics and social history. He is the author of The Little Book of Big Ideas: 150 Concepts and Breakthroughs that Transformed History and the 'How to Think Like ...' series for Michael O'Mara Books, which has been published in 25 languages and sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. He is also a scriptwriter for the award-winning podcast series, Real Dictators and A Short History of . . . He lives in London with his wife and two children.

Praise For…

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Sherlockians and true crime buffs alike will be intrigued ― Publishers Weekly

An enthralling real-life murder mystery that also sheds new light on the creation of fiction's most famous detective ― Daily Mail

Fascinating and expertly written: a true murder story that brings the real background of Sherlock Holmes and his creator strikingly to life ― Andrew Lycett, author of Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes

The fictional Sherlock Holmes was born in a world of Victorian crime and mysteries. The sensational Ardlamont murder trial in 1893 was one of those inspirations... Daniel Smith does a wonderful job [of] recreating the trial in all its twists and complexities, a case worthy of Sherlock himself ― Paul French, winner of the Edgar and Dagger awards for true crime writing and author of City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir and Midnight in Peking

Sheer delight. A Victorian murder mystery to rival the best of Conan Doyle ― Barry Turner, Classic Crime critic, Daily Mail

A gripping read ― The Sherlock Holmes Journal