Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes

The untold story of the Edinburgh doctor who became Arthur Conan Doyle's model for Sherlock Holmes, and his adventures in the criminal underworld of Victorian Britain.Throughout nineteenth-century Edinburgh, the surgeon Joseph Bell was known for his extraordinary talent for detection and diagnosis.To the amazement of onlookers at the Royal Infirmary, he could read a patient’s ailments, occupation, and personal habits from a single glance.Though such deductive powers were all quite “elementary” to Bell, they had a profound influence on the medical student and budding writer Arthur Conan Doyle.Soon enough, Bell’s methods helped spark the creation of fiction’s most iconic detective.Since Sherlock Holmes first appeared in 1887, he has become a global phenomenon.Yet the man Conan Doyle credited as Sherlock's prototype has slipped into the shadows.In Sleuth-Hound, the New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris brings Bell centre stage, recounting how his work took him from ward to