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The Patient's Eyes: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (Murder Rooms)
 
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The Patient's Eyes: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (Murder Rooms) (Hardcover)

by David Pirie (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Century; First Edition edition (24 May 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0712670890
  • ISBN-13: 978-0712670890
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 699,513 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

While a young medical student at Edinburgh, Arthur Conan Doyle famously studied under the remarkable Dr Joseph Bell. Taking this as a starting point, David Pirie has woven a compelling thriller which partners Bell and Doyle as pioneers in criminal investigation, exploring the strange underworld of violence and sexual hypocrisy running below the surface of the Victorian era.The Patient's Eyes takes place in Portsmouth where the impoverished young Arthur Doyle opens his first medical practice. There he is puzzled by the symptoms presented by Heather Grace, a sweet young woman whose parents have died tragically several years before. Heather has a strange eye complaint, but is also upset by a visions of a phantom cyclist who vanishes as soon as he is followed. This enigma, however, is soon forgotten as Doyle finds himself embroiled in more threatening events - including the murder of a rich Spanish businessman - events that call for the intervention of the eminent Dr Bell But despite coming to Doyle's aid, perversely Dr Bell considers the murder of Senor Garcia a rather unimportant diversion from the real criminal affair in Doyle's letter summoning him south: the matter of the patient's eyes and the solitary cyclist Tense, dramatic and unputdownable, The Patient's Eyes marks the debut of a brilliant new crime writer.


From the Publisher

THE HIGHLY-ACCLAIMED FIRST NOVEL IN THE MURDER ROOMS CYCLE --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (3)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The first case for Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Joseph Bell, 4 Sep 2003
By Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Patient's Eyes (Mass Market Paperback)
Those who have admired the cases of Sherlock Holmes and found "The 7 Percent Solution" to be a fresh look at the first great detective of popular fiction will find a different game afoot in "The Patient's Eye." The intriguing premise for David Pirie's novel is that Arthur Conan Doyle is playing the Watson role to Dr. Joseph Bell, the writer's real-life mentor in medical school at Edinburough and the model for Holmes. Doyle starts off in the role of Scully, unable to accept that the practice of medicine has anything to do with Dr. Bell's deductive reasoning from minute clues, but in due course he becomes a true believer in Bell's pioneering work in forensic medicine.

The case involves Miss Heather Grace, a young heiress who has been traumatized by an attack by a lunatic who murdered her parents. Now Miss Grace is subject to visions of a figure who follows her on her bicycle. The conceit here is that Pirie is working backwards from several of the cases from the Holmes canon, most obviously "The Solitary Cyclist," but also "The Speckled Band" and "Wisteria Lodge." The idea is that Doyle later fictionalized these stories from the "real" events contained herein. It was a good move on Pirie's part not to simply offer up the "true" story of one the original Holmes mysteries or to try and tackle one of the "biggies" in the canon. There is also more romance than you find in Doyle, what with the young doctor falling for his patient.

Most importantly, Pirie is able to present Doyle and Bell as interesting substitutes for Watson and Holmes. There is no pretense of friendship between the pair; they are teacher and student. Doyle is not as much the inept foil that Watson serves in the stories (indeed, he solves several initial mysteries before getting in over his head) and Bell is arguably more charismatic than the driven Holmes. There are times when Pirie follows the Doyle model too closely and the gallery of suspects is rather overdrawn, but as the first effort in what is clearly going to be a developing series, "The Patient's Eyes" is worth the reading. The execution is not quite up to the ambitious idea, but that is a minor concern. The one caveat is that you should read over the original Sherlock Holmes stories on which this novel is based to better appreciate how Pirie is using them in this story.

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for admirers of the TV episodes!, 13 Oct 2001
By Lesley Halliday (Livingston UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Patient's Eyes: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (Murder Rooms) (Paperback)
This excellent book is written in the first person, but instead of Dr. Watson relating the adventures of Holmes we have Dr. Doyle describing his exploits with Dr. Joseph Bell. An entertaining read which does differ from the televised stories, but is a must for all fans of Victorian who-dunits. I look forward to the sequels...
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Doyle would be Proud, 1 Sep 2003
This review is from: The Patient's Eyes: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (Murder Rooms) (Paperback)
The Patient's Eyes is a brilliant mystery novel based around Conan Doyle's life and works. The television series was good, but the book is better. The author really captures the surroundings and proves that any one can be decieved or a deciever. Brilliant read if you like murder mysteries.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars The Patients Eyes
This is the weakest of the trilogy, or maybe because I read it last, the plot seems a bit stretched.
Published 4 months ago by V. Walker

3.0 out of 5 stars The Patient's Eyes
The plot is genuinely gripping and like Sherlock Holmes chilling at times. Unfortunately, the authors prose was at times awkward, the jumping from one case to another, one time... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Rich

4.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric addition to the Holmes industry
Unlike some of the other pastiches of Holmes, this doesn't so much duplicate the stories themselves as posit a (fictional) reality behind them by posing to be episodes from the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Roman Clodia

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit episodic, but a good ending
Billed as 'The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes', The Patient's Eyes actually involves Conan-Doyle and his mentor Dr Joseph Bell (who was the inspiration for Holmes. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2007 by Snapdragon

5.0 out of 5 stars The first case for Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Joseph Bell
Those who have admired the cases of Sherlock Holmes and found "The 7 Percent Solution" to be a fresh look at the first great detective of popular fiction will find a different... Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2003 by Lawrance M. Bernabo

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read
After watching the excellent dramatisation of David Pirie's 'Murder Rooms' I decided to read this book. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2001 by michael.ralph@airtours.com

3.0 out of 5 stars For avid fans only
This book is technically written quite decently, but for me if lacked the voice and comradery that was so delightful in the TV series. Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Sherlock Holmes
At last we begin delving into the real world of Sherlock Holmes. Though the little crime incidents themselves are fictional, Pirie has made a genuine effort to create characters... Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2001

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