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Sherlock Holmes: The Biography
 
 
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Sherlock Holmes: The Biography (Hardcover)

by Nick Rennison (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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6 new from £3.81 13 used from £0.50
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Paperback (New edition) £8.99 £6.99 21 used & new from £0.45

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Atlantic Books (10 Nov 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1843542749
  • ISBN-13: 978-1843542742
  • Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 13.8 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 400,660 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

The Times, 20 May 2006
Ingenious, charming, informative and full of delight. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Observer, 21 May 2006
An exemplary study of the secret history of Victorian England and of its most captivating citizen. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing & interesting look at the Great Detective!, 10 Jan 2006
By Mr. Daniel Winfield "daniel_winfield" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I received this book for Christmas (thanks Amazon Wishlist) and finished it a couple of days ago.

This is a refreshing slant on the Sherlock Holmes legend. Rather than writing yet another novel on the subject, the author Nick Rennison has taken everything we know of Sherlock Holmes from the established canon and added and embellished on real-life facts to create a fantastic and fascinating biography of Arthur Conan-Doyle’s most well known character.

Dare I say but the original SH stories always seemed to me to be little shallow in depth and character – unlike some of ACD’s less well known but in my opinion far superior works – but here Mr Rennison has added some real flesh to the bones and does a good job of explaining why Dr Watson’s narratives are often so vague and do not deal with any ‘real-life’ incidents from the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras.

Real events are touched on many times in this book including Holmes investigation of the Whitechapel murders, the Irish Nationalist cause (a brilliant idea in linking Professor Moriarty to this) and the Crippen case to name just a very few.
Holmes whereabouts during the period after his apparent death and later resurrection is also dealt with in some detail.

My one gripe would be that the book seems to end rather abruptly upon the eventual death of Sherlock Holmes, which is dealt with rather casually and downplayed given the rest of the depth and detail the author goes to in the book. This is only a very minor thing however and has certainly not stopped me giving this five stars *****

Definitely recommended!

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The games a foot, 1 Nov 2006
By R. Lowther - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography (Paperback)
This is an interesting concept and you will either love it or hate, depending on your knowledge and interest in Sherlock Holmes.

Nick Rennison works on the premise that Sherlock Holmes was real (and a Yorkshireman to boot!) and creates a birth to death history for him, weaving it around the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle canon and real life people and events.

On the whole it works well, although you need to have knowledge of the canon and history of Victorian England to get the most of the read, otherwise you will miss the point of the tale.

Occassionally I found myself thinking that Rennison had overplayed the links with real people and this is my only real criticism of the book.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing & interesting look at the Great Detective!, 4 Jan 2006
By Mr. Daniel Winfield "daniel_winfield" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a refreshing slant on the Sherlock Holmes legend. Rather than writing yet another novel on the subject, the author Nick Rennison has taken everything we know of Sherlock Holmes from the established canon and added and embellished on real-life facts to create a fantastic and fascinating biography of Arthur Conan-Doyle’s most well known character.

Dare I say but the original SH stories always seemed to me to be little shallow in depth and character – unlike some of ACD’s less well known but in my opinion far superior works – but here Mr Rennison has added some real flesh to the bones and does a good job of explaining why Dr Watson’s narratives are often so vague and do not deal with any ‘real-life’ incidents from the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras.

Real events are touched on many times in this book including Holmes investigation of the Whitechapel murders, the Irish Nationalist cause (a brilliant idea in linking Professor Moriarty to this) and the Crippen case to name just a very few.
Holmes whereabouts during the period after his apparent death and later resurrection is also dealt with in some detail.

My one gripe would be that the book seems to end rather abruptly upon the eventual death of Sherlock Holmes, which is dealt with rather casually and downplayed given the rest of the depth and detail the author goes to in the book. This is only a very minor thing however and has certainly not stopped me giving this five stars *****

Definitely recommended!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Fact or just a bundle of lies?
This book is quite interesting; however I questioned the biographer's source(s) for the facts included. Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. Taylor

2.0 out of 5 stars crushingly dull
Subject matter = interesting, research = pretty good, invented stuff = plausible, writing style = dull dull dull and utterly humourless. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Maurice Dockrell

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