Doings of Doyle - The Arthur Conan Doyle Podcast

Welcome to Episode 79. This time, we are delighted to welcome to the podcast, Dr Lindsey Fitzharris to talk about new book Sleuth-Hound, a whirlwind tour of Victorian forensics from the perspective of the medical detective, Joseph Bell, whose methods and razor-sharp logic inspired the creation of Baker Street’s most famous resident, Sherlock Holmes.  Sleuth-Hound (Allen Lane, 2026)   Edinburgh, 1878. A medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle squeezes into the Royal Infirmary’s packed operating theatre, hoping to catch a glimpse of the celebrated professor whose uncanny powers of observation blur the line between diagnosis and detective work. That professor was Joseph Bell, who became one of the most celebrated surgeons and medical reformers of his age. With a flair for the theatrical and an eye for clues hidden in the tiniest details, he astonished his students with lightning-fast deductions about his patients’ backgrounds and ailments. Together with Edinburgh’s chief police surgeon, Henry Duncan Littlejohn, Bell also investigated some of the highest-profile murders of the century, including those of Jack the Ripper, and collaborated with forensic specialists such as a ballistics expert named Dr. Watson. And as Conan Doyle’s mentor, Bell inspired the creation of literature’s most iconic sleuth: Sherlock Holmes. International bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris guides us through the smog-choked alleys and crowded slums of Victorian Edinburgh to tell the compelling, untold story of the birth of modern forensic science through the life of its most charismatic figure.  [From the publisher: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453146/sleuth-hound-by-fitzharris-lindsey/9780241632611] Acknowledgements  Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  YouTube video created by @headlinerapp. 

  Hello and welcome to episode 78. This month we start our multi-part discussion of one Conan Doyle’s most important works, his historical romance Micah Clarke, first published in 1889. You can read the story here. The show notes will be available at https://bit.ly/DOD78sn (for all show notes, just replace ‘78’ with the episode number in question). The episode will shortly be posted to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle. Please like and subscribe. Synopsis Following the accession of Charles II in 1660, England has been at peace for a quarter of a century, but with Charles’s death, and the succession of his brother as James II, the storm clouds are gathering once more. In a sign of the times, a strange messenger, the mercenary soldier Decimus Saxon, arrives at the Hampshire home of former Cromwellian trooper Joseph Clarke, calling for his help in the Protestant Duke of Monmouth’s planned uprising against the Catholic King James. Joseph is too old for such a venture, so instead he volunteers the services of his son Micah… Next time on Doings of Doyle… We interrupt our discussion of Micah Clarke to bring you an interview with Lindsey Fitzharris, author of Sleuth-Hound, about Joseph Bell and the Edinburgh circle that inspired Sherlock Holmes. Acknowledgements Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.  

This episode, we bring you two gems of a sort: Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes play The Crown Diamond and its short story equivalent ‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’ (both 1921). You can read the play here and the story here. The show notes will be available at https://bit.ly/DOD77sn (for all show notes, just replace ‘77’ with the episode number in question). The episode will shortly be posted to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle. Please like and subscribe. Synopsis of the short story Following his departure from Baker Street, Dr Watson, although busy with his medical practice, decides to call upon his old friend, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes’s page, Billy, informs the doctor that the over-worked detective is actually asleep in his room, although curiously there is a life-size wax dummy of his old friend positioned by the sitting room window. In the midst of this odd scenario, Holmes appears to explain that he is investigating a baffling and perilous case involving the disappearance of one of the crown jewels, the famed Mazarin stone. At this point, Holmes’s principal suspect, Count Negretto Silvius, calls at Baker Street and Watson is hastily dispatched to fetch Inspector Youghal from Scotland Yard. In the meantime, Holmes proposes to detain the elegant and dangerous jewel thief himself… Next time on Doings of Doyle… We begin our exploration of Conan Doyle’s breakthrough novel, Micah Clarke. Acknowledgements Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.

Welcome to Episode 76. We are interrupting our scheduled programme as we have an excellent opportunity to speak with two guests we have wanted on the podcast for a very long time, the creator and curator of the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia, Alexis Barquin, and recent recruit to the Encyclopaedia, Mark Chadderton. About the Encyclopaedia  The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia is an online repository of all works written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (fictions, essays, articles, poems, plays, lectures, letters, manuscripts...),but also all materials related to his life (newspaper articles, interviews, photos, movies...). The site is dedicated to promote the life and works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and to gather any materials related to the author. Visit the site: www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.  Alexis Barquin Alexis is the creator and curator of The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, the world's most comprehensive online resource dedicated to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He lives in Paris, where he works as a web director for a market research company. He’s been a Sherlockian and Doylean for forty years, and was one of the co-founders of the Sherlock Holmes Society of France in 1993. Mark Chadderton  Mark has recently joined Alexis to help develop the Encyclopedia. He lives in Swanage, in Dorset, where he works for his local independent funeral directors, having previously been a civil servant. He writes for a national music magazine, runs three independent record labels and a book publisher, and is webmaster to a huge music archive website.  Supporting the Encyclopaedia You can donate to the Encyclopaedia here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/Support_Us. Donations above £12 receive access to the Search Fictions tool, which allows you to search the full text of 213 short stories, 24 novels and 16 plays, and a very fetching Arthur Conan Doyle lapel pin (black enamel cloisonné gold-colour, 0.75 inch / 1.9 cm). Follow the Encyclopaedia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheArthurConanDoyleEncyclopedia  Contribute a document, link or image (minimum 300 dpi please) by emailing [email protected]  Next time on Doings of Doyle… We return to Sherlock Holmes with the stage play ‘The Crown Diamond’ and its short-story alter-ego ‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’. Acknowledgements Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.

Hello and welcome to episode 75. This time, we discuss one of Conan Doyle’s most important and influential early stories, ‘J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement’, which appeared in the Cornhill in January 1884. You can read the story here. The show notes will be available at https://bit.ly/DOD75sn (for all show notes, just replace ‘75’ with the episode number in question). The episode will shortly be posted to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle. Please like and subscribe. Synopsis There have been many theories forwarded regarding the fate of the brig Marie Celeste, found drifting derelict in December 1873. But one man, Dr. J. Habakuk Jephson, knows the truth because he is the only known surviving passenger. Following service with the Union forces in the American Civil War during which he was badly wounded, Jephson settled down to regular medical practice in Brooklyn. But years of overwork, weak lungs, and the lingering effects of his war wound leave his own doctor to suggest recuperation via a long sea voyage. Unfortunately, the chosen vessel is Marie Celeste, whose passenger list is expanded by the last minute addition of the apparently wealthy Septimius Goring, a man of mysterious and sinister aspect and antecedents. At first, all goes well, until the captain’s wife and child are tragically lost overboard mid-Atlantic, following which the ship appears to be cursed…    Warning The story contains racist language and depictions, which we discuss. If this is likely to offend, you may want to skip this episode. Next time on Doings of Doyle… We return to Sherlock Holmes with the stage play ‘The Crown Diamond’ and its short-story alter-ego ‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’. Acknowledgements Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.