Tuesday 7th February at 6.30pm

Arthur Conan Doyle: Consulting Detective

A talk by Jennifer Palmer

As Julian Barnes showed in his novel Arthur and George Conan Doyle did investigate the real life case of George Edalji, the solicitor found guilty of injuring horses at night. There are other examples of detection by the creator of the greatest fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Could Doyle apply the principles of detection propounded by Holmes? In reality the neat solution is hard to obtain.

Conan Doyle's work as a doctor had involved him in deducing the patient's illness from the clues he was given. As the fame of Sherlock Holmes increased Doyle was asked by anxious relatives or interested newspaper men to look at real crimes and to indicate a direction for the investigation to follow. He was a member of the Crimes Club where eminent gentlemen would expound on contemporary or historical crimes for their fellow members to debate. Doyle had an interest in the paranormal, indeed Spiritualism dominated much of his thinking from 1916 onwards.

Throughout Doyle's life there are occasions when he considered the solutions to real life crimes, past and contemporary.

Dr. Jennifer Palmer, historian and crime fiction aficionado, will give an illustrated lecture to consider the work of Arthur Conan Doyle in the area of real life crime and to see whether he used the principles of rational investigation promoted by Sherlock Homes. 

Talk (with wine and nibbles) £7.00 each.