The Adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “As a rule, the more bizarre a thing the less mysterious it proves to be…” –from The Red-Headed League (Doyle, “The Adventures of…” 26).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scottish doctor, author, and poet. He is most remembered for his stories involving the world famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Although his fictional crime stories revolutionized the detective genre, he also wrote a great deal about spiritualism.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was an intelligent child who wrote his first novel at age six. Though initially educated at home, his wealthy uncles soon realized his potential and enrolled him at a Jesuit Preparatory School (Carr 5). Soon after he graduated to Stonyhurst College he began writing long letters home to his mother and adventure stories that he would read aloud to his classmates. They ended up serving as models for Conan Doyle's most famous characters, in particular two brothers named Moriarty and Sherlock (Person 10). After attending Stonyhurst, he entered Edinburgh University as a medical student in 1876 where he received his medical degree in 1882. In his spare time, however, he began to write stories published anonymously in various magazines (Person 11). In 1885, he married Louise Hawkins and moved to London, where he began his small practice in ophthalmology (Carr 10). His practice, however, remained small since patients were slow in coming. So, Conan Doyle wrote to pass the time. After a few of his short stories were published in famous magazines, he began to seriously devote himself to writing (Carr 12). During this time Conan Doyle created his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes.
The detective was first introduced in the 1887 novel, A Study in Scarlet. It was not popular right away, but gained tremendous popularity after Conan Doyle began publishing short stories featuring Holmes in various