1. Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A brief introduction to the author, works, and our readings.

2. Terms and Concepts to Know
Victorian Period – The period of British literature in the late nineteenth century ( – i.e. the reign of Queen Victoria). Often times, Victorian literature focuses on the poor living conditions of the earlier half or the optimism in science and human endeavor of the second half.
Induction – A process of reasoning that works from the specific to the general (observations, pattern, tentative hypothesis, theory).
Deduction – A process of reasoning that works from the general to the specific (theory, hypothesis, observation, confirmation).
Inference – the process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.
Premise - A proposition supporting or helping to support a conclusion.
Genre – A type or category of literature or film marked by certain shared features or conventions.
Mystery / Crime Fiction – Focuses on suspense and solving a mystery – especially a murder, theft, kidnapping, or some other crime. The protagonist faces inexplicable events, threats, assaults, and unknown forces or antagonists. Conventionally, the hoer is a keenly observant individual and the police are depicted as incompetent or incapable of solving the crime by themselves.
Famous mystery authors: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes); Edgar Allan Poe (Murders of the Rue Morgue); Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express); and Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep).
It is unlikely that an exhaustive list of notable mystery authors could ever be produced, however, as the genre has exploded over the years and remains ever popular / prevalent in novels, movies, TV-shows, and video games to this day.

3. Our Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Born on May 22nd, 1859 to Charles and Mary Doyle, in 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. Their families were of Irish and Scottish descent, a mixture of Catholic and Protestant.
His childhood consisted of shifting from one apartment to another in lower-class areas, as the Doyles had many children and a low income.
His father aspired to be an architect, but spent most of his time with office work supervising others’ projects and doing art work on the side to help make ends meet. He slowly spiraled into depression, drinking, and became a very distant father figure, leaving much of the child-raising and house-keeping to Arthur’s mother, Mary.
Her interests in literature, legends, and history helped shape much of Arthur’s interests.
In 1868, he left for boarding school, Stonyhurst, with the Jesuit priests. Doyle did not enjoy the harsh conditions of the school, and his time there shifted his interests away from Catholicism. However, he continued to enrich his interest in literature and writing. Furthermore, he started to take an interest in science.
In 1874, he came to visit some relatives in London and became fascinated by the city.
After school, he studied in Austria for a year at another Jesuit institution, Feldkirch, in 1875, until he was old enough for the university. Conditions in Feldkirch were much better / more enjoyable than Stonyhurst. While at Feldkirch, Doyle took an interest in the writings of Edgar Allan Poe (author of one of the earliest detective stories – “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”
Afterward, Doyle came back to Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh ( ).
Though Doyle practiced medicine, he also spent a great deal of time writing, modeling his major character, Sherlock Holmes, after one of his university professors, Joseph Bell, including the character’s emphasis on deduction, inference, and observation.
Doyle outlived two wives, had children, but no grandchildren.
Doyle died on July 11th, 1930, in Crowborough, England, of a heart attack. He was 71 years old.

4. The Works A Study in Scarlet – 1886 The Sign of Four – 1890
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes – Two collections of short stories spanning much of his career.
During his short story phase, Doyle attempted to abandon the character altogether, but was encouraged by his mother, and fans willing to pay higher and higher prices for his books, to continue the character.
The Hound of the Baskervilles – 1901
The last Holmes story was published in 1927.