On Conan Doyle

by Michael Dirda

This delightful book explores nothing less than the delights of adventurous reading. Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, and the great detective is central here, but Dirda also explores the delights of The Lost World, The White Company, the stories of Brigadier Gerard, and lots more. Dirda chronicles the delightfully daring deeds of the Baker Street Irregulars with the same glee and detachment he accords Dickens and Zola; he is uniquely a critic without a trace of snobbery, one who weighs each writer’s merit without regard to genre or high purpose or reputation.