A couple of years ago, Brian Pugh and Paul Spiring broke new ground with On the Trail of Arthur Conan Doyle: An Illustrated Devon Tour, of which their latest book, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Devon: A Complete Tour Guide and Companion is essentially an enlarged and improved version, benefiting greatly from the participation of a distinguished Devon historian, Sadru Bhanji. We knew that Conan Doyle was briefly in practice in Plymouth with the volatile Dr George Turnavine Budd, and that he later visited Dartmoor in company with his friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson to research local colour for The Hound of the Baskervilles, but Devon can claim another man, no less important to the success of the author and his immortal character Sir George Newnes, founder and publisher of The Strand Magazine. Each mans life and career, and his contribution to the life of the county, are summarised in the first hundred pages, with well chosen illustrations. Then some 220 pages are devoted to the much expanded Devon tour. Even without the literary interest the tour would be worth undertaking, as the county is so remarkably varied and beautiful, but the chance to walk in the footsteps of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes is almost irresistible. The book s easy readability belies the awe-inspiring amount of research that has gone into it. -- Sherlock Holmes Society of London.
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