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The Resource Conan Doyle for the defense : the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer, Margalit Fox

Conan Doyle for the defense : the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer, Margalit Fox

Creator
Author
Summary
  • "In this thrilling true-crime procedural, the creator of Sherlock Holmes uses his unparalleled detective skills to exonerate a German Jew wrongly convicted of murder. For all the scores of biographies of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the most famous detective in the world, there is no American book that tells this remarkable story--in which Conan Doyle becomes a real-life detective on an actual murder case. In Conan Doyle for the Defense, Margalit Fox takes us step-by-step inside Conan Doyle's investigative process and illuminates a murder mystery that is also a morality play for our time--a story of ethnic, religious, and anti-immigrant bias. In 1908, a wealthy woman was brutally murdered in her Glasgow home. The police found a convenient suspect in Oscar Slater--an immigrant Jewish cardsharp--who, despite his innocence, was tried, convicted, and consigned to life at hard labor in a brutal Scottish prison. Conan Doyle, already world famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was outraged by this injustice and became obsessed with the case. Using the methods of his most famous character, he scoured trial transcripts, newspaper accounts, and eyewitness statements, meticulously noting myriad holes, inconsistencies, and outright fabrications by police and prosecutors. Finally, in 1927, his work won Slater's freedom. Margalit Fox, a celebrated longtime writer for The New York Times, has "a nose for interesting facts, the ability to construct a taut narrative arc, and a Dickens-level gift for concisely conveying personality" (Kathryn Schulz, New York). In Conan Doyle for the Defense, she immerses readers in the science of Edwardian crime detection and illuminates a watershed moment in the history of forensics, when reflexive prejudice began to be replaced by reason and the scientific method"--
  • "In 1908 an elderly woman was brutally murdered in her Glasgow apartment. The police found a convenient but innocent suspect in Oscar Slater--a Jewish cardsharp--who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, already the world-famous creator of Sherlock Holmes, was outraged by this injustice and became obsessed with the case. Over the years he scoured trial transcripts, newspaper accounts, and police diaries, meticulously noting myriad holes and inconsistencies. Finally, in 1927, his work won Slater's freedom. Conan Doyle for the Defense immerses readers in the science of Edwardian crime detection, telling the story of how Conan Doyle managed to get this murder conviction overturned by employing the methods of his most famous creation. Along the way, Fox illuminates a watershed moment in the history of criminal justice when reflexive prejudice began gradually to be replaced by reason and the scientific method"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
1 online resource (xxvii, 319 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates)
Contents
  • Prologue: Prisoner 2988
  • Book one: Diamonds
  • A footfall on the stair
  • The mysterious Mr. Anderson
  • The knight-errant
  • The man in the Donegal cap
  • Book two: Blood
  • Traces
  • The original Sherlock Holmes
  • The art of reasoning backward
  • A case of identity
  • Book three: Granite
  • The trap door
  • "Until he be dead"
  • The cold cruel sea
  • Arthur Conan Doyle, consulting detective
  • The strange case of George Edalji
  • Prisoner 1992
  • Book four: Paper
  • "You know my method"
  • The ruin of John Thomson Trench
  • Cannibals included
  • The purloined brooch
  • The gates of Peterhead
  • More light, more justice
  • The knight and the knave
  • What became of them
Isbn
9780399589461
Link
http://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=257&titleID=3716791
Instance
Label
Conan Doyle for the defense : the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer
Title
Conan Doyle for the defense
Title remainder
the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer
Statement of responsibility
Margalit Fox
Title variation
Conan Doyle for the defense
Title variation remainder
the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the worlds most famous detective writer
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
  • "In this thrilling true-crime procedural, the creator of Sherlock Holmes uses his unparalleled detective skills to exonerate a German Jew wrongly convicted of murder. For all the scores of biographies of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the most famous detective in the world, there is no American book that tells this remarkable story--in which Conan Doyle becomes a real-life detective on an actual murder case. In Conan Doyle for the Defense, Margalit Fox takes us step-by-step inside Conan Doyle's investigative process and illuminates a murder mystery that is also a morality play for our time--a story of ethnic, religious, and anti-immigrant bias. In 1908, a wealthy woman was brutally murdered in her Glasgow home. The police found a convenient suspect in Oscar Slater--an immigrant Jewish cardsharp--who, despite his innocence, was tried, convicted, and consigned to life at hard labor in a brutal Scottish prison. Conan Doyle, already world famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was outraged by this injustice and became obsessed with the case. Using the methods of his most famous character, he scoured trial transcripts, newspaper accounts, and eyewitness statements, meticulously noting myriad holes, inconsistencies, and outright fabrications by police and prosecutors. Finally, in 1927, his work won Slater's freedom. Margalit Fox, a celebrated longtime writer for The New York Times, has "a nose for interesting facts, the ability to construct a taut narrative arc, and a Dickens-level gift for concisely conveying personality" (Kathryn Schulz, New York). In Conan Doyle for the Defense, she immerses readers in the science of Edwardian crime detection and illuminates a watershed moment in the history of forensics, when reflexive prejudice began to be replaced by reason and the scientific method"--
  • "In 1908 an elderly woman was brutally murdered in her Glasgow apartment. The police found a convenient but innocent suspect in Oscar Slater--a Jewish cardsharp--who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, already the world-famous creator of Sherlock Holmes, was outraged by this injustice and became obsessed with the case. Over the years he scoured trial transcripts, newspaper accounts, and police diaries, meticulously noting myriad holes and inconsistencies. Finally, in 1927, his work won Slater's freedom. Conan Doyle for the Defense immerses readers in the science of Edwardian crime detection, telling the story of how Conan Doyle managed to get this murder conviction overturned by employing the methods of his most famous creation. Along the way, Fox illuminates a watershed moment in the history of criminal justice when reflexive prejudice began gradually to be replaced by reason and the scientific method"--
Summary
A true-crime procedural documents how Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became involved in the 1908 wrongful conviction case of an immigrant Jewish cardsharp whose innocence was proved by Doyle's use of reason and the scientific method
Tone
Writing style
Assigning source
  • Provided by publisher
  • Provided by publisher
Biography type
contains biographical information
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
10663577
Cataloging source
TEFOD
Dewey number
364.152/3094144
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
  • plates
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
Target audience
adult
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/titleRemainder
the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer
Label
Conan Doyle for the defense : the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer, Margalit Fox
Link
http://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=257&titleID=3716791
Instantiates
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-308) and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Contents
Prologue: Prisoner 2988 -- Book one: Diamonds -- A footfall on the stair -- The mysterious Mr. Anderson -- The knight-errant -- The man in the Donegal cap -- Book two: Blood -- Traces -- The original Sherlock Holmes -- The art of reasoning backward -- A case of identity -- Book three: Granite -- The trap door -- "Until he be dead" -- The cold cruel sea -- Arthur Conan Doyle, consulting detective -- The strange case of George Edalji -- Prisoner 1992 -- Book four: Paper -- "You know my method" -- The ruin of John Thomson Trench -- Cannibals included -- The purloined brooch -- The gates of Peterhead -- More light, more justice -- The knight and the knave -- What became of them
Control code
on1042160888
Dimensions
unknown
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
1 online resource (xxvii, 319 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates)
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780399589461
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
c
Other physical details
illustrations, maps.
Publisher number
EB00715915
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
Stock number
437CF9BD-ED96-49FB-9EEA-CBB44C9B313E
System control number
(OCoLC)1042160888
Label
Conan Doyle for the defense : the true story of a sensational British murder, a quest for justice, and the world's most famous detective writer, Margalit Fox
Link
http://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=257&titleID=3716791
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-308) and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Contents
Prologue: Prisoner 2988 -- Book one: Diamonds -- A footfall on the stair -- The mysterious Mr. Anderson -- The knight-errant -- The man in the Donegal cap -- Book two: Blood -- Traces -- The original Sherlock Holmes -- The art of reasoning backward -- A case of identity -- Book three: Granite -- The trap door -- "Until he be dead" -- The cold cruel sea -- Arthur Conan Doyle, consulting detective -- The strange case of George Edalji -- Prisoner 1992 -- Book four: Paper -- "You know my method" -- The ruin of John Thomson Trench -- Cannibals included -- The purloined brooch -- The gates of Peterhead -- More light, more justice -- The knight and the knave -- What became of them
Control code
on1042160888
Dimensions
unknown
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
1 online resource (xxvii, 319 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates)
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780399589461
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
c
Other physical details
illustrations, maps.
Publisher number
EB00715915
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
Stock number
437CF9BD-ED96-49FB-9EEA-CBB44C9B313E
System control number
(OCoLC)1042160888

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