Real Life Sherlock

40. Arthur and George

This is another in the new trend of historical novels that are well researched but read more like fiction, and this had many of the same issues that I have found in the others.  The research is great but the endgame is lacking.

It follows the true story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's crusade to clear the name of George Edjali who served three years in prison for the mutilation of a pony. After the death of Arthur's wife he came across a letter and clippings sent to him from Edjali chronicling the crime and asking for his help in clearing his name so that he could go back to work as a solicitor.  Doyle seems to take on the characteristics of his own Holmes to "solve" the crime. 

I was not familiar with the case so all of that information was very interesting to read but the truth is if you are looking for it to all come together in a sort of tidy conclusion, this isn't the story for you.  I also felt that the story took too long to really get to the meat of things; this is an issue I tend to have with a of these books.  Sometimes the research gets in the way of the story.  I also felt that the characters lacked a bit of depth.