The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes

The title of this British documentary is something of a tease—after all, the man who murdered Sherlock Holmes is also the one who created him: Arthur Conan Doyle, the Scottish physician who found unlikely fame and unprecedented fortune as the inventor of fiction's most popular consulting detective. The inspiration for Holmes' distinctive personality and pronounced idiosyncrasies came from numerous early influences in Doyle's life, and the film suggests (albeit with no evidence) that the ragamuffin kids of Holmes' Baker Street Irregulars were a reflection of Doyle's childhood friends. However, the success of the Holmes canon ultimately irritated Doyle, who killed off the character in his 1891 story “The Adventure of the Final Problem.” But the author was forced to bring him back following extraordinary public demand; as a result, Doyle was primarily known for his sleuth tales rather than his forays into literary fiction. While treading lightly across the more unusual aspects of Doyle's life, particularly his passion for spiritualism, The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes is far more interested in trying to link aspects of the author's experiences to the Holmes stories. Host and narrator Richard Jones barrels his way around Edinburgh and London, while interviews with assorted Doyle experts and historical re-enactments fill in pieces of the narrative. An entertaining back story for Sherlock Holmes fans, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)