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The London of Sherlock Holmes uses the London locations frequented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the places Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson visited during their adventures to take the reader on a fascinating journey through a romantic yet sinister Victorian London at the height of its imperial greatness. Over 200 locations are arranged into a series of ten guided walks, making The London of Sherlock Holmes a fresh and exciting premise which taps into Sherlock Holmes’ unusual status as a historical tourist attraction.
The London of Sherlock Holmes was written at the suggestion of the Sherlock Holmes Museum who had been often been asked by visitors if such a book was in existence. The museum is the first port of call for an incredible 100,000 Sherlock Holmes fans each year (their website, which sells Holmes memorabilia, receives over 300,000 hits each year).
The London of Sherlock Holmes could be used by readers in a number of ways, and as such has broad commercial appeal. Readers could use it as a practical tourist guide, providing insights and structure to a sightseeing walk around London. For example, while visiting St Paul’s why not pop along to Pope’s Court, home of The Red-Headed League and then cross the road to the Inner Temple to see the workplace of the husband of ‘the woman’ Irene Adler (A Scandal in Bohemia). And while at the British Museum why not cross the road to the Museum Tavern where Holmes enquired after the geese in The Blue Carbuncle or see both Holmes’s and Conan Doyle’s first London residences in Montagu Street and Montagu Place respectively?
The London of Sherlock Holmes also acts as a useful and unique supplement to the stories, providing detailed information about each location, as well as the sources of the stories and in-depth information about the characters and Conan Doyle. For example, readers will learn about Bartitsu, a real Victorian martial art, of which Conan Doyle made Sherlock Holmes a master; how Conan Doyle developed the science of geoforensics to establish a man's innocence; and how Sherlock Holmes inspired a future Nobel laureate. It is also a fascinating and refreshingly different biography, packed full of genuinely new information (it draws on a recently-released archive of hundreds of items of personal memorabilia), and answers questions that have vexed Holmesian scholars for decades.
The London of Sherlock Holmes brings the adventures of the world’s favourite detective and his creator well and truly to life. It is the perfect souvenir for any Holmes fan.
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