by Adrian Conan Doyle
and John Dickson Carr
Adrian Conan Doyle, the youngest son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his literary executor, worked on the stories in this book using the very desk on which his father wrote.
John Dickson Carr was one of America’s most celebrated mystery writers, the author of forty-six novels (including The Three Coffins and Till Death Do Us Part) — and of twenty-four more under the pen name of Carter Dickson.
ALWAYS HOLMES
By Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr
THE ADVENTURE OF THE SEVEN CLOCKS
THE ADVENTURE OF THE GOLD HUNTER
THE ADVENTURE OF THE WAX GAMBLERS
THE ADVENTURE OF THE HIGHGATE MIRACLE
THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLACK BARONET
THE ADVENTURE OF THE SEALED ROOM
By Adrian Conan Doyle
THE ADVENTURE OF FOULKES RATH
THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBAS RUBY
THE ADVENTURE OF THE DARK ANGELS
THE ADVENTURE OF THE TWO WOMEN
THE ADVENTURE OF THE DEPTFORD HORROR
THE ADVENTURE OF THE RED WIDOW
ALWAYS HOLMES
It is fairly certain that no reader of the Strand Magazine in 1887 could have guessed that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, then making their debut in that British magazine, would soon become the world's most famous characters of fiction. It is, however, quite certain that their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had no inkling of it at that time nor many years later when he decided to do away with Holmes by having him pushed off a cliff at the Reichenbach Falls. This incident created such repercussions that public clamor forced Conan Doyle to bring his hero right back to life and to the familiar surroundings of his lodgings at 221 B Baker Street.
In view of Holmes's immense popularity it is not surprising that in the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions his name has not only become a household word, but also that of a man thought to have lived. Actually, the invention of Holmes is much less an invention than some people think. The chivalry of Holmes, his penetrating mind, his erudition, his physical feats and his entire character are really and truly those of the genius who created him. Sir Arthur in real life, as Holmes in fiction, came to the rescue of people convicted for crimes they did not commit and he used the very logic and deductive reasoning that enabled Holmes to solve the problems of his clients. Sir Arthur, like Holmes, was a man of unusual physical strength who would undoubtedly have been a great boxer had he pursued that endeavor rather than being first a doctor, then a writer.
Even Holmes's background, to a certain extent, parallels that of the man who created him.
Though his ancestors were of the Irish landed gentry, Sir Arthur's grandmother, like Holmes's was of French extraction. His grandfather, John Doyle, was the most brilliant political cartoonist of the early 1800's. His uncle Richard ('Dicky') Doyle drew the cover for Punch which is still used. His uncle Henry Doyle was the director of the National Gallery of Ireland. His uncle James the compiler of The Chronicle of England. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his immediate forbears are the only family in Great Britain to have given in the space of three generations five separate members to the record of achievement, The National Biography.
And yet, despite his distinguished ancestry, despite his celebrated historical novels, and despite his glorious Boer War record, Conan Doyle is best known to the world for having created Sherlock Holmes.
Since 1887, books of Sherlock Holmes have been translated into every known language and have never been out of print. Holmes has been the hero of fifteen different legitimate stage plays, more than one thousand radio dramatizations, and he is now making his television debut in America, having already appeared on television in England.
Some of the investigative methods created for Holmes by Sir Arthur were shortly thereafter adopted by Scotland Yard, the French Surete and police forces of many other nations. Holmes has even become the cult of many societies and the object of many imitations all of which have failed to catch the spirit of the man about whom Somerset Maugham says, in his recent book, The Vagrant Mood: 'No detective stories have had the popularity of Conan Doyle's and because of the invention of Sherlock Holmes I think it may be admitted that none has so well deserved it.'
It is fortunate for the millions of Holmes's admirers that this new series of stories, The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, comes from the pen of Sir Arthur's youngest son, Adrian Conan Doyle, in collaboration with John Dickson Carr, who is the author of the widely acclaimed Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and has also written many of probably the best contemporary mystery novels. Adrian Conan Doyle, the author of Heaven Has Claws, a personal-
