"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Born in Edinburgh, Doyle studied medicine but when he could not make a living in that field, he began writing. He is best known for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but he also wrote historical romances and several books on Spiritualism.

In his late twenties, Doyle became interested in Spiritualism. The idea of life after death remained important to him for the rest of his life, and he spoke publicly about the validity of psychics and contact with the spirits.

Doyle was aware that his convictions sometimes left him open to ridicule, but, as his last surviving daughter, Dame Jean Conan Doyle said in an interview in 1990, his perseverence demonstrated great moral courage. Dame Doyle, who passed away in 1997, said people like her father "knew that the world would ridicule them, but they had the guts to stand by what they believed in."

The famous mystery writer was also respected for his efforts for Britain during the Boer War and World War I. Not accepted for active duty, Doyle served in the Boer War as a physician. Later, he founded the volunteer forces and the Rifle Societies, and wrote about both wars. Of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known around the world as the creator of master detective Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. Watson. The first Holmes book was A Study in Scarlet, which was sold for 25 pounds. By 1891, six Holmes novels had been published in Stand magazine, and Doyle gave up his medical practice to write full-time.

When Doyle killed off the meticulous Holmes twelve years later, the outcry was so great that he was forced to bring his hero back to the land of the living. Some fans actually believed that Holmes was real instead of fictional, and sent letters and packages to him at Doyle's address! The much-loved detective was famous for his deductive reasoning, which Doyle modeled after a real-life professor he had worked with in university. The Literature of Crime and Detection says that it was Holmes personality "with his keen sense of observation, his lean face and hooked nose, his long legs, his deerstalker hat, his magnifying glass, and his ever-present pipe " that captured readers' hearts."

Interestingly, the well-known expression, "Elementary, my dear Watson" never appears in Doyle's stories. It probably came from one of the Sherlock Holmes movies.

Sherlock Holmes fans remain enthusiastic, and there are a number of active websites devoted to him. The Sherlockian Homepage is a good place to start.