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Early on the misty morning
of 10 August 1893 three men went out hunting on the Ardlamont
Estate in Argyllshire, Scotland. Only two of them came back,
and one of them promptly disappeared. By December this incident
would become a case that would enthral and mystify the Victorian
public, not least because of its connection to Sherlock Holmes…
The game is afoot in this highly readable account of a true
cause celebre, not for Sherlock Holmes but for the two men
who inspired him. Conan Doyle had had the pioneering Dr Joseph
Bell as his tutor twenty years earlier and revealed that he
was the inspiration behind his famous creation. This book
shows that there was another person behind Holmes as well,
because Bell worked with forensic expert Dr Henry Littlejohn
on many criminal cases including this, their most famous one.
For sensation-loving Victorians it has everything: an aristocratic
victim and possible murderer, a missing third man plus plenty
of shenanigans involving life insurance, con tricks, a possible
earlier murder attempt and of course the inspiration behind
Sherlock Holmes. The story behind it all reveals possible
murderer Alfred Monson as a con artist involved with many
other dodgy people and tells of his numerous financial scams.
Add in the spendthrift family of the victim and you have a
good story which has the added bonus of actually being true.
Mr Smith brings it all to life and although it is not a novel
it reads rather like one. It is also the tale of the origins
of forensics and shows how Bell and Littlejohn pioneered techniques
that would become standard practice. Anybody interested in
true crime, Sherlock Holmes or the period will enjoy this
fascinating case.
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