Review: Fox, Conan Doyle for the Defense

Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer by Margalit Fox

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was well-written and enjoyable, but I came away feeling like I hadn't gained anything in my knowledge of the Oscar Slater case. Mostly, this is because I've read Roughead, but Fox doesn't bring anything new to the table except a focus on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and even there, I didn't find much beyond a brief biography and some (mis)quoting of Holmes.

My primary takeaway from this book is that I want to read Conan Doyle's true crime writing.

Three stars? Four stars? I'll go with four, because it IS a good read. And if you don't know anything about Oscar Slater and the murder of Miss Gilchrist, it's a great distillation of the story.



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