Slaying Holmes: Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, and Charles Foley

There was a period in my life when I was reading so many mystery novels and was so deeply immersed in the lives of fictional gumshoes that I toyed with the idea of opening my own detective agency.  Such are the dreams and ambitions of 14-year-old boys.

My private eye education began with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and, when I was in sixth grade, progressed to Agatha Christie.  But it wasn't until I discovered Sherlock Holmes that I truly fell in love with the genre*.

Today marks th...