The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle: A Journey Into Madness & Mayhem

by Daniel Friedman MD, Eugene Friedman MD

London. 1910. A procession of smartly attired gentlemen and ladies is clearly out of place among the vendors and urchins of the Whitechapel district. As the group makes its way through the crowded streets, the tour guide stops now and then to point out the various places where mutilated bodies of women were once found. Although the murders occurred twenty-two years prior, the man leading the group seems to know every element of each slaying. Of those things he does not know, he offers freely his own insightful ... Read More

London. 1910. A procession of smartly attired gentlemen and ladies is clearly out of place among the vendors and urchins of the Whitechapel district. As the group makes its way through the crowded streets, the tour guide stops now and then to point out the various places where mutilated bodies of women were once found. Although the murders occurred twenty-two years prior, the man leading the group seems to know every element of each slaying. Of those things he does not know, he offers freely his own insightful conjecture. This is, however, no average tour of brutal acts. It is a close look at the trail of blood left by the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. And the man leading the group is none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--creator of Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective. In The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle, we gain fascinating and shocking insights into the minds of the famous author and the infamous murderer. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a member of an actual tour group that visited the sites of the Whitechapel murders in 1905. While this book does not contain a description of that tour, authors Daniel Friedman, MD, and Eugene Friedman, MD, have meticulously pieced together Doyle's own words to create a riveting account of his publicly stated opinions on these horrific murders. As Doyle takes this book's fictionalized collection of characters on his tour, the reader learns about the victims and the way in which each was killed. The authors have also included new pieces of evidence that help us understand better the murderer known as Jack the Ripper. Interspersed throughout the tour is the Friedmans' unique and well-researched account of the life of young Arthur Conan Doyle. The authors have uncovered facts overlooked by most, if not all, previous Doyle biographers. Doyle was able to reinvent himself so fully through his writings that few are aware of the more disquieting elements that have been cut out of his own life story. What these two authors have found in their investigation of Jack the Ripper and Sir Arthur will no doubt spark passion and debate among Sherlockians for years to come. The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle proves once again that truth--elementary as it may be--is always stranger than fiction. Read Less