Don't expect an easy read here. This book is for people who are genuinely interested in a specific aspect of the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which he takes up two cases to bring about some sort of justice where the defendants fail to receive it either from the police or from the courts. The first case is that of George Ernest Thompson Edalji, a 20-something young lawyer living with his parents at their Vicarage home. For years he had been the receiver of some very bizarre and often threatening letters; his family had been plagued with some very strange events as well. Edalji was arrested for a series of animal mutilations and taken away to prison for seven years. Now, if this sounds familiar, it may be because this was the case upon which Julian Barnes based his book (which was outstanding, by the way) Arthur and George. Conan Doyle got involved when out of nowhere, the Crown released Edalji for no known reason about halfway through his sentence, but would not grant him a pardon. He wrote to Sir Arthur to see if there was anything that the famous author could do to help. As the book notes, Conan Doyle's campaign to obtain pardon or Edalji took place mainly in the form of letters to various newspapers. Also, as the author notes, the newspaper was where most people got their info on the issues of the day -- our equivalent to newsradio, CNN and the internet combined.

The second case was that of probably wrongly-convicted Oscar Slater, who was accused of murdering a woman who lived barricaded in her flat with her collection of jewelry. Conan Doyle got on this case after Slater had been in prison for some time, and quite possibly saved him from being executed. In both cases, you get a good feel for the ineptness of the police of the time, the politics of the courts and the legal system, and especially in the Edalji case, you get a brief insight into the power of the press.

As I said, not an easy read; this one I think would be appropriate for those interested in true crime, or in the life and career of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Most of the story is told in AC Doyle's words; there is only minimal interference by the editor. Recommended. ( )