Sleuth-Hound

Lindsey Fitzharris is an electrifying storyteller whose gift for weaving science and history into an impeccably researched narrative is second to none. In Sleuth-Hound, she brings the extraordinary world of Joseph Bell—the brilliant physician who inspired Sherlock Holmes—vividly to life with all the pace of a detective story and the authority of a master historian – Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five
A stunning, magnificent achievement. The outcome of incredible archival research and sensational detective work, this gripping book is a dazzling revelation, which absolutely transforms our understanding of medical history. You are on the streets of Edinburgh, right there with Conan Doyle and Bell as they explore the world of science. As gripping as a thriller, with cinematic vision and diamond brilliance, this book is a spectacular triumph. Lindsey Fitzharris is one of our greatest living historians – Kate Williams, author of Regina
A delicious foray into the compelling—and grisly—world of 19th-century forensics, as Fitzharris unmasks the ‘real’ Sherlock Holmes. Convincing and delightful – Erik Larson, author of The Demon of Unrest
Lindsey Fitzharris: most entertaining writer in the history of the history of medicine! In her latest exploration of the field’s quixotic heroes, we meet physician Joseph Bell, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes and a pioneer in the nascent field of medical jurisprudence, aka criminal forensics. In just the right amount of delightfully lurid detail, Fitzharris brings to life the first murder cases wherein science took a seat in the courtroom. Fascinating and fabulous – Mary Roach, author of Replaceable You and Stiff
Bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris turns a Sherlockian magnifying glass on [Joseph] Bell in Sleuth-Hound, tracing the life and career of a medical pioneer whose accomplishments have been overshadowed by the fictional hero he inspired… Fitzharris vividly recreates Victorian era Edinburgh, with its grand edifices, fetid slums and grisly crimes… As Fitzharris makes clear in this masterful account, a formidable real-life sleuth was amassing evidence and fighting for justice before his fictional counterpart stole the spotlight – Dean Jobb * The Scotsman *
As spellbinding as any work of fiction * Booklist *
A highly entertaining addition to Sherlockiana – Pat Carty * Irish Independent *
Fitzharris… revisits this familiar story and sets it in the context of the era’s rapidly developing forensic science * The Times *
Atmospheric and wide-reaching … an account of the remarkable doctors and scientists who together created what we know today as forensics … [Fitzharris] recounts cases of gaslight and grisly murder, vividly depicting the biting cold of Scottish streets and the searing heat of courtroom drama – Brandy Shillace * Wall Street Journal *
[A] fascinating tale of medicine and murder … [and] a vivid, sometimes grisly, sometimes enraging portrait of 19th-century British society … The real-life model for Sherlock Holmes [is] the solid moral center of this probing and excellent book – Deborah Blum * New York Times *

Lindsey Fitzharris is a New York Times bestselling author and medical historian who brings the grisly, surprising, and deeply human history of medicine to life. She is the author of The Butchering Art—winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing and shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize and the Wolfson History Prize—and The Facemaker. She holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford and appears regularly on CNN, BBC, C-SPAN, and NPR.

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