According to Doyle

I have just finished reading Michael Dirda's excellent little book called "On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling," an appreciation of the multi-talented author who created Sherlock Holmes and, as Dirda reminds us, a great many other stellar and entertaining fictional characters.

Dirda is a Sherlockian, to be sure, but much of the book is spent talking about Doyle's other creations: supernatural stories, tales of Professor Challenger, stories of pirates and soldiers, largely (and, Dirda argues, unjustly) forgotten novels. Many of these are still available - even your local library may well have them on its shelves.

Dirda does spend much of his time, however, on the Holmes stories and related matters. Among the most entertaining chapters are those dealing with Dirda's welcome into the Baker Street Irregulars, the international society for Sherlockians. He writes with a quiet wit and a fine sense of humor - and also with an appreciation for that thrilling sensation of "the game's afoot," those Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stories that remain today, as they have remained for more than a century, thoroughly exciting, well-crafted tales of mystery:

"Does anyone ever forget the insidious threat found in five orange pips, or the dog that did nothing in the night-time, or the cipher of 'the dancing men,' or the hideous death influcted by 'the devil's foot'? Who doesn't shiver at the mere mention of 'the band, the speckled band!' or shudder at the memory of the insidious Professor Moriarty, or yearn to know more of Mycroft Holmes, who sometimes 'is the British government'?"

Indeed. This and so much more awaits you in Michael Dirda's "On Conan Doyle." It's a fairly short book and a quick and entertaining read.