Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle's Books and Stories

The White Company

Literature

5.0

Set during the Hundred Years War, the protagonist of The White Company is a cloister-raised young nobleman who discovers that his father's will stipulated he travelled for a year before taking his vows. Setting off on his adventures, he finds himself part of the White Company - a group of mercenary archers en route to France.The horror of fighting awaits him - but so does the promise of valour. This is a lively and action-packed account of the exploits of a crew of Saxon archers, realistic and incredibly atmospheric in its depictions of medieval life, with a satisfying and compelling combination of breathless adventure and romantic chivalry.

The Vital Message

Others

5.0

Today, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is synonymous with detective fiction, and, most notably, the indelible character of Sherlock Holmes, with the master investigator and savant who was Conan Doyle's most memorable fictional creation. However, the author was also a leading figure in the Spiritualism movement and was regarded as one of the most important mystical thinkers of his era. This volume details Holmes' belief in the possibility of communication between the spirit world and our own realm.

The Sign of the Four

Literature

5.0

First published in 1890, The Sign of Four is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's second book starring legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. The story is complex, involving a secret between four ex-cons from India and a hidden treasure. More complex than the first Holmes novel, The Sign of Four also introduces the detective's drug habit and leaves breadcrumbs for the reader that lead toward the final resolution.

The Poison Belt

Sci-fi

4.5

"Nothing could be done. The thing was universal and beyond our human knowledge or control. It was death for young and old, for weak and strong, for rich and poor, without hope or possibility of escape." Must Professor George Challenger and friends, barricaded in a room, see Earth die? As globe passes through a belt of poisonous ether, terror sweeps mankind; cities riot; communications cease. Novella.

The New Revelation

Others

5.0

'The Vital Message', first published in 1918, was Conan Doyle's second book devoted solely to his thoughts on Life after death, written after his debut book on the subject; 'The New Revelation'. "In "The Vital Message" the sun has risen higher, and one sees more clearly and broadly what our new relations with the Unseen may be." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of Britain's most celebrated writers with his invention of the ultimate detective, Sherlock Holmes, completely altering the crime-fiction genre of the late 19th century. As well as this he was a pioneering sportsman, a doctor of medicine, and champion of the underdog, helping to free two men who were unjustly imprisoned. Of most importance to the man himself, however, was his belief in life after death and the spreading of the 'vital message'. He received his degree in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1881 and by this time had already began investigating Spiritualism and had began attending séances, a fact that rebuffs the more common idea that he found Spiritualism after his son Kingsley died in 1918. In fact, by that time, not only had he studied Spiritualism for almost 30 years, he had declared the fact and spoken publicly about his beliefs. His first book on the afterlife, 'The New Revelation', was published in March 1918, some months before Kingsley's death. By now World War One was raging and peoples thoughts were on the dead and dying, and Doyle himself is quoted as saying; "I might have drifted on my whole life as a psychical researcher...but the War came, and it brought earnestness into all our souls and made us look more closely at our own beliefs and reassess our values." In 1919, Doyle wrote 'The Vital Message' where he shares his thoughts on Skepticism, Religion, Psychic Phenomena, and Jesus. Doyle saw Jesus as highest of spiritual beings and writes in 'The Vital Message' Spirits have their individuality of view, and some carry over strong earthly prepossessions which they do not easily shed; but reading many authentic spirit communications one finds that the idea of redemption is hardly ever spoken of, while that of example and influence is forever insisted upon. In them Christ is the highest spirit known, the Son of God, as we all are, but nearer to God, and therefore in a more particular sense His son.

The Lost World.

Sci-fi

5.0

The Lost World is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic tale of fantasy. Two scientists, a big game hunter and a journalist set off to the wilds of South America and the Amazon in search of prehistoric beasts. There, high atop an Amazonian plateau they find an amazing land of strange and dangerous ancient creatures. The Lost World is a classic tale of science-fiction adventure that has inspired many successive works and is considered by many fans of the genre as one of the greatest sciencefiction stories ever written.

A Study in Scarlet

Literature

5.0

'There's a scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.' From the moment Dr John Watson takes lodgings in Baker Street with the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, he becomes intimately acquainted with the bloody violence and frightening ingenuity of the criminal mind. In A Study in Scarlet , Holmes and Watson's first mystery, the pair are summoned to a south London house where they find a dead man whose contorted face is a twisted mask of horror. The body is unmarked by violence but on the wall a mysterious word has been written in blood. The police are baffled by the crime and its circumstances. But when Sherlock Holmes applies his brilliantly logical mind to the problem he uncovers a tragic tale of love and deadly revenge . . .