This wasn't as engaging as I had expected it to be, but I still enjoyed it. I don't usually read non fiction books so that may have contributed to it.

A true crime drama, and investigation that drags on for years, the author teases out the relationship between Conan Doyle and Slater, the accused. It's a fascinating insight into Victorian England and highlights the strong class divisions at the time.
To be honest, at times the narrative seemed a bit tedious and the story slowed down. But I suppose it's a bit like archeology; at times it seems like there's no progress, and then something is uncovered. The story is interesting and I was attracted to the book because I'm a big mystery fan and have read the Sherlock Holmes collection. It was insightful to read of the way investigations took place at the time of Conan Doyle and his role in the investigation. I think this book would interest sociologists/ anthropologists as well as fans of Sherlock Holmes. Just don't expect that it will read like a traditional murder mystery; it is historical, after all. I would rate the book 4 out of 5.

This is a great novel about a brilliant detective working with everything he has and against all that can go wrong. Great writing style, great story.

I enjoyed this, though it was not love. I'd never heard about this real life case, and it's an interesting story that notes the classicism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia present in England at the time (vestiges of which remain today). We get good biographical notes about both Conan Doyle and Oscar Slater, the man falsely accused of murder, as well as historical context for attitudes at the time. Definitely worth a read if you're into Conan Doyle/Sherlock, and enjoyable enough for a person interested in true crime tales and investigative reports.

Review of an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

Netflix's "Making of Murderer" has sparked the country's interest in wrong convictions and biased police work, which makes this book a timely release. In fact, if Netflix was around back then, I imagine they would be chomping at the bit to film a documentary series about this complete miscarriage of justice that drew the attention of none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself.

The murder case and wrongful conviction themselves are so ludicrous that if it were written as a fiction story, no one would believe it.

While I did enjoy the book I only give it 3 stars because at times it does drag a little.

VERDICT: A must read for all Sherlock Holmes’ fan. A well researched piece of literary critique.

This brilliant nonfiction reads like a thriller, both because of its topic and because of the writer’s skill at structuring her story.
Conan Doyle for the Defense is about what was supposedly “one of the most notorious murders of its age”, a bit like a “Scottish Dreyfus affair”.

A case all too common: a rich old woman was robbed and killed in Glasgow, and for various reasons explained in the book, the police targeted Oscar Slater, a German Jewish gambler, even though they soon had evidence he could not have done it.
“An innocent man was pursued, tried, convicted, and nearly hanged”, a “supreme example of official incompetence and obstinacy”, of “judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.” A “disgraceful frame-up, in which stupidity and dishonesty played an equal part.” Nothing new under the sun…

Oscar would have been put to death and quickly forgotten, if it had not been for his defender: Arthur Conan Doyle.
After some unsuccessful efforts, he later on went back to the case, and working from documents, he relentlessly spent the last two decades of his life on it, until Oscar was finally freed, after more than 18 years of hard labor at the “Scotland’s gulag”: His Majesty’s Prison Peterhead. I didn’t know anything about this prison, and the passages on it were fascinating.

Conan Doyle is presented like “a crusader— repeatedly beseeched by members of the public to solve real-life mysteries”. And he did manage “successful feats of amateur detection on more than one occasion.” In his life of true-crime investigator, the Slater case is definitely the most extraordinary.
The author shows how he actually used Sherlock Holmes’ method of detection to resolve the mystery around this actual murder.

And the way Slater managed to send a plea for help to Conan Doyle in 1925 is worthy of a great thriller – in fact, there was something similar in the French thriller Crossing the Line. I wonder if Frédérique Molay got her idea from this fact.

I enjoyed how the chapters were structured, showing the various facets of the story like different clues in a murder investigation.

The book can be read at a deeper level both as a wonderful sociological analysis of the period and a great example of literary critique, at the crossroad between facts and literature, especially about the role of detective novel in the Victorian and post-Victorian eras.
There are presentations of other essential detective novels, and a chapter on Joseph Bell, “The Original Sherlock Holmes.”

The book contains a glossary and many references and notes.

I'd known a bit about Conan Doyle's interests in the paranormal but nothing about his part in trying to rectify wrongs done by the criminal justice system. His part in helping Oscar Slater gain release from hard labor, after being falsely convicted of the murder of a wealthy Glasgow woman, was very interesting and expertly woven into the back story of the origins of his greatest creation, Sherlock Holmes.

A great addition to the every increasing cannon of fiction and non-fiction books pertaining to Holmes.

Conan Doyle for the Defense by Margalit Fox One of the best books I've read all year! I knew from "Arthur and George," broadcast on PBS several years ago and based on a book by the same name, that Arthur Conan Doyle had taken on some real life cases of police negligence. Margalit Fox details another case Doyle turned his expert Sherlockian eye on--the mysterious death of a wealthy and cantankerous Edinburgh spinster. Scrupulously researched, and written with the same wonderful flair for evocative narrative nonfiction that she evinced when she used to write for the New York Times. I enjoyed the book so much I was sad when it was over. Excellent and highly recommended to ystery lovers and true crime aficionados alike.

Thank you to Margalit Fox and NetGalley. I enjoyed Conan Doyle for the Defense very much and will recommend it to lovers of his work.

Awesome, amazing and thrilling read! Get this book now!

Sir Conan Doyle is best known for his Sherlock Holmes books, but he helped solve a real life murdery mystery. This case will have you scratching your head, wondering how things were missed, and run you through all the feels that a case can.

I could not get enough of this book. I have always loved Sir Conan Doyle but this book brought about an entirely new appreciation for a man who was absolutely brilliant!

If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, you must read this book! It gives the account of one of the real life mysteries that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle worked on and what he did to crack the case.

The story follows the shocking murder of Marion Gilchrist, a wealthy 82 year old spinster, in the winter of 1908. The police soon focused their sites on Oscar Slater, a Jewish immigrant who led a rather unsavory life, at least by 1908 standards. Even though Slater had an alibi, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Slater later slipped a message to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the false tooth of an ex-con. From there, the man who was Sherlock Holmes, works his deductive reasoning and talented mind to freeing Slater.

This is an interesting story from the first page. We get to not only watch an interesting case unravel, but we get to understand how Conan Doyle was able to create one of the most famous detectives in the world. We read about his influences and understand just how amazing his way of solving crimes really was in his time, when very few were doing (or even thinking) what he was doing.

The only issue that I have with this book is that the author does repeat herself several times in the book. I thought that made the story drag a little bit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an advanced copy to read. All opinions are my own.

This did not do anything for me. It reads more like a documentary than a book of a heinous crime. I was extremely excited about reading it, then the more I read, the less interesting it became. I am sorry, however it is the truth. It would make a great Documentary on the History Channel, that I would be thrilled to watch.
Thank you Netgalley.
carolintallahassee

In a case that begins in 1908 and is noted for being a miscarriage of justice, Arthur Conan Doyle worked to get the accused Oscar Slater freedom.

An interesting look into a case that became known for being a true miscarriage of justice and the many facets of it; a very clear attempt to get someone the police thought was guilty of a crime charged with one, an author current seen with as losing it, and the many people involved with not only hiding evidence but using all they could to keep a man in prison. This definitely serves as an interesting and well written look into a case that had so much involved in it. It's also an interesting look into Conan Doyle.

I'm surprised I haven't heard more of Conan Doyle's non-writing endeavors. I'm also surprised I haven't heard more about this case before. It's definitely interesting to hear about corruption, even corruption that occured 82 years before you were born. I find myself wanting to learn even more about ACD's investigations.

Fascinating look at Conan Doyle’s personal beliefs and the prejudices that too often lead us to quick condemnation of “the other” both then and now.

Really a great book. I had no idea that Sir Doyle had ever done anything like this. Intriguing look at history and the way different cultures were treated. Some things, unfortunately, never change. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

The “racialization of crime” is a horrifying but timely phrase. In the case outlined by Fox, the accused “affronted the sensibilities of the age”. What a depressing familiarity that sentiment expresses.

I enjoyed this book, although its detailed outline of the crime and the “criminal” were at times somewhat *too* detailed. The book was a total immersion into Great Britain of the time.

I really love Sherlock Holmes books and I guess I thought that was what this book would be. It's not. It is a very good procedural based on a true crime. I enjoyed the mystery and did not foretell the ending, even though I knew the results going in. Conan Doyle was so much more than Sherlock Holmes! His detecting skills make you wonder what else you didn't see as you move through the day. It's well worth reading.

Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of creator of Sherlock Holmes, proves to be a pretty good detective himself. In Conan Doyle for the Defense, Margalit Fox tells the story of Conan Doyle’s investigative process as she recounts the true story of Conan Doyle’s efforts to free a German Jew wrongly accused of murder in Scotland.
In 1908, Marion Gilchrist, a reclusive, paranoid, and wealthy woman was brutally murdered in her Glasgow home. The police found a convenient suspect in Oscar Slater—an immigrant German Jew, a cardsharp known to keep house with a prostitute. With no evidence against him except bigotry and nativism, Slater was tried and convicted to a lifetime of hard labor at one of the most brutish of Scottish prisons.
Conan Doyle was enraged by the willful incompetence of the police, and the willingness of the justice system to be blind to the truth. Doyle becomes a researcher, even a crusader, combing through trial transcripts, eyewitness statements, newspaper stories identifying inconsistencies, and outright lies by police and prosecutors. In 1927, in true Sherlock Homes fashion, Doyle is instrumental is gaining Slater’s freedom.

BookFilter Review: This delightful work of popular history captures probably the last triumphant public act of Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle famously became involved in righting the wrongs of certain miscarriages of justice and the idea of the man who conceived of Holmes turning out to be a worthy detective in his own right is too delicious to pass up. His most famous case involved a man of Indian descent who was railroaded; it was such a worthy act and the man so ideally noble and pure and the finale so perfect (the man attended the wedding of Holmes to his new wife and Holmes said he was prouder of this guest than anyone else in attendance) that the story has been immortalized on film and in books. Yet there was one more case, one less well-known. As New York Times senior writer Margalit Fox points, the story of Oscar Slater -- an immigrant Jew living on the slightly disreputable fringes of society -- is far less black and white. Holmes disliked the man and kept him at arm's length and even pettily feuded with Slater over some expenses when it was all over. That makes the story less suited to easy celebration but a lot more interesting. Fox (the author of the acclaimed "The Riddle Of The Labyrinth") builds her case well. After a deft, scene-setting introduction, she tantalizes us with the facts of a crime. An elderly wealthy widow is brutally murdered in her Glasgow home, a place so well-protected it qualifies as a locked-room puzzle worthy of Agatha Christie. (In a detail worthy of this knotty story, the widow was a nasty sort disliked by virtually everyone.) An investigation follows with over-looked clues and prejudiced assumptions fighting for our attention. Fox moves tantalizingly back and forth, offering up biographical sketches of Conan Doyle, the doctor that Sherlock Holmes was based upon, the alleged murderer Slater and even Glasgow itself. And on justice rolls, with the police and the courts in cahoots to ignore unhelpful facts and punish Slater for the crime. His imprisonment is a horror story in itself, with allegations of poisoning of the prisoners to keep them docile and confused one possible exception for the soul-crushing despair and paranoia Slater exhibited at times. Even the way Conan Doyle (I almost typed "Holmes") focuses on the case, does some work and then drifts away for years until Slater draws his attention with a plea smuggled out of the prison via a note hidden in the hollowed-out dentures of a fellow prisoner. It's all fascinating and delivered with wry intelligence and verve. The real case Fox lays out is not about Slater: his innocence is so transparent all we are left with is wondering exactly how Conan Doyle will succeed in freeing him. No the real remarkable story is Conan Doyle himself. One might expect a former spy to write some good spy thrillers; if they later indulged in some spying on the side, well who would be surprised? But for a doctor to invent a detective and then prove superior himself to most detectives is rather amazing. Conan Doyle did much more than that. He pioneered the very idea of detective work, or at least popularized the idea of facts and evidence and building a case based on clues rather than the usual way of the time: find a likely suspect and then make sure they pay, facts be damned. Conan Doyle inspired the police to collect reference works just like Holmes, to compile useful "databases" like what different tobacco looks like when it is ash or the soils from different parts of your beat and on and on. He may have made an honest fool of himself late in life with his persistent belief in fairies and the supernatural. But Conan Doyle had as much a positive impact on modern criminology as anyone in the actual business of police work. It seems elementary to us know, but Conan Doyle was a trailblazer and he proved it in his fiction and even in real life, where a despised Jewish card sharp was rescued from the darkest hole in Scotland thanks to the persistence of a man that didn't even like him. -- Michael Giltz NOTE: I am casual friends with the husband of Margalit Fox and have met her very briefly once or twice. You can see her shine in the excellent documentary "Obit" and read rave reviews from Publishers Weekly and others for this new title and her other books. Normally I avoid reviewing books by people I know, but why not when it's this fun? -- Michael Giltz

"Conan Doyle for the Defense" is an interesting book. Like me, other fans of the Sherlock Holmes books by Doyle might be surprised to learn how the author was a part in a major case during the latter portion of his lifetime.

A woman is killed during a robbery and a ne'er do well who was in the area at the time is arrested and tried for the murder. This crime was a sensation and Doyle, feeling that the accused was innocent inserts himself into the case.

It is all fascinating on one level, but I wish it did not read as dry as it did. Obviously there is so much an author can do with history, but I felt that the book was missing something. Still, fans of any of the genres mentioned they will find satisfaction with this work.