What I’m reading now: The Science of Sherlock Holmes

In a case of one never knows what one has, I found The Science of Sherlock Holmes in my bookcase. Didn’t even know I had it and it’s quite enjoyable, if not quite the book I thought it was.

I had thought of including it as one of the Holmes reference books when I assumed it would be a sort of annotated science of Holmes, going point by point through any mentions of the natural sciences in the Canon. Instead, it’s a more general overview of the advances in forensic science with the occasional nods to the Canon. Nevertheless, it’s a great read and I recommend it, even though my recommendation comes a little late. Apparently it’s been sitting in my shelves waiting to be read since 2005.

PS I found it when I was researching coroner’s inquests for the Holmes glossary and the book came up on Google. The cover looked familiar and that’s when I realized it was in the Holmes section of my shelves. One thing leads to another.