Conan The Inspiration

In Scotland on Sunday, James W. Wood makes the interesting point that while last year, Henry James seemed to be the inspiration for contemporary novelists (Colm Toibin, David Lodge), this year, it's the turn of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Michael Chabon and Caleb Carr, among others, have recently written Holmes stories, and Doyle, of course, is the Arthur of Julian Barnes' Arthur & George. Now, there's also an "official" biography of the Baker Street sleuth by Nick Rennison:

"Rennison plays wonderfully with ideas based on Doyle's fiction: he imagines Sherlock Holmes quietly helping Scotland Yard with the Ripper murders, and assisting MI5 and MI6 with investigations into Irish terrorism. Holmes also fakes his own death (explaining the long periods during Doyle's career when he grew tired of writing Holmes stories) and retires to a cottage in Suffolk, where he eventually dies from cancer aged 75."