The Science of Sherlock Holmes

by E. J. Wagner

John Wiley and Sons

Hoboken New Jersey 2006

Hard Cover 244 Pages, includes Index and Bibliography

As the Subtitle says “From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the Real Forensics behind the Great Detective’s Greatest Cases.” Doubtless we owe a great deal to the fact that Conan Doyle was a Medical man first, then an author.

E. J. Wagner has produced a marvelous ramble through the development of Victorian Forensic Medicine and Crime Scene Analysis. Any follower of the current CSI TV shows will appreciate this. It puts crime scene analysis into historical perspective.

The book includes chapters covering autopsies, folk lore and superstition, natural history, poisons, the Victorian crime scene in London, tattoo marks, scars, the Victorian criminal gang scene, ballistics, footprints, fingerprints, Bertillon measurements, handwriting identification, soil identification, hair identification, fiber identification, blood identification and pseudo-science including phrenology and inherited criminal traits.

The book also notes instances where the Great Detective falls prey to the scientific misconceptions of his time paying particular attention to several phrenological references. Wagner quotes Holmes in his own defense from “The Adventure of the Empty House” where he says “that sometimes we come into those realms of conjecture where even the most logical mind may be at fault.”

The book is a must have for any murder mystery reader and any history buff; not just the Holmes fans. – Gary Swaty