The Grand Game: A Celebration of Sherlockian Scholarship Volume One: 1902–1959

The Grand Game is based on the lovely fantasy played by scholars and Sherlockians that Sherlock Holmes was a real person, and that the sixty Canonical tales were actually written by Dr. Watson and reflect true historical events. Of course, the only problem is that the good doctor was frequently careless in keeping straight the dates and details from one story to the next, leaving the path open for scholars to explain the discrepancies and inconsistencies.

As a result, numerous vexing questions have stimulated the speculations of distinguished scholars for more than a century, and many of the best of these appear in this volume of classic articles covering the years 1902–1959. It includes articles by such luminaries as Ronald Knox, A.A. Milne, Dorothy L. Sayers, Christopher Morley, Rex Stout, Anthony Boucher, Red Smith, and even Franklin D. Roosevelt. The sixty-six articles contained in this remarkable book are among the best examples of "the grand game" to be produced during the first six decades of the twentieth century.