Synopses & Reviews
A playfully brilliant re-creation of one of the most-loved detective stories of all time; the companion book no Holmes fan should be without.
Eliminate the impossible, Holmes said, and whatever is left must be the solution. But as Pierre Bayard finds in this dazzling reinvestigation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, sometimes the master missed his mark. Using the last thoughts of the murder victim as his key, Bayard unravels the case, leading the reader to the astonishing conclusion that Holmes - and, in fact, Arthur Conan Doyle - got things all wrong: The killer is not at all who they said it was.
Part intellectual entertainment, part love letter to crime novels, and part crime novel in itself, Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong turns one of our most beloved stories delightfully on its head. Examining the many facets of the case and illuminating the bizarre interstices between Doyle's fiction and the real world, Bayard demonstrates a whole new way of reading mysteries: a kind of detective criticism that allows readers to outsmart not only the criminals in the stories we love, but also the heroes -- and sometimes even the writers.
Review
“Bayard bases his conclusion that Holmes got it wrong on a close reading of the novel and a sharply reasoned appraisal of the characters actions and Holmess own interpretations of them. This is a fascinating approach to literature…Bayard rewards [readers] with a new appreciation of the story, its hero, and its creator.”—
Booklist “Close reading and iconoclastic analysis of classic detective fiction…[An] audacious revisionist view of one of the best-known mysteries of all time…Bayard picks apart the apparently airtight case Holmes assembled in The Hound of the Baskervilles and offers an alternative solution.”—Publishers Weekly
“Cultural gadfly Pierre Bayard returns to the genre of ‘detective criticism, which he invented fifteen years ago… The result is a new, startling way to think about one of Sherlock Holmess most famous cases.”—Very Short List
Synopsis
With wit and careful analysis, Bayard makes a convincing case...This slim yet satisfying inquiry will make readers eager to pick up the classic mystery and test Bayard's methods for themselves.--Los Angeles Times
In his brilliant reinvestigation of the classic case of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Pierre Bayard uses the last thoughts of the murder victim as his key to unravel the mystery, leading the reader to the astonishing conclusion that Holmes--and, in fact, Arthur Conan Doyle--got things all wrong. Part intellectual entertainment, part love letter to crime novels, and part crime novel in itself, Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong turns one of our most beloved stories delightfully on its head.
Synopsis
In this playfully brilliant re-creation of one of the most-loved detective stories of all time, Bayard examines the many facets of the case and illuminates the bizarre interstices between Doyle's fiction and the real world.
Synopsis
“With wit and careful analysis, Bayard makes a convincing case…This slim yet satisfying inquiry will make readers eager to pick up the classic mystery and test Bayards methods for themselves.”—Los Angeles Times In his brilliant reinvestigation of the classic case of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Pierre Bayard uses the last thoughts of the murder victim as his key to unravel the mystery, leading the reader to the astonishing conclusion that Holmes—and, in fact, Arthur Conan Doyle—got things all wrong. Part intellectual entertainment, part love letter to crime novels, and part crime novel in itself, Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong turns one of our most beloved stories delightfully on its head.
About the Author
Pierre Bayard is a professor of French literature at the University of Paris VIII and a psychoanalyst. He is the author of Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?, and many other books.