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What is the secret behind a letter that shocks a man to death?
Holmes was not always a famous detective. In Holmes's very first case, a simple letter shocked a man to death. Holmes explains to Watson how a voyage upon a ship called the Gloria Scott tortured a man for the rest of his life.
Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in 1859. He trained to be a doctor at Edinburgh University and eventually set up a medical practice in Southsea. During the quiet periods between patients, he turned his hand to writing, producing historical novels such as Micah Clarke and adventure yarns including The Lost World, as well as four novels and fifty-six stories involving his most celebrated creations, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Doyle was knighted in 1902. In later life he devoted much of his time to his belief in Spiritualism, using his writing and celebrity as a means of providing funds to support activities in this field. He died in 1930.
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