Stories of unusual people and things

David Grann is perhaps best known for his book about a criminal conspiracy in early twentieth century America, Killers of the Flower Moon (See my review here) but he has also written about a mutiny at sea (see my review here) and an expedition into the Amazonian rain forest to discover a lost city (my review is here). His books are well researched and about people who are faced by very unusual circumstances and I have enjoyed all of them that I have read.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a collection of articles which the author has written in his role as a journalist. They are about a variety of different subjects including hunting giant squid, the water supply network in New York, a firefighter involved in the 9/11 events, a murder in Poland and an attempt to clear the name of a man who is sentenced to death. There are twelve stories in total in the collection and they are all about something a bit unusual where people have been obsessed or they have committed murder or there has been some kind of a mystery. The title story is really about a fan who is obsessed by the stories of Sherlock Holmes rather than about the detective himself.

You get the impression that the author has gathered together many of his articles from the past, tried to give the collection a theme and then applied a catchy title to attract interest. Having said that, I did find all the articles interesting in their own way and can see that none of the events he describes is substantial enough to warrant a full book and that many of them were unresolved or unexplained. Depending on what each reader finds fascinating people may or may not enjoy all the stories in the collection.

This is a book that I bought because of who the writer was and I may not have otherwise read it. I am glad that I did but overall it is by no means as accomplished and satisfying as the author’s full length books.