Read Scotland 2018 discussion

Our group read for September and October is Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer by Margalit Fox

Read it and share your thoughts below. Please use the spoiler HTML or comment at the top of your post where you are in the book so to not give anything away to those not quite there yet.

This sounds like an incredible biography... I love true crime and murder mysteries so I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. Enjoy!

I am super chuffed this has won!

Now, this obviously will have a lot of spoilers, and I don’t want to that to put people off. (Next year, I will start spoiler threads for those who have finished the book to talk openly.)

So if you finish the book and want to discuss it, but don’t want to use the HTML spoiler button, head your comment with SPOILER. If you haven’t finished the book, skip the comments headed Spoiler to avoid finding out the end. Hope this works for now?

I'm excited to be reading this with everyone! Now I just have to pick up a copy. :)

My library has a copy. I put in a request for it.

Ellen wrote: "My library has a copy. I put in a request for it."

Tarissa wrote: "I'm excited to be reading this with everyone! Now I just have to pick up a copy. :)"

Excellent, I’m just ordering mine :)

3.25 from me(1st group read I've read). Read in one sitting. Dept of Disclaimer: Crime stories are not usually my thing.

Kirk wrote: "3.25 from me(1st group read I've read). Read in one sitting. Dept of Disclaimer: Crime stories are not usually my thing."

Blimey, that was quick! Need to get mine ordered and then we can discuss :) Thanks for joining in, crime is not for everyone, I have friends who are quietly concerned about how many murders I tend to read!

PS: I like how you rated the book here, I think we should try doing that on group reads (although I’m painfully indecisive).

Kirk wrote: "3.25 from me(1st group read I've read). Read in one sitting. Dept of Disclaimer: Crime stories are not usually my thing."

One sitting? wow your brain must be on overload.

Just finished it.

3.75

(view spoiler)[ It did take a while to get going and until Slater's conviction I thought I was really going to struggle. Wasn't until the halfway mark where Doyle enters the picture that it finally kicked into gear.

Found the other cases that Doyle worked on interesting, and I wasn't aware of how much influence he had outside of his status as a popular author. I did know he was a spiritualist but wasn't aware it had such a negative connotation, or that he received hate mail from Lord Alfred Douglas on the back of it. Thought that was rather a fun fact.

As for the case itself, yup. Very obviously a stitch up from the word go. Definitely one of the family members and the police already had made up their mind on a suspect as soon the murder had been announced.

Couldn't help but feel for Oscar throughout his plight, can barely even imagine what it'd be like to exist in those conditions. I found the letters to and from his family moving, particularly as time marched on.

I even felt a slight degree of sympathy for Lambie, whatever happened on that night, it obviously played on her conscious for her to write that letter all those years later. Same with Barrowman, but for different reasons.

Ultimately, when everything was done and dusted I couldn't help but completely take Oscar's side in the breakdown of the relations with Doyle. I kind of see where Doyle was coming from but he didn't have twenty years of his life stolen from him. Utterly rejected the author describing his actions as roguish.

Have to also add the last few sentences in the epilogue were like a punch in the stomach.
(hide spoiler)]

Thanks to Tarissa for the suggestion.

I finally got my copy from the library this weekend. Just finished chapter 1. It's amazing!!!

Tarissa wrote: "I finally got my copy from the library this weekend. Just finished chapter 1. It's amazing!!!"

Yay! Can’t wait - come on Mr Postman!

About a quarter of the way through, loving it so far. Very detailed and thorough which I quite like.

Got lots of thoughts and opinions already, I think I’ll wait til I’m finished to discuss here however...

Ellen wrote: "About a quarter of the way through, loving it so far. Very detailed and thorough which I quite like.

Got lots of thoughts and opinions already, I think I’ll wait til I’m finished to discuss here ..."

You're making good progress, Ellen! It's such a thrilling read.

I've got another 100 pages to get through myself.

Just finished the book tonight - I found it really fascinating! The immense detail gone into it is mind-boggling, I can believe it took 6 years to write. It definitely read like a paper, instead of a novel, which is fine. This contrasted with the snippets of Conan Doyle’s quoted thoughts and opinions - he (obviously) had a knack for creative writing even when his subject was factual.

There’s a lot to say about this book, feel free to head your comment with the word ‘spoiler’, as I’d love to hear your thoughts and conspiracy theories! I’ll have a stew over what I think/feel then add some further thoughts here.

Here's some Book Club questions I nabbed off the internet...
If you fancy it, answer a few!

1. Why do you think the author chose to tell this story?

2. Which person in the book would you most like to meet?

3. What new things did you learn?

4. If you got the chance to ask the author of this book one question, what would it be?

CONTAINS SPOILERS:

Here's my quick answers to the above questions:

1. To thoroughly record a miscarriage of justice, without prejudice or involvement... To right a wrong, indefinitely?

2. Tough one, if they were alive today, I would probably quite like to meet Oscar himself and treat him to a proper 'English breakfast' he so missed!

3. I learnt a lot! Impossible to write it all down, but probably what stuck in my mind was the facts and stories about Joseph Bell. His discovery of Bell's Palsy was interesting too - my great-grandmother suffered from it (and therefore had a beautiful wonky smile).

4. I like open-ended endings in book, but I really, really would like to hear her conspiracy theories on who did it and how exactly she imagined the crime happened. She hinted her thoughts, and all but said it, but I want details of her thoughts after working on this book for so long.

1. Bring a highly publicised, but mostly forgotten, case that had a lot of intrigue back into the spotlight as it were.

2. I think I'd like to meet Lambie just to get what her angle was. I have my theories but that's all they are.

3. Didn't realise Doyle was so influential during the First World War. The little fact about life jackets surprised me.

4. Would like to see what she thought actually happened as well. Must have been tricky not to editorialise.

Katrina wrote: "1. Bring a highly publicised, but mostly forgotten, case that had a lot of intrigue back into the spotlight as it were.

2. I think I'd like to meet Lambie just to get what her angle was. I have my..."

Ooh yes, it would be very interesting to talk to Lambie - a good gossip over a cuppa whilst doing the washing ;)

This was such a fun book for me. I didn't know it could be SO THRILLING to read about a court case. :O Margalit Fox is an excellent writer.

In answer to one of your questions... if I could meet any of the people from the book, it would definitely be Helen Lambie! I'd have some questions for that lady, for sure.

My 5 star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...