'From Holmes to Sherlock' was an interesting read, combining biography of the characters and Conan Doyle himself. It dragged slightly in places and was occasionally difficult to follow the narrative as it flitted from subject to subject. Even so, the book is a comprehensive account of Sherlock Holmes and his fans and I did enjoy reading it.

This book is well-written but suffers from the lack of a clear thesis and sufficient documentation.  (If you want the audience to accept that you're using facts rather than opinions, footnotes are your friend.  The sheer amount of detail often gets in the way of the narrative (do I really need to know that Basil Rathbone's wife lied about her age?).  While the author presents the history of the character's creation and the machinations of the Doyle family, sadly he does not provide any explanation as to why this character from Victorian pop culture has survived for so long and why audiences continue to find him so compelling.