BRATTLEBORO — In a free talk to be held on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), Drs. Daniel and Eugene Friedman, co-authors of The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle: A Journey Into Madness and Mayhem (Square One Publishers, 2015), discuss their new book and their theory that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, renowned creator of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, was the notorious serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
In the spring of 1905, members of an exclusive club of crime enthusiasts known as Our Society were taken on a guided excursion through Whitechapel, one of London's most notorious districts, by Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown, the chief police surgeon for the City of London. But this was no ordinary sightseeing tour.
The focus of the outing was Jack the Ripper's reputed murder sites, and among the guests that day was Doyle, creator of the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes.
Here, now, in The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle by first-time son/father writing team Daniel Friedman, MD, and Eugene Friedman, MD, the reader joins a recreation of that tour. This expedition, however, differs from the original in one very important way: It is be led by Doyle himself.
Doyle and his other guests travel to the location of each of the five canonical Ripper murders. Thanks to your guide's observations and opinions, all of which are based on actual historical accounts, the reader will learn as much about the district of Whitechapel as the terrible Ripper killings that occurred there.
The book also offers insight into the life of Arthur Conan Doyle, from his earliest days in Edinburgh to his first taste of success as a writer: his hardships at home, his experiences at boarding school, his adventures at sea, his university education, and his days as a working medical doctor.
Alternating between biography and tour, the book unearths facts, discovers details, and pieces together information about both Jack the Ripper and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.