This is based on the true story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji.
Edalji is a small town solicitor who is wrongly convicted of a series of crimes involving animal mutilation and is sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.
Doyle takes up the case which results in the conviction being quashed but not until Edalji has served 3 years.
Reading this you can understand why the Holmes stories portray the constabulary as dolts. I had to wonder how many people went to he gallows because of the ignorance and prejudices of those involved in the convicting process, scary indeed.
The novel contains a large amount of biographical detail regarding Doyle; his up bringing, his marriages which is very interesting, he is a very interesting man.
Barnes knows how to write a crime story as he has written several as 'Dan Kavanagh' featuring Duffy his gay private investigator which are great fun.
I enjoyed this and its well worth the time.
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