Holy Clues: Investigating Life's Mysteries with Sherlock Holmes

by Stephen Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick

Book Overview

An unlikely yet utterly engaging new take on Sherlock Holmes: as a spiritual guide and master of a Zen-like approach to observation who can provide insight for the modern, skeptical searcher. Taking inspiration from Holmes's comment to Dr. Watson-- "You see but you do not observe"--Stephen Kendrick examines the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle for the religious and metaphysical lessons they offer. He maintains that detective fiction can be read as religious...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375403663
• ISBN13: 9780375403668
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Insights on Holmes, Doyle, and Mystery Literature

This little book is one of the most insightful books I have ever read. It makes a very convincing argument that Sherlock Holmes had a great understanding of the human spirit, and as a detective, brought both justice and mercy to bear in his cases. The author knows his Holmes literature very well and also pulls in a great deal of other literature from the mystery genre in a way that provokes a great deal of curiousity. I found myself reading and rereading a lot of mystery fiction after finishing this book. This book will give you many insights into both Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle, along with other mystery literature. I have read the book through several times, and it has really deepened my appreciation of mystery literature and Holmes in general. I would put it into the "desert island" category of books.

Charming, delightful, and very wise

I found this book a very pleasant surprise. Sherlock Holmes on religion? Surely this could not be a serious book. Then I read a paragraph at random and was fascinated--and immediately bought a copy. Of course Stephen Kendrick edits his quotes from Holmes to show the detective's nobler sentiments; there is none of the negativity here (no reference to drugs or other evidence of the character's darker nature.) The book is very inspirational and is a real pleasure to read. I feel that there is no coincidence that early religious plays were called "Mystery Plays"--Mr. Kendrick argues that we are all detectives investigating the greatest mystery of all. One should also remember that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was committed to the Spiritualist cause at about the same time he started writing the Holmes stories, and these tales paid for and possibly helped propagandize his own religious views. Kendrick has simply uncovered the message that Doyle wrote in the stories a hundred years ago. He has done a very capable job.

See and observe

Stephen Kendrick has done a wonderful job. Holmes has always been fascinating to me. When I discovered a book that mixed one of my childhood heroes with the greatest mystery, I had to buy the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Sherlock Holmes or life's questions. In our information rich lives it is very easy to see and not observe. Kendrick reminds us that the true answers can be found in the smallest things. Buy the book!

Very good

This was an engaging, clever book. It tied religion and mystery together so well I wondered why I hadn't been thinking of them like that before! It definitely deserves 5 stars and I recommend it to EVERYBODY!

loved it!

I can hardly express the delight I felt in reading this book! It was a fresh, new take on Sherlock Holmes and smoothly connected it with religion, a tough feat. I sincerely recommend this to everyone even remotely interested in Holmes or religion. Sherlockians will surely take this endearing book to heart!