A ghost ship appears in the mist. To a struggling author called Arthur Conan Doyle, it is an inspiration. To Violet Petra, the most infamous mystic of her age, it is a reminder. To the death-obsessed Victorian public, it is a preoccupation. To one family, tied to the sea for generations, it is a tragedy. 'The ghost of the Mary Celeste' is an examination of love, nature and the fictions that pass as truth.

With access to new material, Lycett gives a comprehensive, psychologically and readable portrait of the man who created Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle.

As the creator of Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous man who never was, Arthur Conan Doyle remains one of our favourite writers. Writer, doctor, cricketer, public figure and family man, his life was no less fascinating than his fiction. Russell Miller has been granted unlimited access to Conan Doyle's private correspondence.