Just before Christmas 1908, Marion Gilchrist, a wealthy 82-year-old spinster, was found bludgeoned to death in her Glasgow home. A valuable diamond brooch was missing, and police soon fastened on a suspect - Oscar Slater, a Jewish immigrant who was rumoured to have a disreputable character. Slater had an alibi, but was nonetheless convicted and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment in the notorious Peterhead Prison.
Seventeen years later, a convict called William Gordon was released from Peterhead. Concealed in a false tooth was a message, addressed to the only man Slater thought could help him - Arthur Conan Doyle. Always a champion of the downtrodden, Conan Doyle turned his formidable talents to freeing Slater, deploying a forensic mind worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
Drawing from original sources including Oscar Slater's prison letters, this is Margalit Fox's vivid and compelling account of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Scottish history.

eBook - ePub
Conan Doyle for the Defence
A Sensational Murder, the Quest for Justice and the World's Greatest Detective Writer
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Conan Doyle for the Defence
A Sensational Murder, the Quest for Justice and the World's Greatest Detective Writer
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Author’s Note
- Introduction
- Prologue: Prisoner 2988
- Book One: Diamonds
- Book Two: Blood
- Book Three: Granite
- Book Four: Paper
- Epilogue: What Became of Them
- Acknowledgments
- Cast of Characters
- Glossary
- References
- Notes
- Index
- Footnotes
- Also from Profile Books
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Yes, you can access Conan Doyle for the Defence by Margalit Fox in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & World History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.