“Several issues ago, I reviewed an impressive book on the history of pediatric surgery by Dr. John Raffensperger, now retired  to Sanibel Island, Florida. Dr. Raffensperger continues to pursue his scholarly love of medical history and “Sherlockiana”.  in that role he bid on and won an old footlocker of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle auctioned at Sotheby’s. Finding the contents disappointing until he discovered three leather bound journals hidden away in a small compartment, he became enthralled. He took the first of the journals, written in 1878 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle while he was a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, to a fellow medical historian and now co-author, Prof. Richard Krevolin  [who lives in California] for further editing. Together, they have written an engaging novel: The Mystery of the SCARLET Homes of Sherlock: The Lost Diaries of Sir  Arthur Conan Doyle, Volume One.

The story begins with Doyle serving as a medical clerk to the esteemed Scottish surgeon, Dr. Joseph Bell and their travels to the United States to help solve a series of murders in Chicago. Filled with fast moving adventures, medical examinations and theories suggesting bizarre murders, torture, underlying tales of remaining Civil War bitterness, attempted assassinations, and more, this should intrigue other Sherlock Holmes fans as well as mystery readers who appreciate a good book.

295 pages, published in 2016 in the U.S. by MX Publishing and copyrighted by Richard Krevolin and John Raffensperger. Available from Amazon and your neighborhood bookstore.”

Reviewed by  Lucy Crain, MD. MPH, FAAP

The Senior Bulletin of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Volume 25, #4, Fall, 2016

The Mystery of The Scarlet Homes Of Sherlock is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Kindle.