From his mysterious connections to the British criminal underworld to his early acquaintance with Dr Watson, Sherlock Holmes: the biography blends what we already know of Holmes's career with social history to answer the questions his admirers have long puzzled over. Sherlock Holmes: the biography reveals for the first time Holmes's unprecedented influence on the major political events and crimes of late-nineteenth-century England. It also brings to light Holmes's close friendships with key figures of the day, including Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud and Cecil Rhodes; and exposes the truth about his cocaine addiction. As a young man, Holmes was drawn to the stage and ran away from Cambridge to work in the West End with the actor Henry Irving. Later, his older brother Mycroft drew him into unofficial work for the British government - including a hitherto unknown conspiracy to murder the Irish nationalist sympathizer Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. This meticulous recreation of the secret life and curious times of the great detective will prove compulsive reading for Holmes fans everywhere.