When fairy hoaxer, Dan Baines, asked F.R. Maher to give a presentation on fairies at a past Doomsday Gathering, UK’s annual event examining the strange and mysterious, it planted the seed for what would become a play and then a novel, both titled Sherlock Holmes and the Man Who Believed in Fairies. Maher began her presentation by asking, “What about the Cottingley Fairies?”— five photographs taken in 1917 by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths who lived in Cottingley, England. Although Sir Arthur Conan Doyle embraced the photos as incontrovertible evidence of fairy existence, the images were ultimately determined to be a hoax. When Maher researched the incident, however, certain questions arose about the initial investigation, questions that evolved into a clever Sherlock Holmes-based examination.
Blending fiction and reality, the novel’s plot revolves around the fairy scandal, pitting pragmatic Holmes against his fanciful creator, Doyle. Having recently reunited with John Watson as they enter the winter of their lives, Holmes is enraged, since his name is forever linked to Doyle’s, that Doyle has so publicly embraced the photographs as authentic.
As Doyle becomes more entrenched in spiritualism and mystical belief, Holmes investigates the photographs to prove they’re part of an elaborate hoax to hoodwink both Doyle and the general public. The investigation leads Holmes to ponder life and death in terms uncommon for the detective, debating with himself as much as with Doyle’s position whether mystical possibilities can indeed be considered realities or if they can only be accepted on faith, subject only to individual perspective and conviction.
Sherlock Holmes and the Man Who Believed in Fairies offers a delightful exploration of the Cottingley Fairies hoax through the relationship of a rational fictional character and his more spiritual creator. The novel is available through Amazon.com, other booksellers, and directly from the publisher, MX Publishing.
