In 1866, Conan Doyle published a story called "A Study in Scarlet," the first to feature a detective whose name was a combination of two of Doyle's classmates: Patrick Sherlock and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Though Sherlock Holmes went on to become known as the ultimate British sleuth, his creator, Conan Doyle, was born in Scotland in 1859, and as we learn in Andrew Lycett's new book "The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," he was really Irish. A biographer of Rudyard Kipling and Dylan Thomas, Lycett now turns his attention to the man many consider to be the creator of mystery fiction. With access to thousands of previously unavailable documents, Lycett explores the origins of Doyle's interest in both science and spirituality. He also explores his Irish background. Lycett writes: "Both sides of [Doyle's] family came from Ireland. So far as the record extends, Arthur's grandfather John Doyle was a tailor's son who started professional life as an equestrian artist in Georgian Dublin. He won commissions from aristocratic patrons, including Lord Talbot, Lord Lieutenant during a politically turbulent period from 1817 to 1821, and the Second Marquess of Sligo. One thing is indisputable - the Doyles were devout Roman Catholics." This is certainly the definitive biography of a great Irish writer not often lumped with the 19th century's many other towering Irish literary figures. ($30 / 559 pages / Free Press)