āThe Last of the Legionsā by famous Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is a collection of twelve short stories. Stories in the collection include āThrough the Veilā, āThe First Cargoā and āThe Silver Mirrorā. Many are set during the Roman Empire, and some even delve into spiritualism ā a personal interest of Doyleās. A highly enjoyable collection of some of the famous authors lesser-known tales.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a British author, best known as the creator of the world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Born in Edinburgh, he was educated in England and Austria before studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh. It was during his time at university that Doyle began writing short stories, submitting them to magazines and journals. His first Sherlock Holmes novel, āA Study in Scarletā was written in just three weeks and published in 1887 to favourable reviews, and more Sherlock adventures followed. By 1893, Doyle was growing tired of Sherlock and attempted to kill him off in the story āThe Final Problemā, but public outcry caused him to resurrect the famous detective. He featured in a total of 56 short stories and four novels along with his trusty sidekick Dr Watson and made Doyle one of the best-paid authors of the time. The stories have been adapted multiple times; most recently in the successful BBC series āSherlockā starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Later literary works included the Professor Challenger series which began with āThe Lost Worldā, in which Challenger sets out to find evidence of prehistoric life. The book inspired numerous adaptations, including the films āJurassic Parkā and āThe Lost Worldā. In later life Doyle became captivated by the world of spiritualism and the occult and published non-fiction works about his beliefs including āThe Coming of the Fairiesā. Arthur Conan Doyle died at home in 1930.