Not so elementary
How Sherlock Pulled the Trick
Spiritualism and the Pseudoscientific Method
Brian McCuskey
Penn State University Press 2021
Hb, 195pp, £27.95, ISBN 9780271089874
The “trick” Brian McCuskey investigates involves the frequently drawn contrast between the cool, analytical approach of Sherlock Holmes (regarded as good) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s credulous Spiritualism (definitely bad). He argues that the distinction is bogus, because Holmes is not the paragon of rationality he is so often held up
