Hatchards Podcast explores the true identity behind Sherlock Holmes

The Hatchards Podcast returns with an episode that peels back the layers of literary legend to reveal the real detective who inspired Arthur Conan Doyle’s most celebrated creation. Lindsey Fitzharris, whose book Sleuth Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes investigates this enduring mystery, joins the conversation at Piccadilly’s storied bookshop to discuss the detective work behind the detective.

Fitzharris brings scholarly rigour and narrative grace to the question that has captivated readers for over a century: who was the authentic figure who walked the streets of Victorian London and shaped the mind of one of fiction’s greatest authors? Her research moves beyond the popular imagination to examine the historical record, the lives of genuine detectives working during Doyle’s lifetime, and the biographical details that may have influenced his masterwork.

The Hatchards Podcast, hosted at the historic Piccadilly location that has anchored London’s literary world since 1797, continues its exploration of books and the ideas they contain. Each episode draws listeners into conversations with writers, historians and thinkers about works that have shaped culture and knowledge. This episode adds another layer to the Sherlock Holmes phenomenon: not what Holmes teaches us about deduction and mystery, but what real detection can tell us about how Holmes came to be.

The episode is available to listen now wherever podcasts are heard. For those drawn to detective history, literary investigation and the blurred boundary between fact and fiction, this conversation offers both scholarly insight and the engaging storytelling that has made The Hatchards Podcast essential listening for the curious.

Imagery courtesy of Hatchards (@hatchardspiccadilly).