The Case of Oscar Slater

In 1909, a German-Jewish immigrant named Oscar Slater was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly woman in Glasgow, on evidence that Arthur Conan Doyle came to believe was deeply flawed. In this work of nonfiction advocacy, Doyle lays out the case against Slater point by point, exposing the errors, biases, and procedural failures that led to his conviction, and argues forcefully for his exoneration. Written with the same close, methodical reasoning Doyle gave Sherlock Holmes, this real-world investigation helped bring about Slater's eventual release after nearly two decades in prison.