Conan Doyle and George Edalji, with Shrabani Basu

Hello and welcome to episode 16. This episode, Paul and I are delighted to welcome to the podcast journalist and author Shrabani Basu to talk about Conan Doyle, George Edalji and her new book The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer (Bloomsbury, 2021).

In 1903, the quiet village of Great Wyrley near Birmingham is shocked by a spate of horrific horse maiming. Suspicion improbably falls on George Edalji, a quiet, socially awkward, brown-skinned young lawyer, the son of Shapurji Edalji, the first Indian to become vicar of an English parish. The Edaljis have been subject to prolonged persecution and racial abuse for the last fifteen years, since a series of anonymous letters appeared in 1888.

Despite the flimsy evidence in the case, George Edalji is convicted of the maimings and is sent to prison. When he is released early, his conviction hangs over him and he is unable to return to his chosen profession. Frustrated, he writes to the one man he believes can help, the great author of detective fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Paul and I talk to Shrabani about the details of the Edalji case, the evidence of police corruption Shrabani has unearthed, and the small-town racism that feels as relevant today as it was then.

You can read the show notes here: https://www.doingsofdoyle.com/2021/07/16-conan-doyle-and-george-edalji-with.html 

Next time on Doings of Doyle

Conan Doyle’s Anglo-Indian gothic tale, Uncle Jeremy’s Household (1887). Read it here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Uncle_Jeremy%27s_Household

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books: www.belangerbooks.com, and to our patrons on Patreon.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/