David Stuart Davies: Yorkshire teacher, writer and Sherlock Holmes expert dies aged 78

David Stuart Davies, who has died at 78, was an internationally regarded expert on Sherlock Holmes.
The Yorkshire Post
By The Yorkshire Post

Leaders

Published 3rd Sep 2024, 03:00 BST

A teacher for twenty years, he later turned to writing full-time and his prolific output included novels, plays and short stories.

He was also a magazine editor and a consultant for publishers Wordsworth on its reprints of classic mystery and supernatural books.

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Born in Huddersfield in 1946, Davies failed his 11-plus, leaving school without qualifications. He later took O and A levels at evening classes and went to Leeds University, obtaining an English degree.

David Stuart Davies who is a big Sherlock Holmes expert, from Huddersfield, pictured in December 2016. Picture: Jonathan GawthorpeDavid Stuart Davies who is a big Sherlock Holmes expert, from Huddersfield, pictured in December 2016. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe
David Stuart Davies who is a big Sherlock Holmes expert, from Huddersfield, pictured in December 2016. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

He taught English at the former Mirfield Free Grammar School.

He made his debut as an author in 1976 whilst still at university with Holmes of the Movies, study of Sherlock Holmes on screen.

Davies’ knowledge and understanding of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation made him an ideal inheritor of the character, and he brought Holmes to new readers in a string of ten new novels from 1991 to 2022.

His 1980s Huddersfield detective, DI Paul Snow, appeared in a Yorkshire noir trilogy, beginning with Brothers in Blood.

Davies is survived by his second wife, Kathryn, whom he married in 1996.

Related topics:YorkshireA LevelsHuddersfield

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