BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Lindsey Fitzharris ‘04 is bringing her world of macabre to Illinois Wesleyan University next month in celebration of her forthcoming book “Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes.”
Fitzharris is a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestselling author, television host and medical historian. She earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Illinois Wesleyan and during her time as a student, she studied at the University of Oxford, where she would later receive her master’s and doctoral degrees. She is a Chicago native, but currently resides in the United Kingdom.
The event, hosted by the History Department and the President’s Office, will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the Hansen Student Center and is open to the public. Fitzharris will also be making stops around campus that day.
“She has a personality that just draws you in, even if you don’t like the creepy crawly stuff. It just kind of sucks you in, so I think everybody who comes to the talk will just be in awe of what she has to say,” said Alyssa Culp, assistant professor of history. “She is just electric. She makes you want to listen to her.”
When Culp first came to Illinois Wesleyan in 2023, she was a fan of Fitzharris’ first book, “The Butchering Art,” which is about the era of Victorian medicine and was a focal point of Culp’s Gateway class for first-year students. Fitzharris agreed to virtually speak to students through Zoom and they loved it, Culp said.
Then Culp used Fitzharris’ second book, “The Facemaker,” in her World Wars class since it focuses on surgeon Harold Gillies, who started “remaking faces” after World War I. She said her students also loved that book, and Fitzharris sent nameplates with her autograph for each student to put inside their book copies.
So when it came to Fitzharris’ third book, she actually reached out to Culp and said she was coming to the United States to promote it, so Culp was very excited about Illinois Wesleyan being the first college campus of the tour, which includes nine stops total.
Culp explained that her students are very interested in the history of medicine and disease; whether it’s in her history of epidemics or history of public health class, they tend to gravitate toward it as it has a darker history than most people would think.
“Lindsey gets at that story and presents it in a way that’s digestible for students. They love it. Her writing is engaging and puts you right in the gritty scenes of 19th-century medicine,” she said. “It makes a difference for students. If they can really picture it in their minds and get engrossed with the story, it makes it worthwhile for them, so I think her new book will be of a lot of interest for those who have read her and even those who haven’t.”
“Sleuth-Hound” is about Victorian forensics from the perspective of physician Joseph Bell, whose methods inspired the creation of Sherlock Holmes.
The book is officially set to release on Tuesday, Oct. 20 and is available to pre-order online at drlindseyfitzharris.com/sleuth-hound.
Fitzharris also has a line of children’s books with her husband Adrian Teal, who is a cartoonist and caricaturist, including “Plague-Busters,” and “Dead Ends.”
“I’m excited to bring her here. I was really hoping that we’d be able to make it happen. This is my fourth year, so I’ve had four years of students who have read her work,” Culp said. “So, them coming and being able to actually meet her — I think it puts a face and a personality to the book. Her coming has a true impact on our students, whether we see it or not.”
Fitzharris is also a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, The Guardian, The Lancet and New Scientist. She was the host of the Smithsonian Channel series “The Curious Life and Death of…” Her debut book won multiple literary awards, earned international acclaim and has been translated into 20 languages.
She has more than 750,000 followers on social media platforms and has appeared on CNN, BBC, C-Span, NPR’s “Fresh Air” and “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Following the event, there will be a book signing and all three books will be available for purchase onsite through Bobzbay Books.
Those who are interested in attending Fitzharris’ talk titled “History in the Flesh: Pain, Patients and the Price of Progress” can register online at advance.iwu.edu/register/history-in-the-flesh.