A POOLE-based writer visited Poole Grammar School on the publication day of his latest book, which was inspired by the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Andrew Lane has already penned a series of Young Sherlock adventures that have been published in 37 languages and sold more than 200,000 copies all over the world.

Now he has taken his inspiration from another Conan Doyle work, Lost World, which has a main character called Professor George Edward Challenger.

His new book, Lost Worlds, features the fictional teenage grandson of the professor, Calum Challenger, who is co-ordinating from his London bedroom a search for creatures considered so rare that many do not believe they exist.

His intention is to use their DNA to help protect the species and search for a cure for his paralysis.

Andrew explained that the adult Sherlock Holmes showed signs of mental health problems. “He’s bipolar and is probably borderline autistic as well.

“Having done what’s now six books about a boy who’s displaying those traits, I thought it might be an idea to have a character who’s physically disabled.

“It’s a strong part of the plot because he’s using the family money to find animals that science hasn’t discovered so he can have their DNA sequenced.”

Andrew, 50, a former Ministry of Defence scientist who now writes full-time, added: “Scientists reckon we have only discovered 25 per cent of the species on Earth and only 97 per cent of its surface has been explored. Somewhere in there might be a cure for cancer.”

He has been fascinated by Conan Doyle’s work since he was a child and is the only children’s writer endorsed by the Sherlock Holmes Conan Doyle estate.

And like JK Rowling, he seems to have pulled off the feat of encouraging more boys to read. “Parents I’ve talked to at various events have said their son wouldn’t read anything. In desperation they had given him one of my books and now he’d started reading Conan Doyle.”