I started a new thread for this book under the "non-Sherlock books" forum. Ooops. I guess I didn't think it would go under the "pastiches" heading. I think of those as books with Holmes and Watson as characters.
I'll re-post my question, in The Sherlockian, the suffragists / feminists are mad at Doyle (with good reason, he is not their ally). But they ENCOURAGE the revival of Sherlock Holmes (it never seems to occur to them to boycott Holmes because they're offended by Doyle, as many modern activists would 
). In fact, it is implied that these real-life crimes and the plight of the women are the reason Doyle brings Holmes back.
Holmes seems to stand for some principle or ideal that they want to "revive" but I'm not exactly sure what that was.
The "Doyle" parts of the book ARE based on the life of Doyle as it is known...but there IS one volume of the diary that was never found, as the author explains in an afterward.
Also (assuming this part is accurate), although Doyle opposes women's suffrage, he falls in love with a woman who is "unafraid to think and express herself as if she were a man"...which he admires her for.
