Searching For ‘CLUES’ About What to Gift Dad on Father’s Day? Call Doctor and Doctor Friedman!

Dr. Daniel and Dr. Eugene Friedman comparing the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at Marine Hall in Salem, Ma.

If the dad in your life is a reader and a bit of a sleuth, “She’s” got a suggestion for what to gift him on Father’s Day. It’s unconventional and will provide hours of lounge-chair entertainment.

By day Eugene and Daniel Friedman are practicing physicians dedicated to solving problems medical. In their free-time the dynamic father and son duo solve problems a little more metaphysical. The two collaborate on mystery-fictions with a bit of a twist. “Doyle’s World, Lost & Found,” and “The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle” are two of their tag-team productions of prose.

Early this Spring, the docs hosted a thought-provoking lecture inside Marine Hall, an extension of Salem’s mystical Peabody Essex Museum. A stone’s throw away from the U.S Custom House in Salem, the one time office of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two explained, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proclaimed Hawthorne as one of the world’s most accomplished writers. Inspired by the high praise from such a renowned writer the father and son began a comparative analysis of works by Hawthorne and Doyle.

U.S. Custom House in Salem, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s office

The literary sleuths found hiding in plain sight, chapters and verses of Sherlock-ian prose mirroring the life and times of Hester Prynne and her trials with those moralizing Salem-ites. Their deep-dive revealed more than a few surprises.

“The Pillory Scene from the Scarlet Letter” Tompkins Harrison Matteson  1813-1884 (Peabody Essex Museum)

A turn of a phrase, an allusion to moral conflicts, a review of the human condition are a few strands of literary DNA the scientists examined in microscopic detail. A block away from Hawthorne’s monument, Friedman and Friedman’s diagnosis of Doyle’s homage to the classical writer runs bone deep.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and his many legends live large in Salem

So, if your still searching for clues for a novel dad-gift, taking a page or two from the Friedman’s may be just what the doctor ordered. Their books paired with the Scarlet Letter offer an exciting escape into a confluence of conjecture and interpretation.

All three novels are available on Amazon. If you’re feeling extra rushed, they can arrive Sunday morning via Kindle.

Headline Photo: Amanda Friedman, Daniel Friedman,M.D. and Eugene Friedman, M.D.