The character Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887'sA Study in Scarlet. His popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories inThe Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional tales appeared from then until 1927, eventually totallingfour novels and 56 short stories. All but one[a] are set in theVictorian orEdwardian eras between 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer,Dr. John H. Watson, who usually accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often shares quarters with him at the address of221B Baker Street, London, where many of the stories begin.
Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best known.[1] By the 1990s, over 25,000 stage adaptations, films, television productions, and publications had featured the detective,[2] andGuinness World Records lists him as the most portrayed human literary character in film and television history.[3] Holmes's popularity and fame are such that many have believed him to be not a fictional character but an actual person;[4][5][6] many literary and fan societies have been founded onthis pretence. Avid readers of the Holmes stories helped create the modern practice offandom, with theSherlock Holmes fandom being one of the first cohesive fan communities in the world.[7] The character and stories have had a profound and lasting effect onmystery writing andpopular culture as a whole, with the original tales, as well as thousandswritten by authors other than Conan Doyle, beingadapted into stage and radio plays, television, films, video games, and other media for over one hundred years.
Edgar Allan Poe'sC. Auguste Dupin is generally acknowledged as the forerunner of the modern detective story in English fiction and served as the prototype for many later characters, including Holmes.[8] Conan Doyle once wrote, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed ... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?"[9] Similarly, the stories ofÉmile Gaboriau'sMonsieur Lecoq were extremely popular at the time Conan Doyle began writing Holmes, and Holmes's speech and behaviour sometimes follow those of Lecoq.[10][11] Doyle has his main characters discuss these literary antecedents near the beginning ofA Study in Scarlet, which is set soon after Watson is first introduced to Holmes. Watson attempts to compliment Holmes by comparing him to Dupin, to which Holmes replies that he found Dupin to be "a very inferior fellow" and Lecoq to be "a miserable bungler".[12]
Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes was inspired by the real-life figure ofJoseph Bell, a surgeon at theRoyal Infirmary of Edinburgh, whom Conan Doyle met in 1877 and had worked for as a clerk. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing broad conclusions from minute observations.[13] Bell wrote an introduction for a later edition ofA Study in Scarlet.[14] Bell also dismissed the idea that he was the character's inspiration, writing to Doyle, "You are yourself Sherlock Holmes and well you know it".[15] SirHenry Littlejohn, Chair ofMedical Jurisprudence at theUniversity of Edinburgh Medical School, is also cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh, provided Conan Doyle with a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime.[16]
Other possible inspirations have been proposed, though never acknowledged by Doyle, such asMaximilien Heller, by French author Henry Cauvain. In this 1871 novel (sixteen years before the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes), Henry Cauvain imagined a depressed, anti-social, opium-smokingpolymath detective, operating in Paris.[17][18][19] It is not known if Conan Doyle read the novel, but he was fluent in French.[20]
Details of Sherlock Holmes' life in Conan Doyle's stories are scarce and often vague. Nevertheless, mentions of his early life and extended family paint a loose biographical picture of the detective.
A statement of Holmes' age in "His Last Bow" places his year of birth at 1853–1854; the story, set in August 1914, describes him as sixty years of age.[21] His parents are not mentioned, although Holmes mentions that his "ancestors" were "country squires". In "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", he claims that his grandmother was sister to the French artist Vernet, without clarifying whether this wasClaude Joseph,Carle, orHorace Vernet. Holmes' brotherMycroft, seven years his senior, is a government official. Mycroft has a uniquecivil service position as a kind of human database for all aspects of government policy. Sherlock describes his brother as the more intelligent of the two, but notes that Mycroft lacks any interest in physical investigation, preferring to spend his time at theDiogenes Club.[22][23]
Holmes says that he first developed his methods of deduction as an undergraduate; his earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from his fellow university students.[24] A meeting with a classmate's father led him to adopt detection as a profession.[25]
In the first tale of Sherlock Holmes,A Study in Scarlet, financial difficulties lead Holmes andDr. Watson to share rooms together at221B Baker Street, London.[26] Their residence is maintained by their landlady,Mrs. Hudson.[27] Holmes works as a detective for twenty-three years, with Watson assisting him for seventeen of those years.[28] Most of the stories areframe narratives written from Watson's point of view, as summaries of the detective's most interesting cases. Holmes frequently calls Watson's records of Holmes's cases sensational and populist, suggesting that they fail to accurately and objectively report the "science" of his craft:
Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it [A Study in Scarlet] with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or anelopement into the fifth proposition ofEuclid. ... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it.[29]
Nevertheless, when Holmes recorded a case himself, he was forced to concede that he could more easily understand the need to write it in a manner that would appeal to the public rather than his intention to focus on his own technical skill.[30]
Holmes's friendship with Watson is his most significant relationship. When Watson is injured by a bullet, although the wound turns out to be "quite superficial", Watson is moved by Holmes's reaction:
It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.[31]
After confirming Watson's assessment of the wound, Holmes makes it clear to their opponent that the man would not have left the room alive if he genuinely had killed Watson.[31]
Practice
Holmes' clients vary from the most powerful monarchs and governments of Europe, to wealthyaristocrats andindustrialists, to impoverishedpawnbrokers andgovernesses. He is known only in select professional circles at the beginning of the first story, but is already collaborating withScotland Yard. However, his continued work and the publication of Watson's stories raise Holmes's profile, and he rapidly becomes well known as a detective; so many clients ask for his help instead of (or in addition to) that of the police[32] that, Watson writes, by 1887 "Europe was ringing with his name"[33] and by 1895 Holmes has "an immense practice".[34] Police outside London ask Holmes for assistance if he is nearby.[35] ABritish prime minister[36] and theKing of Bohemia[37] visit 221B Baker Street in person to request Holmes's assistance; thePresident of France awards him theLegion of Honour for capturing an assassin;[38] the King of Scandinavia is a client;[39] and he aids theVatican at least twice.[40] The detective acts on behalf of the British government in matters of national security several times[41] and declines aknighthood "for services which may perhaps some day be described".[42] However, he does not actively seek fame and is usually content to let the police take public credit for his work.[43]
The first set of Holmes stories was published between 1887 and 1893. Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in a final battle with the criminal mastermindProfessor James Moriarty[44] in "The Final Problem" (published 1893, but set in 1891), as Conan Doyle felt that "my literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel".[45] However, the reaction of the public surprised him very much. Distressed readers wrote anguished letters toThe Strand Magazine, which suffered a terrible blow when 20,000 people cancelled their subscriptions to the magazine in protest.[46] Conan Doyle himself received many protest letters, and one lady even began her letter with "You brute".[46] Legend has it that Londoners were so distraught upon hearing the news of Holmes's death that they wore black armbands in mourning, though there is no known contemporaneous source for this; the earliest known reference to such events comes from 1949.[47] However, the recorded public reaction to Holmes's death was unlike anything previously seen for fictional events.[7]
After resisting public pressure for eight years, Conan Doyle wroteThe Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised in 1901–02, with an implicit setting before Holmes's death). In 1903, Conan Doyle wrote "The Adventure of the Empty House"; set in 1894, Holmes reappears, explaining to a stunned Watson that he had faked his death to fool his enemies.[48] Following "The Adventure of the Empty House", Conan Doyle would sporadically write new Holmes stories until 1927.Holmes aficionados refer to the period from 1891 to 1894—between his disappearance and presumed death in "The Final Problem" and his reappearance in "The Adventure of the Empty House"—as the Great Hiatus.[49] The earliest known use of this expression dates to 1946.[50]
Retirement
InHis Last Bow, the reader is told that Holmes has retired to a small farm on theSussex Downs and taken upbeekeeping as his primary occupation.[51] The move is not dated precisely, but can be presumed to be no later than 1904 (since it is referred to retrospectively in "The Adventure of the Second Stain", first published that year).[52] The story features Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement to aid the Britishwar effort. Only one other adventure, "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", takes place during the detective's retirement.[53]
Watson describes Holmes as "bohemian" in his habits and lifestyle.[54] Said to have a "cat-like" love of personal cleanliness,[55] at the same time Holmes is aneccentric with no regard for contemporary standards of tidiness or good order. Watson describes him as
in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction. [He] keeps his cigars in thecoal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece. ... He had a horror of destroying documents. ... Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner.[56]
While Holmes is characterised as dispassionate and cold, he can be animated and excitable during an investigation. He has a flair for showmanship, often keeping his methods and evidence hidden until the last possible moment so as to impress observers.[57] Holmes is willing to break the law as a means for righting a wrong, contending that "there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge."[58] His companion condones the detective's willingness to do this on behalf of a client—lying to the police, concealing evidence or breaking into houses—when he also feels it morally justifiable.[59]
Except for that of Watson, Holmes avoids casual company. In"TheGloria Scott", he tells the doctor that during two years at college he made only one friend: "I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson ... I never mixed much with the men of my year."[60] The detective goes without food at times of intense intellectual activity, believing that "the faculties become refined when you starve them".[61][62] At times, Holmes relaxes with music, either playing the violin[63] or enjoying the works of composers such asWagner[64] andPablo de Sarasate.[65]
Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially in the absence of stimulating cases.[66] He sometimes usesmorphine and sometimescocaine, the latter of which he injects in a seven-percent solution; both drugswere legal in 19th-century England.[67][68][69] As a physician, Watson strongly disapproves of his friend's cocaine habit, describing it as the detective's only vice, and concerned about its effect on Holmes'smental health and intellect.[70][71] In "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter", Watson says that although he has "weaned" Holmes from drugs, the detective remains an addict whose habit is "not dead, but merely sleeping".[72]
Watson and Holmes both smoke tobacco, in cigarettes, cigars, andpipes. Although his chronicler does not consider Holmes's smoking a viceper se, Watson—a physician—does criticise the detective for creating a "poisonous atmosphere" in their confined quarters.[73][74]
Finances
Holmes is known to charge clients for his expenses and claim any reward offered for a problem's solution, such as in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet". The detective states at one point that "My professional charges are upon a fixed scale. I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether." In this context, a client is offering to double his fee, and it is implied that wealthy clients habitually pay Holmes more than his standard rate.[75] In "The Adventure of the Priory School", Holmes earns a £6,000 fee[76] (at a time when annual expenses for a rising young professional were in the area of £500).[77] However, Watson notes that Holmes would refuse to help even the wealthy and powerful if their cases did not interest him.[78]
Attitudes towards women
As Conan Doyle wrote to Joseph Bell, "Holmes is as inhuman as aBabbage's Calculating Machine and just about as likely to fall in love."[79] Holmes says of himself that he is "not a whole-souled admirer of womankind",[80] and that he finds "the motives of women ... inscrutable. ... How can you build on such quicksand? Their most trivial actions may mean volumes".[81] InThe Sign of Four, he says, "Women are never to be entirely trusted—not the best of them", a feeling Watson notes as an "atrocious sentiment".[82] In "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", Holmes writes, "Women have seldom been an attraction to me, for my brain has always governed my heart."[83] At the end ofThe Sign of Four, Holmes states that "love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true, cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgement."[84] Ultimately, Holmes claims outright that "I have never loved."[85]
But while Watson says that the detective has an "aversion to women",[86] he also notes Holmes as having "a peculiarly ingratiating way with [them]".[87] Watson notes that their housekeeper Mrs. Hudson is fond of Holmes because of his "remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women. He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent."[88] In "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", the detective becomesengaged under false pretenses in order to obtain information about a case, abandoning the woman once he has the information he requires.[89]
Irene Adler
Irene Adler is a retired American opera singer and actress who appears in "A Scandal in Bohemia". Although this is her only appearance, she is one of only a handful of people who bests Holmes in a battle of wits, and the only woman. For this reason, Adler is the frequent subject ofpastiche writing.[90] The beginning of the story describes the high regard in which Holmes holds her:
To Sherlock Holmes she is alwaysthe woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. ... And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.[91]
Five years before the story's events, Adler had a brief liaison with Crown Prince ofBohemia Wilhelm von Ormstein. As the story opens, the Prince is engaged to another. Fearful that the marriage would be called off if his fiancée's family learns of this past impropriety, Ormstein hires Holmes to regain a photograph of Adler and himself. Adler slips away before Holmes can succeed. Her memory is kept alive by the photograph of Adler that Holmes received for his part in the case.[92]
Knowledge and skills
Shortly after meeting Holmes in the first story,A Study in Scarlet (generally assumed to be 1881, though the exact date is not given), Watson assesses the detective's abilities:
Knowledge of Literature – nil.
Knowledge of Philosophy – nil.
Knowledge of Astronomy – nil.
Knowledge of Politics – Feeble.
Knowledge of Botany – Variable. Well up inbelladonna,opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
Knowledge of Geology – Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks, has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in whatpart of London he had received them.
Knowledge of Chemistry – Profound.
Knowledge of Anatomy – Accurate, but unsystematic.
Knowledge ofSensational Literature – Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
Plays the violin well.
Is an expertsinglestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
Has a good practical knowledge of British law.[93]
InA Study in Scarlet, Holmes claims to be unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun since such information is irrelevant to his work; after hearing that fact from Watson, he says he will immediately try to forget it. The detective believes that the mind has a finite capacity for information storage, and learning useless things reduces one's ability to learn useful things.[94] The later stories move away from this notion: inThe Valley of Fear, he says, "All knowledge comes useful to the detective",[95] and in "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", the detective calls himself "an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles".[96] Looking back on the development of the character in 1912, Conan Doyle wrote that "In the first one, theStudy in Scarlet, [Holmes] was a mere calculating machine, but I had to make him more of an educated human being as I went on with him."[97]
Despite Holmes's supposed ignorance of politics, in "A Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognises the true identity of the disguised "Count von Kramm".[37] At the end ofA Study in Scarlet, Holmes demonstrates a knowledge ofLatin.[98] The detective citesHafez,[99]Goethe,[100] as well asa letter fromGustave Flaubert toGeorge Sand in the original French.[101] InThe Hound of the Baskervilles, the detective recognises works byGodfrey Kneller andJoshua Reynolds: "Watson won't allow that I know anything of art, but that is mere jealousy since our views upon the subject differ."[102] In "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans", Watson says that "Holmes lost himself in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the PolyphonicMotets ofLassus", considered "the last word" on the subject — which must have been the result of an intensive and very specialized musicological study with no obvious application to the solution of criminal mysteries.[103][104]
Holmes is acryptanalyst, telling Watson that "I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writing, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyse one hundred and sixty separate ciphers."[105] Holmes also demonstrates a knowledge of psychology in "A Scandal in Bohemia", luring Irene Adler into betraying where she hid a photograph based on the premise that a woman will rush to save her most valued possession from a fire.[106] Another example is in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", where Holmes obtains information from a salesman with a wager: "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut andthe 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet ... I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of him, that man would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager."[107]
Maria Konnikova points out in an interview withD. J. Grothe that Holmes practises what is now called mindfulness, concentrating on one thing at a time, and almost never "multitasks". She adds that in this he predates the science showing how helpful this is to the brain.[108]
Holmes observes the dress and attitude of his clients and suspects, noting skin marks (such as tattoos), contamination (such as ink stains or clay on boots), emotional state, and physical condition in order to deduce their origins and recent history. The style and state of wear of a person's clothes and personal items are also commonly relied on; in the stories, Holmes is seen applying his method to items such as walking sticks,[109] pipes,[110] and hats.[111] For example, in "A Scandal in Bohemia", Holmes infers that Watson had got wet lately and had "a most clumsy and careless servant girl". When Watson asks how Holmes knows this, the detective answers:
It is simplicity itself ... my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey.[112]
In the first Holmes story,A Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson compares Holmes toC. Auguste Dupin, Edgar Allan Poe's fictional detective, who employed a similar methodology. Alluding to an episode in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", where Dupin determines what his friend is thinking despite their having walked together in silence for a quarter of an hour, Holmes remarks: "That trick of his breaking in on his friend's thoughts with an apropos remark ... is really very showy and superficial."[113] Nevertheless, Holmes later performs the same 'trick' on Watson in "The Cardboard Box"[114] and "The Adventure of the Dancing Men".[115]
Though the stories always refer to Holmes's intellectual detection method as "deduction", Holmes primarily relies onabduction:inferring an explanation for observed details.[116][117][118] "From a drop of water," he writes, "a logician could infer the possibility of anAtlantic or aNiagara without having seen or heard of one or the other."[119] However, Holmes does employ deductive reasoning as well. The detective's guiding principle, as he says inThe Sign of Four, is: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."[120]
Holmes followsSir Isaac Newton's rule of"hypotheses non fingo", for instance commenting in "A Scandal in Bohemia": "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."
Despite Holmes's remarkable reasoning abilities, Conan Doyle still paints him as fallible in this regard (this being a central theme of "The Yellow Face").[121]
Forensic science
19th-century Seibert microscope
Though Holmes is famed for his reasoning capabilities, his investigative technique relies heavily on the acquisition of hard evidence. Many of the techniques he employs in the stories were at the time in their infancy.[122][123]
The detective is particularly skilled in the analysis oftrace evidence and other physical evidence, including latent prints (such as footprints, hoof prints, and shoe and tire impressions) to identify actions at a crime scene,[124] using tobacco ashes and cigarette butts to identify criminals,[125] utilizinghandwriting analysis andgraphology,[126] comparingtypewritten letters to expose a fraud,[127] using gunpowder residue to expose two murderers,[128] and analyzing small pieces of human remains to expose two murders.[129]
Because of the small scale of much of his evidence, the detective often uses a magnifying glass at the scene and anoptical microscope at his Baker Street lodgings. He usesanalytical chemistry forblood residue analysis andtoxicology to detect poisons; Holmes's home chemistry laboratory is mentioned in "The Naval Treaty".[130]Ballistics feature in "The Adventure of the Empty House" when spent bullets are recovered to be matched with a suspected murder weapon, a practice which became regular police procedure only some fifteen years after the story was published.[131]
Laura J. Snyder has examined Holmes's methods in the context of mid- to late-19th-century criminology, demonstrating that, while sometimes in advance of what official investigative departments were formally using at the time, they were based upon existing methods and techniques. For example, fingerprints were proposed to be distinct in Conan Doyle's day, and while Holmes used a thumbprint to solve a crime in "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" (generally held to be set in 1895), the story was published in 1903, two years afterScotland Yard's fingerprint bureau opened.[123][132] Though the effect of the Holmes stories on the development of forensic science has thus often been overstated, Holmes inspired future generations of forensic scientists to think scientifically and analytically.[133]
Guy Mankowski has said of Holmes that his ability to change his appearance to blend into any situation "helped him personify the idea of the English eccentric chameleon, in a way that prefigured the likes ofDavid Bowie".[135]
Agents
Until Watson's arrival at Baker Street, Holmes largely worked alone, only occasionally employing agents from the city's underclass. These agents included a variety ofinformants, such as Langdale Pike, a "human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal",[136] and Shinwell Johnson, who acted as Holmes's "agent in the huge criminal underworld of London".[137] The best known of Holmes's agents are a group of street children he called "theBaker Street Irregulars".[138][139]
Combat
British Army (Adams) Mark III, the type probably carried by Watson
Pistols
Holmes and Watson often carry pistols with them to confront criminals—in Watson's case, his old service weapon (probably a Mark IIIAdams revolver, issued to British troops during the 1870s).[140] Holmes and Watson shoot the eponymous hound inThe Hound of the Baskervilles,[141] and in "The Adventure of the Empty House", Watsonpistol-whips ColonelSebastian Moran.[142] In "The Problem of Thor Bridge", Holmes uses Watson's revolver to solve the case through an experiment.
Other weapons
As a gentleman, Holmes often carries a stick or cane. He is described by Watson as an expert atsinglestick,[93] and uses his cane thrice as a weapon.[143] InA Study in Scarlet, Watson describes Holmes as an expert swordsman,[93] and in "TheGloria Scott", the detective says he practisedfencing while at university.[60] In several stories ("A Case of Identity", "The Red-Headed League", "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons"), Holmes wields ariding crop, described in the latter story as his "favourite weapon".[144]
The detective is described (or demonstrated) as possessing above-average physical strength. In "The Yellow Face", Holmes's chronicler says, "Few men were capable of greater muscular effort."[145] In "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", Dr. Roylott demonstrates his strength by bending a fire poker in half. Watson describes Holmes as laughing and saying,"'If he had remained I might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own.' As he spoke he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again."[146]
Holmes is an adeptbare-knuckle fighter; "TheGloria Scott" mentions that Holmes boxed while at university.[60] InThe Sign of Four, he introduces himself to McMurdo, aprize fighter, as "theamateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of your benefit four years back". McMurdo remembers: "Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high if you had joined the fancy."[147] In "The Yellow Face", Watson says: "He was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen."[148] In "The Solitary Cyclist", Holmes visits a countrypub to make enquiries regarding a certain Mr Woodley which results in violence. Mr Woodley, Holmes tells Watson,[149]
... had been drinking his beer in the tap-room, and had heard the whole conversation. Who was I? What did I want? What did I mean by asking questions? He had a fine flow of language, and his adjectives were very vigorous. He ended a string of abuse by a vicious backhander, which I failed to entirely avoid. The next few minutes were delicious. It was a straight left against a slogging ruffian. I emerged as you see me. Mr. Woodley went home in a cart.[149]
Another character subsequently refers to Mr Woodley as looking "much disfigured" as a result of his encounter with Holmes.[150]
The popularity of Sherlock Holmes became widespread after his first appearance inThe Strand Magazine in 1891. This September 1917 edition of the magazine, with the cover story, "Sherlock Holmes outwits a German spy", could be posted to troops free of charge.
The first two Sherlock Holmes stories, the novelsA Study in Scarlet (1887) andThe Sign of the Four (1890), were moderately well received, but Holmes first became very popular early in 1891 when the first six short stories featuring the character were published inThe Strand Magazine. Holmes became widely known in Britain and America.[1] The character was so well known that in 1893 when Arthur Conan Doyle killed Holmes in the short story "The Final Problem", the strongly negative response from readers was unlike any previous public reaction to a fictional event. TheStrand reportedly lost more than 20,000 subscribers as a result of Holmes's death.[153] Public pressure eventually contributed to Conan Doyle writing another Holmes story in 1901 and resurrecting the character in a story published in 1903.[7] In Japan, Sherlock Holmes (andAlice fromAlice's Adventures in Wonderland) became immensely popular in the country in the 1890s as it was opening up to the West, and they are cited as two British fictional Victorians who left an enormous creative and cultural legacy there.[154]
Many fans of Sherlock Holmes have written letters to Holmes's address,221B Baker Street. Though the address 221B Baker Street did not exist when the stories were first published, letters began arriving to the largeAbbey National building which first encompassed that address almost as soon as it was built in 1932. Fans continue to send letters to Sherlock Holmes;[155] these letters are now delivered to theSherlock Holmes Museum.[156] Some of the people who have sent letters to 221B Baker Street believe Holmes is real.[4] Members of the general public have also believed Holmes actually existed. In a 2008 survey of British teenagers, 58 per cent of respondents believed that Sherlock Holmes was a real person.[5]
Scholarly discussion of Holmes has occasionally been written (usually facetiously) from the perspective of Holmes and Dr. Watson having existed; an example of this is the five critical essays, "Studies in Sherlock Holmes", by the author and essayistDorothy L. Sayers in her 1946 non-fiction collection,Unpopular Opinions, including an article examining Watson'ssignature which was allegedly visible in some originalStrand illustrations.[157]
The Sherlock Holmes stories continue to be widely read.[1] Holmes's continuing popularity has led to many reimaginings of the character in adaptations.[7]Guinness World Records, which awarded Sherlock Holmes the title for "most portrayed literary human character in film & TV" in 2012, released a statement saying that the title "reflects his enduring appeal and demonstrates that his detective talents are as compelling today as they were 125 years ago".[3]
A number of London streets are associated with Holmes. York Mews South, off Crawford Street, was renamed Sherlock Mews, and Watson's Mews is near Crawford Place.[159]The Sherlock Holmes is apublic house in Northumberland Street in London which contains a large collection of memorabilia related to Holmes, the original collection having been put together for display inBaker Street during theFestival of Britain in 1951.[160][161]
In 2002, theRoyal Society of Chemistry bestowed an honorary fellowship on Holmes for his use of forensic science and analytical chemistry in popular literature, making him (as of 2024) the only fictional character thus honoured.[162] Holmes has been commemorated many times on UK postage stamps issued by theRoyal Mail, most recently in theirAugust 2020 series to celebrate theSherlock television series.[163]
There are multiple statues of Sherlock Holmes around the world. The first, sculpted byJohn Doubleday, was unveiled inMeiringen, Switzerland, in September 1988. The second was unveiled in October 1988 inKaruizawa, Japan, and was sculpted by Yoshinori Satoh. The third was installed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1989, and was sculpted byGerald Laing.[164] In 1999, astatue of Sherlock Holmes in London, also by John Doubleday, was unveiled near the fictional detective's address, 221B Baker Street.[165] In 2001, a sculpture of Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle byIrena Sedlecká was unveiled in a statue collection in Warwickshire, England.[166] A sculpture depicting both Holmes and Watson was unveiled in 2007 in Moscow, Russia, based partially onSidney Paget's illustrations and partially on the actors inThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.[167] In 2015, a sculpture of Holmes byJane DeDecker was installed in the police headquarters ofEdmond, Oklahoma, United States.[168] In 2019, a statue of Holmes was unveiled inChester, Illinois, United States, as part of a series of statues honouring cartoonistE. C. Segar and his characters. The statue is titled "Sherlock & Segar", and the face of the statue was modelled on Segar.[169]
In 1934, the Sherlock Holmes Society (in London) and theBaker Street Irregulars (in New York) were founded. The latter is still active. The Sherlock Holmes Society was dissolved later in the 1930s, but was succeeded by a society with a slightly different name, the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, which was founded in 1951 and remains active.[170][171] These societies were followed by many more, first in the US (where they are known as "scion societies"—offshoots—of the Baker Street Irregulars) and then in England and Denmark. There are at least 250 societies worldwide, including Australia, Canada (such asThe Bootmakers of Toronto), India, and Japan.[172] Fans tend to be called "Holmesians" in the UK and "Sherlockians" in the US,[173][174][175] though recently "Sherlockian" has also come to refer to fans of theBenedict Cumberbatch-led BBC series regardless of location.[176]
Although Holmes is not the original fictional detective, his name has become synonymous with the role. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories introduced multiple literary devices that have become major conventions in detective fiction, such as the companion character who is not as clever as the detective and has solutions explained to him (thus informing the reader as well), as withDr. Watson in the Holmes stories. Other conventions introduced by Doyle include the arch-criminal who is too clever for the official police to defeat, like Holmes's adversaryProfessor Moriarty, and the use of forensic science to solve cases.[1]
The Sherlock Holmes stories established crime fiction as a respectable genre popular with readers of all backgrounds, and Doyle's success inspired many contemporary detective stories.[177] Holmes influenced the creation of other "eccentricgentleman detective" characters, likeAgatha Christie's fictional detectiveHercule Poirot, introduced in 1920.[178] Holmes also inspired a number of anti-hero characters "almost as an antidote to the masterful detective", such as thegentleman thief charactersA. J. Raffles (created byE. W. Hornung in 1898) andArsène Lupin (created byMaurice Leblanc in 1905).[177]
The phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" has become one of the most quoted and iconic aspects of the character. However, although Holmes often observes that his conclusions are "elementary", and occasionally calls Watson "my dear Watson", the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" is never uttered in any of the sixty stories by Conan Doyle.[179] One of the nearest approximations of the phrase appears in "The Adventure of the Crooked Man" (1893) when Holmes explains a deduction: "'I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson,' said he [Holmes]. [...] 'Excellent,' I [Watson] cried. 'Elementary,' said he."[180][181][182]
William Gillette is widely considered to have originated the phrase with the formulation, "Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow", allegedly in his 1899 playSherlock Holmes. However, the script wasrevised many times over the course of some three decades of revivals and publications, and the phrase is present in some versions of the script, but not others.[179] The appearance of the line "Elementary, my dear Potson" in a Sherlock Holmes parody from 1901 has led some authors to speculate that, rather than this being an incidental formulation, the parodist drew upon an already well-established occurrences of "Elementary, my dear Watson."[183][184]
The exact phrase, as well as close variants, can be seen in newspaper and journal articles as early as 1909.[179][185] It was also used byP. G. Wodehouse in his novelPsmith, Journalist, which was first serialised inThe Captain magazine between October 1909 and February 1910; the phrase occurred in the January 1910 instalment. The phrase became familiar with the American public in part due to its use inthe Rathbone-Bruce series of films from 1939 to 1946.[186]
Conan Doyle's 56 short stories and four novels are known as the "canon" by Holmes aficionados. The Great Game (also known as the Holmesian Game, the Sherlockian Game, or simply the Game, also the Higher Criticism) applies the methods of literary and especiallyBiblical criticism to the canon, operating on the pretense that Holmes and Watson were real people and that Conan Doyle was not the author of the stories but Watson'sliterary agent. From this basis, it attempts to resolve or explain away contradictions in the canon—such as the location of Watson's war wound, described as being in his shoulder inA Study in Scarlet and in his leg inThe Sign of Four—and clarify details about Holmes, Watson and their world, such as the exact dates of events in the stories, combining historical research with references from the stories to construct scholarly analyses.[187][188][189]
For example, one detail analyzed in the Game is Holmes's birth date. The chronology of the stories is notoriously difficult, with many stories lacking dates and many others containing contradictory ones.Christopher Morley andWilliam Baring-Gould contend that the detective was born on 6 January 1854, the year being derived from the statement in "His Last Bow" that he was 60 years of age in 1914, while the precise day is derived from broader, non-canonical speculation.[190] This is the date the Baker Street Irregulars work from, with their annual dinner being held each January.[191][192]Laurie R. King instead argues that details in "TheGloria Scott" (a story with no precise internal date) indicate that Holmes finished his second (and final) year of university in 1880 or 1885. If he began university at age 17, his birth year could be as late as 1868.[193]
Museums and special collections
For the 1951Festival of Britain, Holmes'sliving room was reconstructed as part of a Sherlock Holmes exhibition, with a collection of original material. After the festival, items were transferred toThe Sherlock Holmes (a London pub) and the Conan Doyle collection housed inLucens, Switzerland, by the author's son,Adrian. Both exhibitions, each with a Baker Street sitting-room reconstruction, are open to the public.[194]
In 1969, theToronto Reference Library began a collection of materials related to Conan Doyle. Stored today in Room 221B, this vast collection is accessible to the public.[195] Similarly, in 1974 theUniversity of Minnesota founded a collection that is now "the world's largest gathering of material related to Sherlock Holmes and his creator". Access is closed to the general public, but is occasionally open to tours.[196][197]
In 1990, theSherlock Holmes Museum opened on Baker Street in London, followed the next year by a museum inMeiringen (near the Reichenbach Falls) dedicated to the detective.[194] A private Conan Doyle collection is a permanent exhibit at thePortsmouth City Museum, where the author lived and worked as a physician.[198]
Postcolonial criticism
The Sherlock Holmes stories have been scrutinized by a few academics for themes of empire and colonialism.
Susan Cannon Harris claims that themes of contagion and containment are common in the Holmes series, including the metaphors of Eastern foreigners as the root cause of "infection" within and around Europe.[199] Lauren Raheja, writing in the Marxist journalNature, Society, and Thought, claims that Doyle used these characteristics to paint eastern colonies in a negative light, through their continually being the source of threats. For example, in one story, Doyle makes mention of theSumatran cannibals (also known asBatak) who throw poisonous darts, and in "The Speckled Band", a "long residence in the tropics" was a negative influence on one antagonist's bad temper.[200] Yumna Siddiqi argues that Doyle depicted returned colonials as "marginal, physically ravaged characters that threaten the peace", while putting non-colonials in a much more positive light.[201]
Adaptations and derived works
The popularity of Sherlock Holmes has meant that many writers other than Arthur Conan Doyle have created tales of the detective in a wide variety of different media, with varying degrees of fidelity to the original characters, stories, and setting. The first knownpastiche dates from 1891. Titled "My Evening with Sherlock Holmes", it was written by Conan Doyle's close friendJ. M. Barrie.[202]
The first translation of a Sherlock Holmes story into a Chinese variety was done byChinese Progress in 1896. That publication rendered the name as 呵爾唔斯, which would be 呵尔唔斯 inSimplified Chinese and Hē'ěrwúsī inModern Standard Mandarin. Shanghai Civilization Books later issued versions rendering Holmes's name differently, as 福爾摩斯 inTraditional Chinese, which would be 福尔摩斯 in Simplified Chinese and Fú'ěrmósī in Modern Standard Mandarin; this version became the common way of rendering "Holmes" in Chinese languages.[207]
In 1980'sThe Name of the Rose, Italian authorUmberto Eco creates a Sherlock Holmes of the 1320s in the form of a Franciscan friar and main protagonist named BrotherWilliam of Baskerville, his name a clear reference to Holmes perThe Hound of the Baskervilles.[216] Brother William investigates a series of murders in the abbey alongside his novice Adso of Melk, who acts as hisDr. Watson. Furthermore, Umberto Eco's description of Brother William bears marked similarities in both physique and personality to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's description of Sherlock Holmes inA Study in Scarlet.[217]
Laurie R. King recreated Holmes in herMary Russell series (beginning with 1994'sThe Beekeeper's Apprentice), set during the First World War and the 1920s. Her Holmes, semi-retired in Sussex, meets a teenage American girl. Recognising a kindred spirit, he trains her as his apprentice and subsequently marries her. As of 2024, the series includes eighteen base novels and additional writings.[218]
The Final Solution, a 2004 novella byMichael Chabon, concerns an unnamed but long-retired detective interested inbeekeeping who tackles the case of a missing parrot belonging to a Jewish refugee boy.[219]Mitch Cullin's novelA Slight Trick of the Mind (2005) takes place two years after the end of theSecond World War and explores an old and frail Sherlock Holmes (now 93) as he comes to terms with a life spent in emotionless logic;[220] this was also adapted into a film, 2015'sMr. Holmes.[221]
Minor characters
Some authors have written tales centred on characters from the canon other than Holmes. Anthologies edited byMichael Kurland andGeorge Mann are entirely devoted to stories told from the perspective of characters other than Holmes and Watson.John Gardner, Michael Kurland, andKim Newman, amongst many others, have all written tales in which Holmes's nemesisProfessor Moriarty is the main character.Mycroft Holmes has been the subject of several efforts:Enter the Lion byMichael P. Hodel and Sean M. Wright (1979),[222] a four-book series byQuinn Fawcett,[223] and 2015'sMycroft Holmes, byKareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse.[224]M. J. Trow has written a series of seventeen books usingInspector Lestrade as the central character, beginning withThe Adventures of Inspector Lestrade in 1985.[225]Carole Nelson Douglas' Irene Adler series is based on "the woman" from "A Scandal in Bohemia", with the first book (1990'sGood Night, Mr. Holmes) retelling that story from Adler's point of view.[226]Martin Davies has written three novels where Baker Street housekeeperMrs. Hudson is the protagonist.[227]
Parodies
A popular form of Holmesian pastiche is theparody. "My Evening with Sherlock Holmes", byJ. M. Barrie, was released in 1891, four years after Holmes first appearance in print and four months after "A Scandal in Bohemia" appeared inThe Strand; it is generally considered a parody.[202][228] Many others soon followed, with the protagonists often given thinly veiled names such as Sherlaw Kombs (byRobert Barr),[229] Picklock Holes (byR. C. Lehmann), Shamrock Jolnes (byO. Henry), Holmlock Shears, Shylock Homes, and so on.[230]
Conan Doyle himself contributed to this style, with 1898's "The Lost Special" featuring an unnamed "amateur reasoner" intended to be identified by his readers as Holmes. The author's explanation of a baffling disappearance argued in Holmesian style poked fun at his own creation. Similar Conan Doyle short stories are "The Field Bazaar", "The Man with the Watches", and 1924's "How Watson Learned the Trick", a parody of the Watson–Holmes breakfast-table scenes.[209]
In 1944, American mystery writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee (writing under their joint pseudonymEllery Queen) publishedThe Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of thirty-three pastiches written by various well-known authors, featuring many parodies.[231][232]
Scholarly works
There have been many scholarly works dealing with Sherlock Holmes, some working within the bounds of the Great Game, and some written from the perspective that Holmes is a fictional character. In particular, there have been three major annotated editions of the complete series. The first was William Baring-Gould's 1967The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. This two-volume set was ordered to fit Baring-Gould's preferred chronology, and was written from a Great Game perspective. The second was 1993'sThe Oxford Sherlock Holmes (general editor:Owen Dudley Edwards), a nine-volume set written in a straight scholarly manner. The most recent isLeslie Klinger'sThe New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (2004–05), a three-volume set that returns to a Great Game perspective.[233][234]
Poster for the 1899 playSherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle and actor William Gillette
In 2012,Guinness World Records listed Holmes as the most portrayed literary human character in film and television history, with more than 75 actors playing the part in over 250 productions.[3]
The 1899 playSherlock Holmes, by Conan Doyle andWilliam Gillette, was a synthesis of several Conan Doyle stories. In addition to its popularity, the play is significant because it, rather than the original stories, introduced one of the key visual qualities commonly associated with Holmes today: hiscalabash pipe;[235] the play also formed the basis for Gillette's 1916 film,Sherlock Holmes. Gillette performed as Holmes some 1,300 times. In the early 1900s,H. A. Saintsbury took over the role from Gillette for a tour of the play. Between this play and Conan Doyle's own stage adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", Saintsbury portrayed Holmes over 1,000 times.[236]
In the 2004–2012Fox's showHouse, the titular characterGregory House is an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes in a medical drama setting. The two characters sharemany parallels and House's name is a play on Holmes' one.[250][251]
Benedict Cumberbatch plays a modern version of the detective andMartin Freeman as a modern version of John Watson in theBBC One TV seriesSherlock, which premiered in 2010. In the series, created byMark Gatiss andSteven Moffat, the stories' originalVictorian setting is replaced by present-day London, with Watson a veteran of the modernWar in Afghanistan.[253] Similarly,Elementary premiered onCBS in 2012 and ran for seven seasons until 2019. Set in contemporaryNew York City, the series starsJonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes andLucy Liu as a female Dr. Joan Watson.[254] The series was filmed primarily in New York City, and, by the end of season two, Miller became the actor who had portrayed Sherlock Holmes the most in television and/or film.[255]
The 2018 television adaptation,Miss Sherlock, was a Japanese-language production and the first adaptation with a woman (portrayed byYūko Takeuchi) in the signature role. The episodes were based in modern-day Tokyo, with many references to Conan Doyle's stories.[258][259]
Holmes has also appeared in video games, including theSherlock Holmes series of eight main titles. According to the publisher,Frogwares, by 2017 the series sold over seven million copies.[260]
Copyright issues
The copyright for Conan Doyle's works expired in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia at the end of 1980, fifty years after Conan Doyle's death.[261][262] In the United Kingdom, it was revived in 1996 due tonew provisions harmonising UK law with that of the European Union, and expired again at the end of 2000 (seventy years after Conan Doyle's death).[263] The author's works are now in thepublic domain in those countries.[264][265]
In the United States, all works published before 1923 entered public domain by 1998, but, as ten Holmes stories were published after that date, the Conan Doyle estate maintained that the Holmes and Watson characters as a whole were still under copyright.[262][266] In 2013,Leslie S. Klinger (lawyer and editor ofThe New Annotated Sherlock Holmes)sued the Conan Doyle estate in order to have the characters of Holmes and Watson declared public domain in the United States. Klinger was successful: as a result, the only stories still under copyright in the US due to the ruling, as of that time, were those collected inThe Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes other than "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" and "The Problem of Thor Bridge": a total of ten stories.[265][267][268]
In 2020, although the United States court ruling and the passage of time meant that most of the Holmes stories and characters were in the public domain in that country, the Doyle estate legally challenged the use of Sherlock Holmes in the filmEnola Holmes in a complaint filed in the United States.[269] The Doyle estate alleged that the film depicts Holmes with personality traits that were only exhibited by the character in the stories still under copyright.[270][271] On 18 December 2020, the lawsuit wasdismissed with prejudice bystipulation of all parties.[272][273]
The remaining ten Holmes stories moved out of copyright in the United States between 1 January 2019 and 1 January 2023, leaving the stories and characters completely in the public domain in the US as of the latter date.[274][275][276]
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^Klinger II, p. 1581—"The Adventure of the Three Garridebs"
^In "The Naval Treaty" (Klinger I p. 691), Holmes remarks that, of his last fifty-three cases, the police have had all the credit in forty-nine.
^Walsh, Michael."Professor James Moriarty".The Official Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved27 December 2019.
^Klinger II, p. 1448—The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes
^Diniejko, Andrzej (13 December 2013)."Sherlock Holmes's Addictions".The Victorian Web.Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved27 December 2019.
^Diniejko, Andrzej (7 September 2002)."Victorian Drug Use".The Victorian Web.Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved27 December 2019.
^Bennett, Bo."Pseudo-Logical Fallacies".Logicallyfallacious.com. Logically Fallacious.Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved31 July 2020.
^Cannon-Brookes, Peter (11 April 2017)."Irena Sedlecka".The Atelier Sale of Franta Belsky and Irena Sedlecka. Oxford: Mallams. p. 33.Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved6 August 2020.
^abSmith, Daniel (2014) [2009].The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide (Updated ed.). London: Aurum Press. pp. 107–108.ISBN978-1-78131-404-3.
^Jann, Rosemary (1995).The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Detecting Social Order. Twayne Publishers. p. 16.ISBN978-0805783841.
^Montague, Sarah (13 January 2011)."A Study in Sherlock". WNYC: New York, New York Public Radio.Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved14 June 2018.
^Raheja, Lauren. "Anxieties of Empire in Doyle's Tales of Sherlock Holmes".Nature, Society, and Thought, vol. 19, no. 4, 2006, p. 417, ProQuest Central.
^Nevins, Francis M. (2013).Ellery Queen: The Art of Detection: The story of how two fractious cousins reshaped the modern detective novel. Perfect Crime Books.ISBN978-1-935797-47-0.
^Starrett, Vincent (1933).The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Otto Penzler Books (published 1993). p. 156.ISBN1-883402-05-0.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Accardo, Pasquale J. (1987).Diagnosis and Detection: Medical Iconography of Sherlock Holmes. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.ISBN0-517-50291-7.
Campbell, Mark (2007).Sherlock Holmes. London: Pocket Essentials.ISBN978-0-470-12823-7.
Dakin, David (1972).A Sherlock Holmes Commentary. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.ISBN0-7153-5493-0.
Duncan, Alistair (2008).Eliminate the Impossible: An Examination of the World of Sherlock Holmes on Page and Screen. London: MX Publishing.ISBN978-1-904312-31-4.
Duncan, Alistair (2009).Close to Holmes: A Look at the Connections Between Historical London, Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. London: MX Publishing.ISBN978-1-904312-50-5.
Duncan, Alistair (2010).The Norwood Author: Arthur Conan Doyle and the Norwood Years (1891–1894). London: MX Publishing.ISBN978-1-904312-69-7.
Fenoli Marc, Qui a tué Sherlock Holmes ? [Who shot Sherlock Holmes ?], Review L'Alpe 45, Glénat-Musée Dauphinois, Grenoble-France, 2009.ISBN978-2-7234-6902-9
Green, Richard Lancelyn (1987).The Sherlock Holmes Letters. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.ISBN0-87745-161-3.
Hall, Trevor (1969).Sherlock Holmes: Ten Literary Studies. London: Duckworth.ISBN0-7156-0469-4.
Hall, Trevor (1977).Sherlock Holmes and his Creator. New York: St Martin's Press.ISBN0-312-71719-9.
Hammer, David (1995).The Before-Breakfast Pipe of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. London: Wessex Pr.ISBN0-938501-21-6.
Harrison, Michael (1973).The World of Sherlock Holmes. London: Frederick Muller Ltd.
Jones, Kelvin (1987).Sherlock Holmes and the Kent Railways. Sittingborne, Kent: Meresborough Books.ISBN0-948193-25-5.
McClure, Michael (2020).Sherlock Holmes and the Cryptic Clues. Chester, IL: Baskerville Productions.ISBN978-0-9981084-7-6.
Mitchelson, Austin (1994).The Baker Street Irregular: Unauthorised Biography of Sherlock Holmes. Romford: Ian Henry Publications Ltd.ISBN0-8021-4325-3.
Payne, David S. (1992).Myth and Modern Man in Sherlock Holmes: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Uses of Nostalgia. Bloomington, Ind: Gaslight's Publications.ISBN0-934468-29-X.
Redmond, Christopher (1987).In Bed with Sherlock Holmes: Sexual Elements in Conan Doyle's Stories. London: Players Press.ISBN0-8021-4325-3.
Riley, Peter (2005).The Highways and Byways of Sherlock Holmes. London: P.&D. Riley.ISBN978-1-874712-78-7.
Roy, Pinaki (2008).The Manichean Investigators: A Postcolonial and Cultural Rereading of the Sherlock Holmes and Byomkesh Bakshi Stories. New Delhi: Sarup and Sons.ISBN978-81-7625-849-4.
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