Explicit details about Sherlock Holmes's life outside of the adventures recorded

by Dr. Watson are few and far between in Conan Doyle's original stories; nevert
heless, incidental details about his early life and extended families portray a
loose biographical picture of the detective.
An estimate of Holmes' age in the story "His Last Bow" places his birth in 1854;
the story is set in August 1914 and he is described as being 60 years of age. C
ommonly, the date is cited as January 6.[4] However, an argument for a later bir
thdate is posited by author Laurie R. King, based on two of Conan Doyle's storie
s: A Study in Scarlet and "The Gloria Scott" Adventure. Certain details in "The
Gloria Scott" Adventure indicate Holmes finished his second and final year at un
iversity in either 1880 or 1885. Watson's own account of his wounding in the Sec
ond Afghan War and subsequent return to England in A Study in Scarlet place his
moving in with Holmes in either early 1881 or 1882. Together, these suggest Holm
es left university in 1880; if he began university at the age of 17, his birth y
ear would likely be 1861.[5]
Holmes states that he first developed his methods of deduction while an undergra
duate. The author Dorothy L. Sayers suggested that, given details in two of the
Adventures, Holmes must have been at Cambridge rather than Oxford and that "of a
ll the Cambridge colleges, Sidney Sussex (College) perhaps offered the greatest
number of advantages to a man in Holmes’ position and, in default of more exact in
formation, we may tentatively place him there".[6]
His earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from fellow university
students.[7] According to Holmes, it was an encounter with the father of one of
his classmates that led him to take up detection as a profession,[8] and he spen
t the six years following university working as a consulting detective, before f
inancial difficulties led him to take Watson as a roommate, at which point the n
arrative of the stories begins.
From 1881, Holmes was described as having lodgings at 221B, Baker Street, London
, from where he runs his consulting detective service. 221B is an apartment up 1
7 steps, stated in an early manuscript to be at the "upper end" of the road. Unt
il the arrival of Dr. Watson, Holmes worked alone, only occasionally employing a
gents from the city s underclass, including a host of informants and a group of
street children he calls "the Baker Street Irregulars". The Irregulars appear in
three stories: "A Study in Scarlet," "The Sign of the Four," and "The Adventure
of the Crooked Man".
Little is said of Holmes s family. His parents were unmentioned in the stories a
nd he merely states that his ancestors were "country squires". In "The Adventure
of the Greek Interpreter", Holmes claims that his great-uncle was Vernet, the F
rench artist. His brother, Mycroft, seven years his senior, is a government offi
cial who appears in three stories[9] and is mentioned in one other story.[10] My
croft has a unique civil service position as a kind of memory-man or walking dat
abase for all aspects of government policy. Mycroft is described as even more gi
fted than Sherlock in matters of observation and deduction, but he lacks Sherloc
k s drive and energy, preferring to spend his time at ease in the Diogenes Club,
described as "a club for the most un-clubbable men in London."
A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from The Strand Magazine, 1891 in
"The Man with the Twisted Lip".
Life with Dr. Watson
Holmes shares the majority of his professional years with his good friend and ch
ronicler Dr. John H. Watson, who lives with Holmes for some time before his marr
iage in 1887, and again after his wife s death; his residence is maintained by h
is landlady, Mrs. Hudson.
Watson has two roles in Holmes s life. First, he gives practical assistance in t
he conduct of his cases; he is the detective s right-hand man, acting variously
as look-out, decoy, accomplice and messenger. Second, he is Holmes s chronicler
(his "Boswell" as Holmes refers to him). Most of the Holmes stories are frame na
rratives, written from Watson s point of view as summaries of the detective s mo
st interesting cases. Holmes is often described as criticising Watson s writings
as sensational and populist, suggesting that they neglect to accurately and obj
ectively report the pure calculating "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 Sc
arlet"] with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a
love-story ... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of p
roportion 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.[11]
—Sherlock Holmes on John Watson s "pamphlet", "A Study in Scarlet".
Nevertheless, Holmes s friendship with Watson is his most significant relationsh
ip. In several stories, Holmes s fondness for Watson—often hidden beneath his cold
, intellectual exterior—is revealed. For instance, in "The Adventure of the Three
Garridebs", Watson is wounded in a confrontation with a villain; although the bu
llet wound proves to be "quite superficial", Watson is moved by Holmes s reactio
n:
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 g
limpse 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.
In all, Holmes is described as being in active practice for 23 years, with Watso
n documenting his cases for 17 of them.[12]
Retirement
In "His Last Bow", Holmes has retired to a bee farm on the Sussex Downs in 1903–19
04, where he takes up the hobby of beekeeping as his primary occupation, eventua
lly producing a "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations upon
the Segregation of the Queen". The story features Holmes and Watson coming out o
f retirement one last time to aid the war effort. Only one adventure, "The Adven
ture of the Lion s Mane", which is narrated by Holmes as he pursues the case as
an amateur, takes place during the detective s retirement.
Habits and personality
Watson describes Holmes as "bohemian" in habits and lifestyle. According to Wats
on, Holmes is an eccentric, with no regard for contemporary standards of tidines
s or good order. In The Musgrave Ritual, Watson describes Holmes thus:
Although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of
mankind ... [he] keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe e
nd 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 dest
roying documents.... Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every
corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no accou
nt to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner.[7]
What appears to others as chaos, however, is to Holmes a wealth of useful inform
ation. Throughout the stories, Holmes would dive into his apparent mess of rando
m papers and artefacts, only to retrieve precisely the specific document or ecle
ctic item he was looking for.
Watson frequently makes note of Holmes s erratic eating habits. The detective is
often described as starving himself at times of intense intellectual activity,
such as during "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", wherein, according to Wat
son:
[Holmes] had no breakfast for himself, for it was one of his peculiarities t
hat in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have know
n him to presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition
.[13]
His chronicler does not consider Holmes s habitual use of a pipe, or his less fr
equent use of cigarettes and cigars, a vice. Nor does Watson condemn Holmes s wi
llingness to bend the truth or break the law on behalf of a client (e.g., lying
to the police, concealing evidence or breaking into houses) when he feels it mor
ally justifiable.[14] Even so, it is obvious that Watson has stricter limits tha
n Holmes, and occasionally berated Holmes for creating a "poisonous atmosphere"
of tobacco smoke.[15] Holmes himself references Watson s moderation in "The Adve
nture of the Devil s Foot", saying, "I think, Watson, that I shall resume that c
ourse of tobacco-poisoning which you have so often and so justly condemned." Wat
son also did not condone Holmes s plans when they manipulated innocent people, s
uch as when he toyed with a young woman s heart in The Adventure of Charles Augu
stus Milverton although it was done with noble intentions to save many other you
ng women from the clutches of the villainous Milverton.
Holmes is portrayed as a patriot acting on behalf of the government in matters o
f national security in a number of stories.[16] He also carries out counter-inte
lligence work in His Last Bow, set at the beginning of the First World War. As s
hooting practice, the detective adorned the wall of his Baker Street lodgings wi
th "VR" (Victoria Regina) in bullet pocks made by his pistol.[7]
Holmes has an ego that at times borders on arrogant, albeit with justification;
he draws pleasure from baffling police inspectors with his superior deductions.
He does not seek fame, however, and is usually content to allow the police to ta
ke public credit for his work. It s often only when Watson publishes his stories
that Holmes s role in the case becomes apparent.[17]
Holmes is pleased when he is recognised for having superior skills and responds
to flattery, as Watson remarks, as a girl does to comments upon her beauty.
Holmes s demeanour is presented as dispassionate and cold. Yet when in the midst
of an adventure, Holmes can sparkle with remarkable passion. He has a flair for
showmanship and will prepare elaborate traps to capture and expose a culprit, o
ften to impress Watson or one of the Scotland Yard inspectors.[18]
Holmes is a loner and does not strive to make friends. He attributes his solitar
y ways to his particular interests and his mopey disposition. In The Adventure o
f the Gloria Scott, he tells Watson that during two years at college, he made on
ly one friend, Victor Trevor. Holmes says, "I was never a very sociable fellow,
Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms and working out my own little m
ethods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year;... my lin
e of study was quite distinct from that of the other fellows, so that we had no
points of contact at all." He is similarly described in A Study in Scarlet as di
fficult to draw out by young Stamford.
Holmes emotional state/mental health has been a topic of analysis for decades.
At their first meeting in A Study in Scarlet, the detective warns Watson that he
gets "in the dumps at times" and doesn t open his "mouth for days on end." Many
readers and literary experts have suggested Holmes showed signs of manic depres
sive psychosis, with moments of intense enthusiasm coupled with instances of ind
olent self absorption. Other modern readers have speculated that Holmes may have
 Asperger s syndrome based on his intense attention to details, lack of interest
in interpersonal relationships and tendency to speak in long monologues.[19] Th
e detective s isolation and near-gynophobic distrust of women is said to suggest
the desire to escape; Holmes "biographer" William Baring-Gould and others, incl
uding Nicholas Meyer, author of the Seven Percent Solution, have implied a sever
e family trauma (i.e., the murder of Holmes mother) may be the root cause.
Personal hygiene
Holmes is described in The Hound of the Baskervilles as having a "cat-like" love
of personal cleanliness. This in no way appears to hinder his intensely practic
al pursuit of his profession, however, and appears in contrast with statements t
hat, in the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, his hands are discoloured wi
th acid stains and Holmes uses drops of his own blood to conduct experiments in
chemistry and forensics.
Use of drugs
Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially when lacking stimulating ca
ses. He believes the use of cocaine stimulates his brain when it is not in use.
He is a habitual user of cocaine, which he injects in a seven-per-cent solution
using a special syringe that he keeps in a leather case. Holmes is also an occas
ional user of morphine but expressed strong disapproval on visiting an opium den
. The 2002 movie Sherlock: Case of Evil depicts him using heroin, though that ne
ver appears in the original stories. All these drugs were legal in late 19th-cen
tury England. Both Watson and Holmes are serial tobacco users, including cigaret
tes, cigars, and pipes. Holmes is expert at identifying tobacco-ash residues, ha
ving penned a monograph on the subject.
Dr. Watson strongly disapproves of his friend s cocaine habit, describing it as
the detective s "only vice" and expressing concern over its possible effect on H
olmes s mental health and superior intellect.[20][21] In later stories, Watson c
laims to have "weaned" Holmes off drugs. Even so, according to his doctor friend
, Holmes remains an addict whose habit is "not dead, but merely sleeping."[22]
Financial affairs
Holmes in his bed from "The Adventure of the Dying Detective"
Although he initially needed Watson to share the rent of his comfortable residen
ce at 221B Baker Street, Watson reveals in "The Adventure of the Dying Detective
", when Holmes was living alone, that "I have no doubt that the house might have
been purchased at the price which Holmes paid for his rooms," suggesting he had
developed a good income from his practice, although it is seldom revealed exact
ly how much he charges for his services. In "A Scandal in Bohemia", he is paid t
he staggering sum of one thousand pounds (300 in gold and 700 in notes) as advan
ce payment for "present expenses". In "The Problem of Thor Bridge" he avers: "My
professional charges are upon a fixed scale. I do not vary them, save when I re
mit them altogether".[23]
This is said in a context where a client is offering to double his fees; however
, it is likely that rich clients provided Holmes a remuneration greatly in exces
s of his standard fee. For example, in "The Adventure of the Final Problem", Hol
mes states that his services to the government of France and the royal house of
Scandinavia had left him with enough money to retire comfortably, while in "The
Adventure of Black Peter", Watson notes that Holmes would refuse to help the wea
lthy and powerful if their cases did not interest him, while he could devote wee
ks at a time to the cases of the most humble clients. Holmes also tells Watson,
in "A Case of Identity", of a golden snuff box received from the King of Bohemia
after "A Scandal in Bohemia" and a fabulous ring from the Dutch royal family; i
n "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans", Holmes receives an emerald tie-
pin from Queen Victoria. Other mementos of Holmes s cases are a gold sovereign f
rom Irene Adler ("A Scandal in Bohemia") and an autographed letter of thanks fro
m the French President and a Legion of Honour for tracking down an assassin name
d Huret ("The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"). In "The Adventure of the Prio
ry School", Holmes "rubs his hands with glee" when the Duke of Holdernesse notes
the 5000 pound sterling sum, which surprises even Watson, and then pats the che
que, saying, "I am a poor man", an incident that could be dismissed as represent
ative of Holmes s tendency toward sarcastic humour. Certainly, in the course of
his career Holmes had worked for both the most powerful monarchs and governments
of Europe (including his own) and various wealthy aristocrats and industrialist
s and had also been consulted by impoverished pawnbrokers and humble governesses
on the lower rungs of society.
Holmes has been known to charge clients for his expenses, and to claim any rewar
d that might be offered for the problem s solution: he says in "The Adventure of
the Speckled Band" that Miss Stoner may pay any expenses he may be put to, and
requests that the bank in "The Red-Headed League" remunerate him for the money h
e spent solving the case. Holmes has his wealthy banker client in "The Adventure
of the Beryl Coronet" pay him for the costs of recovering the stolen gems and a
lso claims the reward the banker had put for their recovery.
Relationships with women
The only woman to impress Holmes was Irene Adler, who according to Watson was al
ways referred to by Holmes as "the woman." Holmes himself is never directly quot
ed as using this term and even mentions her name in other cases. Adler is one of
the few women who are mentioned in multiple Holmes stories, appearing in person
in only one, "A Scandal in Bohemia."
In one story, "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton," Holmes is engaged t
o be married, but only to gain information for his case. Although Holmes appears
to show initial interest in some of his female clients (in particular, Violet H
unter in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches"), Watson says he inevitably "mani
fested no further interest in the client when once she had ceased to be the cent
re of one of his problems." Holmes finds their youth, beauty, and energy (and th
e cases they bring to him) invigorating, distinct from any romantic interest. Th
ese episodes show Holmes possesses a degree of charm; yet apart from the case of
Adler, there is no indication of a serious or long-term interest. Watson states
that Holmes has an "aversion to women" but "a peculiarly ingratiating way with
[them]." Holmes states, "I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind"; in fact,
he finds "the motives of women... so inscrutable.... How can you build on such
quicksand? Their most trivial actions may mean volumes;... their most extraordin
ary conduct may depend upon a hairpin."
As Doyle remarked to muse Joseph Bell, "Holmes is as inhuman as a Babbage s calc
ulating machine and just about as likely to fall in love". The only joy Holmes d
erives from the company of women is the problems they bring to him to solve. In
The Sign of the Four, Watson quotes Holmes as being "an automaton, a calculating
machine", and Holmes is quoted as saying, "It is of the first importance not to
allow your judgement to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a me
re unit—a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear r
easoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for po
isoning three little children for their insurance-money". This points to Holmes
s lack of interest in relationships with women in general, and clients in partic
ular, leading Watson to remark that "there is something positively inhuman in yo
u at times". At the end of "The Adventure of the Devil s Foot", Holmes states: "
I have never loved, Watson, but if I did and if the woman I loved had met such a
n end, I might act as our lawless lion-hunter had done". In the story, the explo
rer Dr Sterndale had killed the man who murdered his beloved, Brenda Tregennis,
to exact a revenge which the law could not provide. Watson writes in "The Advent
ure of the Dying Detective" that Mrs. Hudson is fond of Holmes in her own way, d
espite his bothersome eccentricities as a lodger, owing to his "remarkable gentl
eness and courtesy in his dealings with women". Again in The Sign of the Four, W
atson quotes Holmes as saying, "I would not tell them too much. Women are never
to be entirely trusted—not the best of them." Watson notes that while he dislikes
and distrusts them, he is nonetheless a "chivalrous opponent".
Methods of detection
Holmesian deduction
Holmes s primary intellectual detection method is induction, which Holmes rather
inaccurately calls deduction.[24] "From a drop of water", he writes, "a logicia
n could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or
heard of one or the other."[25] Holmes stories often begin with a bravura displ
ay of his talent for "deduction". It is of some interest to logicians and those
interested in logic to try to analyse just what Holmes is doing when he performs
his induction. "Holmesian deduction" appears to consist primarily of drawing in
ferences based on either straightforward practical principles—which are the result
of careful inductive study, such as Holmes s study of different kinds of cigar
ashes or inference to the best explanation.[26][27][28] One quote often heard fr
om Holmes is "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however
improbable, must be the truth".
Sherlock Holmes s straightforward practical principles are generally of the form
, "If p , then q ," where p is observed evidence and q is what the evidenc
e indicates. But there are also, as may be observed in the following example, in
termediate principles. In "A Scandal in Bohemia" Holmes deduces that Watson had
got very wet lately and that he had "a most clumsy and careless servant girl." W
hen Watson, in amazement, asks how Holmes knows this, Holmes 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 p
arallel 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. Hen
ce, 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.
In this case, Holmes employed several connected principles:
If leather on the side of a shoe is scored by several parallel cuts, it was
caused by someone who scraped around the edges of the sole in order to remove cr
usted mud.
If a London doctor s shoes are scraped to remove crusted mud, the person who
so scraped them is the doctor s servant girl.
If someone cuts a shoe while scraping it to remove encrusted mud, that perso
n is clumsy and careless.
If someone s shoes had encrusted mud on them, then they are likely to have b
een worn by him in the rain, when it is likely he became very wet.
By applying such principles in an obvious way (using repeated applications of mo
dus ponens), Holmes is able to infer from his observation that "the sides of Wat
son s shoes are scored by several parallel cuts" that:
"Watson s servant girl is clumsy and careless" and "Watson has been very wet lat
ely and has been out in vile weather".
Deductive reasoning allows Holmes to impressively reveal a stranger s occupation
, such as a Retired Sergeant of Marines in A Study in Scarlet; a former ship s c
arpenter turned pawnbroker in "The Red-Headed League"; and a billiard-marker and
a retired artillery NCO in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter". Similarly,
by studying inanimate objects, Holmes is able to make astonishingly detailed de
ductions about their owners, including Watson s pocket-watch in "The Sign of the
Four" as well as a hat,[29] a pipe,[30] and a walking stick[31] in other storie
s.
Yet Doyle is careful not to present Holmes as infallible—a central theme in "The A
dventure of the Yellow Face".[30] At the end of the tale a sobered Holmes tells
Watson, “If it should ever strike you that I am getting a little over-confident in
my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper ‘Norbu
ry’ in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you”.
Disguise
Holmes displays a strong aptitude for acting and disguise. In several stories, h
e adopts disguises to gather evidence while under cover so convincing that eve
n Watson fails to penetrate them, such as in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus
Milverton", "The Man with the Twisted Lip", "The Adventure of the Empty House" a
nd "A Scandal in Bohemia". In other adventures, Holmes feigns being wounded or i
ll to give effect to his case, or to incriminate those involved, as in "The Adve
nture of the Dying Detective".
Weapons and martial arts
Pistols
Holmes and Watson carry pistols with them; in the case of Watson often his o
ld service revolver. Watson describes these weapons as being used on seven occas
ions.[32]
Holmes brandishing a weapon
Cane
Holmes, as a gentleman, often carries a stick or cane. He is described by Wa
tson as an expert at singlestick and twice uses his cane as a weapon.[33]
Sword
In "A Study in Scarlet" Watson describes Holmes as an expert with a sword—alth
ough none of the stories have Holmes using a sword.[34] It is mentioned in "Glor
ia Scott" that Holmes practised fencing.
Riding crop
In several stories, Holmes appears equipped with a riding crop and in "A Cas
e of Identity" comes close to thrashing a swindler with it. Using a "hunting cro
p", Holmes knocks a pistol from John Clay s hand in "The Red-Headed League". In
"The Six Napoleons" it is described as his favourite weapon—he uses it to break op
en one of the plaster busts.
Fist-fighting
Holmes is described as a formidable bare-knuckle fighter. In The Sign of the
Four, Holmes introduces himself to a prize-fighter as:
"The amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison s rooms on the n
ight of your benefit four years back". McMurdo responds by saying, "Ah, you re o
ne that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had j
oined the fancy".
Holmes engages in hand-to-hand combat with his adversaries on occasions thro
ughout the stories, inevitably emerging the victor.[35] It is mentioned also in
"Gloria Scott" that Holmes trained as a boxer.
Martial arts
In "The Adventure of the Empty House", Holmes recounts to Watson how he used
martial arts to overcome Professor Moriarty and fling his adversary to his deat
h down the Reichenbach Falls. He states, "I have some knowledge, however, of bar
itsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very us
eful to me". The name "baritsu" appears to be a reference to the real-life marti
al art of Bartitsu, which combined jujitsu with Holmes canonical skills of boxi
ng and cane fencing.
Knowledge and skills
Sherlock Holmes (right) and Dr. Watson, by Sidney Paget.
In the very first story, A Study in Scarlet, something of Holmes s background is
given. In early 1881, he is presented as an independent student of chemistry wi
th a variety of very curious side interests, almost all of which turn out to be
single-mindedly bent towards making him superior at solving crimes. (When he app
ears for the first time, he is crowing with delight at having invented a new met
hod for detecting bloodstains; in other stories he indulges in recreational home
-chemistry experiments, sometimes filling the rooms with foul-smelling vapours.)
An early story, "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott", presents more background o
n what influenced Holmes to become a detective: a college friend s father richly
complimented his deductive skills. Holmes maintains strict adherence to scienti
fic methods and focuses on logic and the powers of observation and deduction.
Holmes also makes use of phrenology, which was widely popular in Victorian times
but now regarded as pseudo-scientific: In "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"
, he infers from the large size of a man s hat that the owner is intelligent and
intellectually inclined, on the grounds that “a man with so large a brain must ha
ve something in it”.
In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes claims he does not know that the Earth revolves ar
ound the Sun, as such information is irrelevant to his work. Directly after havi
ng heard that fact from Watson, he says he will immediately try to forget it. He
says he believes that the mind has a finite capacity for information storage, a
nd so learning useless things would merely reduce his ability to learn useful th
ings. Dr. Watson subsequently assesses Holmes s abilities thus:
Knowledge of Literature — nil.
Knowledge of Philosophy — nil.
Knowledge of Astronomy — nil.
Knowledge of Politics — Feeble.
Knowledge of Botany — Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium and poisons g
enerally. 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, an
d told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received
them.
Knowledge of Chemistry — Profound.
Knowledge of Anatomy — Accurate, but unsystematic.
Knowledge of Sensational Literature — Immense. He appears to know every de
tail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
Plays the violin well.
Is an expert singlestick player, boxer and swordsman.
Has a good practical knowledge of British law.

--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

At the very end of A Study in Scarlet itself, it is shown that Holmes knows Lati
n and needs no translation of Roman epigrams in the original—though knowledge of t
he language would be of dubious direct utility for detective work; all universit
y students were required to learn Latin at that time.
Later stories also contradict the list. Despite Holmes s supposed ignorance of p
olitics, in "A Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognises the true identity o
f the supposed "Count von Kramm". Regarding nonsensational literature, his speec
h is replete with references to the Bible, Shakespeare, even Goethe. He is able
to quote from a letter of Flaubert to George Sand and in the original French.
Moreover, in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" Watson reports that i
n November 1895 "Holmes lost himself in a monograph which he had undertaken upon
the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus"—a most esoteric field, for which Holmes would ha
ve had to "clutter his memory" with an enormous amount of information which had
absolutely nothing to do with crime-fighting—knowledge so extensive that his monog
raph was regarded as "the last word" on the subject.[36] The later stories aband
on the notion that Holmes did not want to know anything unless it had immediate
relevance for his profession; in the second chapter of The Valley of Fear, Holme
s instead declares that "all knowledge comes useful to the detective", and near
the end of "The Adventure of the Lion s Mane" he describes himself as "an omnivo
rous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles".
Holmes is also a competent cryptanalyst. He relates to Watson, "I am fairly fami
liar with all forms of secret writing, and am myself the author of a trifling mo
nograph upon the subject, in which I analyse one hundred and sixty separate ciph
ers." One such scheme is solved using frequency analysis in "The Adventure of th
e Dancing Men".
Holmes s analysis of physical evidence is both scientific and precise. His metho
ds include the use of latent prints such as footprints, hoof prints and bicycle
tracks to identify actions at a crime scene (A Study in Scarlet, "The Adventure
of Silver Blaze", "The Adventure of the Priory School", The Hound of the Baskerv
illes, "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"), the use of tobacco ashes and cigarette bu
tts to identify criminals ("The Adventure of the Resident Patient", The Hound of
the Baskervilles), the comparison of typewritten letters to expose a fraud ("A
Case of Identity"), the use of gunpowder residue to expose two murderers ("The A
dventure of the Reigate Squire"), bullet comparison from two crime scenes ("The
Adventure of the Empty House"), analysis of small pieces of human remains to exp
ose two murders (The Adventure of the Cardboard Box) and even an early use of fi
ngerprints ("The Norwood Builder"). Holmes also demonstrates knowledge of psycho
logy in "A Scandal in Bohemia", luring Irene Adler into betraying where she had
hidden a photograph based on the "premise" that an unmarried woman will seek her
most valuable possession in case of fire, whereas a married woman will grab her
baby instead.
Despite the excitement of his life (or perhaps seeking to leave it behind), Holm
es retired to the Sussex Downs to take up beekeeping ("The Second Stain") and wr
ote a book on the subject entitled "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some
Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen".[37] His search for relaxation
can also be seen in his love for music, notably in "The Red-Headed League", wher
ein Holmes takes an evening off from a case to listen to Pablo de Sarasate play
violin.[citation needed]
He also enjoys vocal music, particularly Wagner ("The Adventure of the Red Circl
e").
The film Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which speculates about Holmes s youthful
adventures, shows Holmes as a brilliant secondary school student.
Influence
Forensic science
1852 microscope
Sherlock Holmes remains a great inspiration for forensic science, especially for
the way his acute study of a crime scene yields small clues as to the precise s
equence of events. He makes great use of trace evidence such as shoe and tire im
pressions, as well as fingerprints, ballistics and handwriting analysis, now kno
wn as questioned document examination. Such evidence is used to test theories co
nceived by the police, for example, or by the investigator himself. All of the t
echniques advocated by Holmes would later become reality, but were generally in
their infancy at the time Conan Doyle was writing. In many of his reported cases
, Holmes frequently complains of the way the crime scene has been contaminated b
y others, especially by the police, emphasising the critical importance of maint
aining its integrity, a now well-known feature of crime scene examination.
Owing to the small scale of the trace evidence (such as tobacco ash, hair or fin
gerprints), he often uses a magnifying glass at the scene, and an optical micros
cope back at his lodgings in Baker Street. He uses analytical chemistry for bloo
d residue analysis as well as toxicology examination and determination for poiso
ns. Holmes seems to have maintained a small chemistry laboratory in his lodgings
, presumably using simple wet chemical methods for detection of specific toxins,
for example. Ballistics is used when spent bullets can be recovered, and their
calibre measured and matched with a suspect murder weapon.
Holmes was also very perceptive of the dress and demeanour of his clients and ot
hers, noting style and state of wear of their clothes, any contamination (such a
s clay on boots), their state of mind and physical condition in order to infer t
heir origin and recent history. Skin marks such as tattoos could reveal much abo
ut their past history. He applied the same method to personal items such as walk
ing sticks (famously in The Hound of the Baskervilles) or hats (in the case of T
he Blue Carbuncle), with small details such as medallions, wear and contaminatio
n yielding vital indicators of their absent owners.
An omission from the stories is the use of forensic photography. Even before Hol
mes s time, high quality photography was used to record accident scenes, as in t
he Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, for example, and it was widely used to record th
e faces of criminals to build index files, as well as crime scenes, especially t
hose involving homicide (such as the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888).
In 2002, the Royal Society of Chemistry bestowed a posthumous honorary fellowshi
p of their organisation upon Sherlock Holmes, for his use of forensic science an
d analytical chemistry in popular literature, making him the first and only (as
of 2010) fictional character to be thus honoured.
Role in the history of the detective story
Auguste Dupin in "The Purloined Letter"
Although Sherlock Holmes is not the original fiction detective (he was influence
d by Edgar Allan Poe s C. Auguste Dupin and Émile Gaboriau s Monsieur Lecoq), his
name has become a byword for the part. His stories also include several detectiv
e story characters such as the loyal but less intelligent assistant, a role for
which Dr Watson has become the archetype. The investigating detective became a p
opular genre with many authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers after
the demise of Holmes, with characters such as Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wims
ey. Forensic methods became less important than the psychology of the criminal,
despite the strong growth in forensics in use by the police in the early 20th ce
ntury.
Scientific literature
Sherlock Holmes has occasionally been used in the scientific literature. John Ra
dford (1999)[38] speculates on his intelligence. Using Conan Doyle’s stories as da
ta, Radford applies three different methods to estimate Sherlock Holmes’s IQ, and
concludes that his intelligence was very high indeed, estimated at approximately
190 points. Snyder (2004)[39] examines Holmes’ methods in the light of the scienc
e and the criminology of the mid to late 19th century. Kempster (2006)[40] compa
res neurologists’ skills with those displayed by Holmes. Finally, Didierjean and G
obet (2008)[41] review the literature on the psychology of expertise by taking a
s model a fictional expert: Sherlock Holmes. They highlight aspects of Doyle’s boo
ks that are in line with what is currently known about expertise, aspects that a
re implausible, and aspects that suggest further research.
Legacy
Fan speculation
Main article: Sherlock Holmes speculation
The fifty-six short stories and four novels written by Conan Doyle are termed th
e "canon" by Sherlock Holmes fans. Early scholars of the canon included Ronald K
nox[42] in Britain and Christopher Morley in New York,[43] the latter having fou
nded the Baker Street Irregulars, the first society devoted exclusively to the c
anon of Holmes, in 1934.[44]
Writers have produced many pop culture references to Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyl
e, or characters from the stories in homage, to a greater or lesser degree. Such
allusions can form a plot development, raise the intellectual level of the piec
e, or act as Easter eggs for an observant audience.[45]
Some have been overt, introducing Holmes as a character in a new setting, or a m
ore subtle allusion, such as making a logical character live in an apartment at
number 221B. One well-known example of this is the character Gregory House on th
e show House M.D, whose name and apartment number are both references to Holmes.
Often the simplest reference is to dress anybody who does some kind of detectiv
e work in a deerstalker and cape.
However, throughout the entire novel series, Holmes is never explicitly describe
d as wearing a "deerstalker hat". Holmes dons "his ear-flapped travelling cap" i
n "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". Sidney Paget first drew Holmes wearing the de
erstalker cap and Inverness cape in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" and subsequent
ly in several other stories.[citation needed]
"Elementary, my dear Watson."
A third major reference is the oft-quoted but non-canonical catchphrase: "Elemen
tary, my dear Watson." This phrase is never actually uttered by Holmes in any of
the sixty Holmes stories written by Conan Doyle. In the stories, Holmes often r
emarks that his logical conclusions are "elementary", in that he considers them
to be simple and obvious. He also, on occasion, refers to Dr. Watson as "my dear
Watson". The two fragments, however, never appear together. One of the closest
examples to this phrase appears in "The Adventure of the Crooked Man", when Holm
es explains a deduction:
“ "Excellent!" I cried.
"Elementary." said he.
”
The first known use of this phrase was in the 1915 novel, Psmith Journalist, by
P. G. Wodehouse. It also appears at the very end of the 1929 film, The Return of
Sherlock Holmes, the first Sherlock Holmes sound film. William Gillette, who pl
ayed Holmes on stage and radio, had previously used the similar phrase, Oh, this
is elementary, my dear fellow. The phrase might owe its household familiarity t
o its use in Edith Meiser s scripts for The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ra
dio series, broadcast from 1939 to 1947.
The Great Hiatus
Holmes and Moriarty fighting over the Reichenbach Falls, by Sidney Paget.
Holmes aficionados refer to the period from 1891 to 1894—the time between Holmes s
disappearance and presumed death in "The Adventure of the Final Problem" and hi
s reappearance in "The Adventure of the Empty House"—as "the Great Hiatus."[46] It
is notable, though, that one later story ("The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge") is
described as taking place in 1892.
Conan Doyle wrote the first set of stories over the course of a decade. Wanting
to devote more time to his historical novels, he killed off Holmes in "The Final
Problem," which appeared in print in 1893. After resisting public pressure for
eight years, the author wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, which appeared in 1
901, implicitly setting it before Holmes s "death" (some theorise that it actual
ly took place after "The Return" but with Watson planting clues to an earlier da
te).[47][48] The public, while pleased with the story, was not satisfied with a
posthumous Holmes, and so Conan Doyle revived Holmes two years later. Many have
speculated on his motives for bringing Holmes back to life, notably writer-direc
tor Nicholas Meyer, who wrote an essay on the subject in the 1970s entitled "The
Great Man Takes a Walk." The actual reasons are not known, other than the obvio
us: publishers offered to pay generously. For whatever reason, Conan Doyle conti
nued to write Holmes stories for a quarter-century longer.[citation needed]
Some writers have come up with other explanations for the hiatus. In Meyer s nov
el The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, the hiatus is depicted as a secret sabbatical fo
llowing Holmes s treatment for cocaine addiction at the hands of Sigmund Freud,
and presents Holmes making the light-hearted suggestion that Watson write a fict
itious account claiming he had been killed by Moriarty, saying of the public: "T
hey ll never believe you in any case."[citation needed]
In his memoirs, Conan Doyle quotes a reader, who judged the later stories inferi
or to the earlier ones, to the effect that when Holmes went over the Reichenbach
Falls, he may not have been killed, but was never quite the same man. The diffe
rences in the pre- and post-Hiatus Holmes have in fact created speculation among
those who play "The Great Game" (making believe Sherlock Holmes was a historica
l person). Among the more fanciful theories, the story "The Case of the Detectiv
e s Smile" by Mark Bourne, published in the anthology Sherlock Holmes in Orbit,
posits that one of the places Holmes visited during his hiatus was Alice s Wonde
rland. While there, he solved the case of the stolen tarts, and his experiences
there contributed to his kicking the cocaine addiction.[citation needed]
Societies
Statue of Sherlock Holmes on Picardy Place in Edinburgh, Conan Doyle s birthplac
e
In 1934, the Sherlock Holmes Society, in London, and the Baker Street Irregulars
, in New York were founded. Both are still active (though the Sherlock Holmes So
ciety was dissolved in 1937 to be resuscitated only in 1951). The London-based s
ociety is one of many worldwide who arrange visits to the scenes of the Sherlock
Holmes adventures, such as the Reichenbach Falls in the Swiss Alps.
The two initial societies founded in 1934 were followed by many more Holmesians
circles, first of all in America (where they are called "scion societies"—offshoot
s—of the Baker Street Irregulars), then in England and Denmark. Nowadays, there ar
e Sherlockian societies in many countries, such as India and Japan[citation need
ed].
Museums
During the 1951 Festival of Britain, Sherlock Holmes s sitting-room was reconstr
ucted as the masterpiece of a Sherlock Holmes Exhibition, displaying a unique co
llection of original material. After the 1951 exhibition closed, items were tran
sferred to the Sherlock Holmes Pub, in London, and to the Conan Doyle Collection
 in Lucens (Switzerland). Both exhibitions, each including its own Baker Street
Sitting-Room reconstruction, are still open to the public. In 1990, the Sherlock
Holmes Museum opened in Baker Street London and the following year in Meiringen
, Switzerland another museum opened; naturally, they include less historical mat
erial about Conan Doyle than about Sherlock Holmes himself. The Sherlock Holmes
Museum in Baker Street, London was the first Museum in the world to be dedicated
to a fictional character. A private collection of Conan Doyle is also housed in
the Portsmouth City Museum which has a permanent exhibit, due to his importance
in the city where he lived and worked for many years.
Adaptations and derived works
The enduring popularity of Sherlock Holmes has led to hundreds of works based on
the character – both adaptations into other media and original stories. The copyr
ight in all of Conan Doyle s works expired in the United Kingdom in 2000 (1980 i
n Canada and Australasia)[49] and they are therefore in the public domain throug
hout most of the world (where the expiry term is 50 or 70 years following the ye
ar of death). All works published in the United States prior to 1923 are in the
public domain; this includes all Sherlock Holmes stories with the exception of s
ome of the stories contained within The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. For works
published after 1923 but before 1963, if the copyright was registered, its term
lasts for 95 years.[50] The Conan Doyle heirs registered the copyright to The Ca
se Book (published in the USA after 1923) in 1981.[51][52][53]
Stage and screen adaptations
William Gillette starring in his Sherlock Holmes, New York, c. 1900
Sherlock Holmes Baffled, the first screen portrayal of Holmes from 1900.
Main article: Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes
The Guinness World Records has consistently listed Sherlock Holmes as the "most
portrayed movie character"[54] with 75 actors playing the part in over 211 films
. Holmes first screen appearance was in the Mutoscope film Sherlock Holmes Baff
led in 1900, albeit in a barely-recognisable form.[55]
William Gillette’s 1899 play Sherlock Holmes, or The Strange Case of Miss Faulkner
was a synthesis of several stories by Doyle, mostly based on A Scandal in Bohem
ia adding love interest, with the Holmes-Moriarty exchange from The Final Proble
m, as well as elements from The Copper Beeches and A Study in Scarlet. By 1916,
Harry Arthur Saintsbury had played Holmes on stage more than a thousand times.[5
6] This play formed the basis for Gillette s 1916 motion picture, Sherlock Holme
s.
In a 1924 comedy film "Sherlock Jr." Buster Keaton s character longs to be a det
ective.
The first sound film to feature Sherlock Holmes, was The Return of Sherlock Holm
es, written by Basil Dean, and filmed in New York City in 1929. It starred Clive
Brook as Sherlock Holmes. It supposedly marks the first use of the line, "Eleme
ntary, my dear Watson." The film exists today, only as a silent picture, because
the sound disks were lost.[citation needed]
Basil Rathbone starred as Sherlock Holmes, alongside Nigel Bruce as Dr Watson, i
n fourteen US films (two for 20th Century Fox and a dozen for Universal Pictures
) from 1939 to 1946, as well as a number of radio plays.
Ronald Howard starred in 39 episodes of the Sherlock Holmes 1954 American TV ser
ies with Howard Marion Crawford as Watson. The storylines deviated from the book
s of Conan Doyle, changing characters and other details.
Fritz Weaver appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the musical Baker Street, which ran
on Broadway between February 16 and November 14, 1965. Peter Sallis portrayed Dr
. Watson, Inga Swenson appeared as The Woman, Irene Adler, and Martin Gabel play
ed Moriarty. Virginia Vestoff, Tommy Tune, and Christopher Walken were also memb
ers of the original cast.[57]
Acclaimed director Billy Wilder had long planned a roadshow motion picture about
Holmes, in which he planned to have Peter O Toole as Holmes and Peter Sellers a
s Watson. However, when The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes finally reached the
screen in 1970, the roles had been given to Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely. T
he film was heavily edited after its release and parts of it are now lost. Thoug
h not a success at the time of release it is now widely praised as one of Wilder
s late masterpieces.[citation needed]
In The Return Of Sherlock Holmes, a TV-Movie aired in 1987, Margaret Colin stars
as Dr. Warson s great-granddaughter Jane Watson, a Boston private eye, who stum
bles upon Sherlock Holmes (played by Michael Pennington) body in frozen suspens
ion and restores the Victorian sleuth to life in the 1980s. The film was intende
d as a pilot for a TV series which never materialized.
Two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation feature Sherlock Holmes. In episo
de #29 ("Elementary, Dear Data") the character of Data, played by Brent Spiner,
pretends he is Sherlock to Geordi s Dr. Watson in a holodeck experience.[58][59]
In episode #138 ("Ship in a Bottle") archvillain Dr. Moriarty escapes from the
holodeck into the Enterprise proper.[60][61]
Jeremy Brett is generally considered the definitive Holmes,[62] having played th
e role in four series of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, created by John Hawk
esworth for Britain s Granada Television, from 1984 through to 1994, as well as
depicting Holmes on stage. Brett s Dr Watson was played by David Burke (pre-hiat
us) and Edward Hardwicke (post-hiatus) in the series.
Sculpture of Holmes and Watson, as portrayed in the Soviet series, in Moscow
Nicol Williamson portrayed Holmes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution with Robert Duv
all playing Watson and featuring Alan Arkin as Sigmund Freud. The 1976 adaption
was written by Nicholas Meyer from his 1974 book of the same name, and directed
by Herbert Ross.
Between 1979 and 1986, Soviet television broadcast a series of five made-for-TV
films in a total of eleven parts, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Wats
on, starring Vasily Livanov as Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Watson. Livanov s po
rtrayal of Holmes is widely considered canonical. Holmes museum in London, Baker
St., 221B, has the portrait of Livanov depicting Holmes himself.
In 2002 made-for-television movie Sherlock: Case of Evil, James D Arcy starred a
s Holmes in his 20s. The story noticeably departs from the style and backstory o
f the canon and D Arcy s portrayal of Holmes is slightly different from prior in
carnations of the character, psychologically disturbed, an absinthe addicted, a
heavy drinker and a ladies man.
The Fox television series House contains numerous similarities and references to
Holmes. Show creator David Shore has acknowledged this "subtle homage".[63]
In the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes, based on a story by Lionel Wigram and images
by John Watkiss,[64] directed by Guy Ritchie, the role of Holmes is performed by
Robert Downey Jr. with Jude Law portraying Watson. It is a reinterpretation whi
ch heavily focuses on Holmes s more anti-social personality traits as an unkempt
eccentric with a brilliant analytical mind and formidable martial abilities, ma
king this the most cynical incarnation of Holmes. Robert Downey Jr. won the Gold
en Globe Award for his portrayal.[65] Downey Jr. will return in the 2011 sequel
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
Independent film company The Asylum released the direct-to-DVD film Sir Arthur C
onan Doyle s Sherlock Holmes in January 2010. In the film, Holmes and Watson bat
tle a criminal mastermind dubbed "Spring-Heeled Jack", who controls several mech
anical creatures to commit crimes across London. Holmes (Ben Syder) is portrayed
as considerably younger than most actors who have played him, and his disapprov
al of Scotland Yard is undertoned, though things like his drug additction remain
mostly unchanged. The film features a brother of Holmes s called Thorpe, who wa
s invented by the producers of the film out of creative liberty. His companion W
atson is played by Torchwood actor Gareth David-Lloyd.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays a modern-day version of the detective in the BBC One
TV series Sherlock, which premiered on July 25, 2010. The series changes the boo
ks original Victorian setting to the shady and violent present-day London. The
show was created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, best-known as writers for the
BBC television series Doctor Who. Says Moffat, "Conan Doyle s stories were neve
r about frock coats and gas light; they re about brilliant detection, dreadful v
illains and blood-curdling crimes – and frankly, to hell with the crinoline. Other
detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures, and that s what matters.
"
Cumberbatch s Holmes was described by the BBC as
brilliant, aloof and almost entirely lacking in social graces. Sherlock is a
unique young man with a mind like a racing engine . Without problems to solve,
it will tear itself to pieces. And the more bizarre and baffling the problems t
he better. He has set himself up as the world s only consulting detective, whom
the police grudgingly accept as their superior.[66]
He also uses modern technology, such as texting and internet blogging, to solve
the crimes,[67] and in a nod towards changing social attitudes and broadcasting
regulations, he has replaced his pipe with multiple nicotine patches.[68]
Related and derivative works
Main article: Non-canonical Sherlock Holmes works
In addition to the Sherlock Holmes corpus, Conan Doyle s "The Lost Special" (189
8) features an unnamed "amateur reasoner" clearly intended to be identified as H
olmes by his readers. His explanation for a baffling disappearance, argued in Ho
lmes s characteristic style, turns out to be quite wrong—evidently Conan Doyle was
not above poking fun at his own hero. A short story by Conan Doyle using the sa
me idea is "The Man with the Watches". Another example of Conan Doyle s humour i
s "How Watson Learned the Trick" (1924), a parody of the frequent Watson-Holmes
breakfast table scenes. A further (and earlier) parody by Conan Doyle is "The Fi
eld Bazaar". He also wrote other material, especially plays, featuring Holmes. M
any of these are collected in Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha edited by
Jack Tracy, The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by Peter Haining and
The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes compiled by Richard Lancelyn Green.
In 1907, Sherlock Holmes began featuring in a series of German booklets. Among t
he writers was Theo van Blankensee. Watson had been replaced by a 19 year old as
sistant from the street, among his Baker Street Irregulars, with the name Harry
Taxon, and Mrs. Hudson had been replaced by one Mrs. Bonnet. From number 10 the
series changed its name to "Aus den Geheimakten des Welt-Detektivs". The French
edition changed its name from "Les Dossiers Secrets de Sherlock Holmes" to "Les
Dossiers du Roi des Detectives".[69]
Sherlock Holmes s abilities as both a good fighter and as an excellent logician
have been a boon to other authors who have lifted his name, or details of his ex
ploits, for their plots. These range from Holmes as a cocaine addict, whose drug
-fuelled fantasies lead him to cast an innocent Professor Moriarty as a super vi
llain (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution), to science-fiction plots involving him bein
g re-animated after death to fight crime in the future (Sherlock Holmes in the 2
2nd Century).
Some authors have supplied stories to fit the tantalising references in the cano
n to unpublished cases (e.g. "The giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the wo
rld is not yet prepared" in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"), notably The
Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle s son Adrian Conan Doyle with John Di
ckson Carr, and The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Ken Greenwald, based r
ather closely on episodes of the 1945 Sherlock Holmes radio show that starred Ba
sil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and for which scripts were written by Dennis Green
and Anthony Boucher. Others have used different characters from the stories as t
heir own detective, e.g. Mycroft Holmes in Enter the Lion by Michael P. Hodel an
d Sean M. Wright (1979) or Dr James Mortimer (from The Hound of the Baskervilles
) in books by Gerard Williams.
Laurie R. King recreates Sherlock Holmes in her Mary Russell series (starting wi
th The Beekeeper s Apprentice), set during the First World War and the 1920s. He
r Holmes is (semi)retired in Sussex, where he is literally stumbled over by a te
enage American girl. Recognising a kindred spirit, he gradually trains her as hi
s apprentice. As of 2009 the series includes nine novels and a novella tie-in wi
th a book from King s present-time Kate Martinelli series, The Art of Detection.
Carole Nelson Douglas series, the Irene Adler Adventures, is based on the chara
cter from Doyle s "A Scandal in Bohemia". The first book, Good Night, Mr. Holmes
, retells that tale from Irene s point of view. The series is narrated by Adler
s companion, Penelope Huxleigh, in a role similar to that of Dr. Watson.
The film They Might Be Giants is a 1971 romantic comedy based on the 1961 play o
f the same name (both written by James Goldman) in which the character Justin Pl
ayfair, played by George C. Scott, is convinced he is Sherlock Holmes, and manag
es to convince many others of same, including the psychiatrist Dr. Watson, playe
d by Joanne Woodward, who is assigned to evaluate him so he can be committed to
a mental institution.
The film Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) explores adventures of Holmes and Watson a
s boarding school pupils.[70]
The Japanese anime series "Detective Conan", also called "Case Closed" in Englis
h, is an homage to Doyle s work. The 2002 film The Case of the Whitechapel Vampi
re is loosely based on Doyle s story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire".
In the 1980 s Ben Kingsley played Dr. Watson in Without a Clue. Dr. Watson hired
an actor to be Sherlock Holmes (Michael Caine) because the cases he has been wr
iting about are his own. Moriarty is said to know that Sherlock Holmes is an idi
ot.
The novel A Dog About Town by J. F. Englert makes reference to Sherlock Holmes,
comparing the black Labrador retriever narrator, Randolph, to Doyle s detective
as well as naming a fictitious spirit guide after him.[71]
The Final Solution is a 2004 novel by Michael Chabon. The story, set in 1944, re
volves around an 89-year-old long-retired detective who may or may not be Sherlo
ck Holmes but is always called just "the old man", now interested mostly in beek
eeping, and his quest to find a missing parrot, the only friend of a mute Jewish
boy. The title references both Doyle s story "The Final Problem" and the Final
Solution, the Nazis plan for the genocide of the Jewish people.
In a novella "The Prisoner of the Tower, or A Short But Beautiful Journey of Thr
ee Wise Men" by Boris Akunin published in 2008 in Russia as the conclusion of "J
ade Rosary Beads" book, Sherlock Holmes and Erast Fandorin oppose Arsène Lupin on
December 31st, 1899.
In June 2010 it was announced that Franklin Watts books, a part of Hachette Chil
dren s Books are to release a series of four children s graphic novels by writer
Tony Lee and artist Dan Boultwood in spring 2011 based around the Baker Street
Irregulars during the three years that Sherlock Holmes was believed dead, betwee
n The Adventure of the Final Problem and The Adventure of the Empty House. Altho
ugh not specifying whether Sherlock Holmes actually appears in the books, the ea
rly reports include appearances by Doctor Watson, Inspector Lestrade and Irene A
dler.
On January 17, 2011, it was announced that the Conan Doyle estate had commission
ed Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider novels and TV s Foyle s War, to wr
ite a brand new, authorised Sherlock Holmes novel to be published by Orion Books
in September 2011. "The content of the new tale — and indeed the title — remain a c
losely guarded secret."[72][73]
The original stories
Main article: Canon of Sherlock Holmes
The original Sherlock Holmes stories consist of fifty-six short stories and four
novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Novels
A Study in Scarlet (published 1887, in Beeton s Christmas Annual)
The Sign of the Four (published 1890, Lippincott s Monthly Magazine)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised 1901–1902 in The Strand)
The Valley of Fear (serialised 1914–1915 in The Strand)
Short stories
For more detail see List of Conan Doyle s Sherlock Holmes short stories.
The short stories, originally published in periodicals, were later gathered into
five anthologies:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1891–1892 in The
Strand)
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1892–1893 in The St
rand as further episodes of the Adventures)
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1903–1904 in The Str
and)
His Last Bow (contains stories published 1908–1913 and 1917)
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1921–1927)