Sherlock Holmes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective. For other uses, see Sherlock Holmes (disambiguation).
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes character
Sherlock Holmes Portrait Paget.jpg
Sherlock Holmes in a 1904 illustration by Sidney Paget
First appearance 	1887-1888
Created by 	Arthur Conan Doyle
Information
Gender 	Male
Occupation 	Consulting detective
Family 	Mycroft Holmes (brother)
Nationality 	English

Sherlock Holmes (pronounced /ˈʃɜrlɒk ˈhoʊmz/) is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his forensic science skills to solve difficult cases.

Holmes, who first appeared in publication in 1887, was featured in four novels and 56 short stories. The first story, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 and the second, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two novels published in serial form appeared between then and 1927. The stories cover a period from around 1880 up to 1907, with a final case in 1914.

All but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson; two are narrated by Holmes himself ("The Blanched Soldier" and "The Lion's Mane") and two others are written in the third person ("The Mazarin Stone" and "His Last Bow"). In two stories ("The Musgrave Ritual" and "The Gloria Scott"), Holmes tells Watson the main story from his memories, while Watson becomes the narrator of the frame story. The first and fourth novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear, each include a long interval of omniscient narration recounting events unknown both to Holmes and to Watson.
Contents

    * 1 Inspiration for the character of Holmes
    * 2 Life
          o 2.1 Early life
          o 2.2 Life with Dr. Watson
          o 2.3 Retirement
    * 3 Habits and personality
          o 3.1 Personal hygiene
          o 3.2 Use of drugs
          o 3.3 Financial affairs
          o 3.4 Relationships with women
    * 4 Methods of detection
          o 4.1 Holmesian deduction
          o 4.2 Disguise
          o 4.3 Weapons and martial arts
          o 4.4 Knowledge and skills
    * 5 Influence
          o 5.1 Forensic science
          o 5.2 Role in the history of the detective story
          o 5.3 An inspiration for scientists
    * 6 Legacy
          o 6.1 Fan speculation
                + 6.1.1 The Great Hiatus
          o 6.2 Societies
          o 6.3 Museums
    * 7 Adaptations and derived works
          o 7.1 Stage and screen adaptations
          o 7.2 Related and derivative works
    * 8 The original stories
          o 8.1 Novels
          o 8.2 Short stories
    * 9 See also
    * 10 References
    * 11 Further reading
    * 12 External links

[edit] Inspiration for the character of Holmes

Doyle said that the character of Holmes was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom Doyle had worked as a clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations.[1] Sir Henry Little-John, Lecturer on Forensic Medicine and Public Health at the Royal College of Surgeons, is also cited as a source for Holmes. Little-John served as Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health to the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, providing for Doyle a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime.[2]
[edit] Life
[edit] Early life
The first appearance of Holmes, 1887

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; nevertheless, 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. Commonly, the date is cited as 6 January.[3]

Holmes states that he first developed his methods of deduction while an undergraduate. 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 all 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 information, we may tentatively place him there".[4]

His earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from fellow university students.[5] 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,[6] and he spent the six years following university working as a consulting detective, before financial difficulties led him to take Watson as a roommate, at which point the narrative of the stories begins.

From 1881, Holmes was described as having lodgings at 221B Baker Street, London, from where he runs his private detective agency. 221B is an apartment up 17 steps, stated in an early manuscript to be at the "upper end" of the road. Until the arrival of Dr. Watson, Holmes worked alone, only occasionally employing agents 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, "The Sign of the Four", "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Adventure of the Crooked Man".

Little is said of Holmes's family. His parents were unmentioned in the stories and 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 French artist. His brother, Mycroft, seven years his senior, is a government official who appears in three stories:[7] he is also mentioned in one other story.[8] Mycroft has a unique civil service position as a kind of memory-man or walking database for all aspects of government policy. Mycroft is described as even more gifted than Sherlock in matters of observation and deduction, but he lacks Sherlock'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."

It's unclear whether Holmes has any other siblings. In "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", Holmes says, "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see a sister of mine apply for", leading some to suppose the existence of same. But as he mentions this only in context of warning the woman in a case, taking her as his sister, this may well be merely a figure of speech.
A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from The Strand Magazine, 1891 in "The Man with the Twisted Lip".
[edit] Life with Dr. Watson

Holmes shares the majority of his professional years with his good friend and chronicler Dr. John H. Watson, who lives with Holmes for some time before his marriage in 1887, and again after his wife's death; his residence is maintained by his landlady, Mrs. Hudson.

Watson has two roles in Holmes's life. First, he gives practical assistance in the 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 narratives, written from Watson's point of view as summaries of the detective's most interesting cases. Holmes is often described as criticising Watson's writings as sensational and populist, suggesting that they neglect to accurately and objectively 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 Scarlet]" 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 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.[9]
    —Sherlock Holmes on John Watson's "pamphlet", "A Study in Scarlet".

Nevertheless, Holmes's friendship with Watson is his most significant relationship. 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 bullet wound proves 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.

In all, Holmes is described as being in active practice for 23 years, with Watson documenting his cases for 17 of them.[10]
[edit] Retirement

In "His Last Bow", Holmes has retired to a bee farm on the Sussex Downs in 1903–1904, where he takes up the hobby of beekeeping as his primary occupation, eventually producing a "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen". The story features Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement one last time to aid the war effort. Only one adventure, "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", which is narrated by Holmes himself as he pursues the case as an amateur, takes place during the detective's retirement.
[edit] Habits and personality

Watson describes Holmes as "bohemian" in habits and lifestyle. According to Watson, Holmes is an eccentric, with no regard for contemporary standards of tidiness 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 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.[5]

What appears to others as chaos, however, is to Holmes a wealth of useful information. Throughout the stories, Holmes would dive into his apparent mess of random papers and artefacts, only to retrieve precisely the specific document or eclectic 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 Watson:

    [Holmes] had no breakfast for himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him to presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.[11]

His chronicler does not consider Holmes's habitual use of a pipe, or his less frequent use of cigarettes and cigars, a vice. Nor does Watson condemn Holmes's willingness 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 morally justifiable.[12] Even so, it is obvious that Watson has stricter limits than Holmes, and occasionally berated Holmes for creating a "poisonous atmosphere" of tobacco smoke.[13] Holmes himself references Watson's moderation in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot", saying, "I think, Watson, that I shall resued innocent people, such as when he toyed with a young woman's heart in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.

Holmes is portrayed as a patriot acting on behalf of the government in matters of national security in a number of stories.[14] He also carries out counter-intelligence work in His Last Bow, set at the beginning of the First World War. As shooting practice, the detective adorned the wall of his Baker Street lodgings with "VR" (Victoria Regina) in bullet pocks made by his pistol.[5]

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 take public credit for his work. It's often only when Watson publishes his stories that Holmes's role in the case becomes apparent.[15]

Holmes is pleased when he is recognised for having superior skills and responds to flattery, as Watson remarks, as a girl does 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, often to impress Watson or one of the Scotland Yard inspectors.[16]

Holmes is a loner and does not strive to make friends. He attributes his solitary ways to his particular interests and his mopey disposition. In The Adventure of the Gloria Scott, he tells Watson that during two years at college, he made only 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 methods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year;... my line 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 difficult to draw out by young Stamford. Holmes also warns Watson, at their first meeting in A Study in Scarlet, that he gets "in the dumps at times" and doesn't open his "mouth for days on end."
[edit] 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 practical pursuit of his profession, however, and appears in contrast with statements that, in the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, his hands are discoloured with acid stains and Holmes uses drops of his own blood to conduct experiments in chemistry and forensics.
[edit] Use of drugs

Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially when lacking stimulating cases. 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 occasional 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 never appears in the original stories. All these drugs were legal in late 19th-century England. Both Watson and Holmes are serial tobacco users, including cigarettes, cigars and pipes. Indeed, Holmes is expert at identifying tobacco ash residues, having 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 Holmes's mental health and superior intellect.[17][18] In later stories, Watson claims 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."[19]
[edit] 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 residence 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 exactly how much he charges for his services. In "A Scandal in Bohemia", he is paid the staggering sum of one thousand pounds (300 in gold and 700 in notes) as advance 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 remit them altogether".[20]

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 excess of his standard fee. For example, in "The Adventure of the Final Problem", Holmes 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 wealthy and powerful if their cases did not interest him, while he could devote weeks 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; in "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 from Irene Adler ("A Scandal in Bohemia") and an autographed letter of thanks from the French President and a Legion of Honour for tracking down an assassin named Huret ("The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"). In "The Adventure of the Priory School", Holmes "rubs his hands with glee" when the Duke of Holdernesse notes the sum, which surprises even Watson, and then pats the cheque, saying, "I am a poor man", an incident that could be dismissed as 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 industrialists 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 reward 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 he 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 also claims the reward the banker had put for their recovery.
[edit] Relationships with women

The only woman to impress Holmes was Irene Adler, who according to Watson was always referred to by Holmes as "the woman". Holmes himself is never directly quoted 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 to 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 Hunter in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches"), Watson says he inevitably "manifested no further interest in the client when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his problems." Holmes finds their youth, beauty, and energy (and the cases they bring to him) invigorating, distinct from any romantic interest. These 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 csoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money". This points to Holmes's lack of interest in relationships with women in general, and clients in particular, actually leading Watson to remark that "there is something positively inhuman in you 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 an end, I might act as our lawless lion-hunter had done". In the story, the explorer 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 Adventure of the Dying Detective" that Mrs. Hudson is fond of Holmes in her own way, despite his bothersome eccentricities as a lodger, owing to his "remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women". Again in The Sign of the Four, Watson 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".
[edit] Methods of detection
[edit] Holmesian deduction

Holmes's primary intellectual detection method is deductive reasoning of the solution to a crime.[21] "From a drop of water", he writes, "a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other."[22] Holmes stories often begin with a bravura display 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 deduction. Holmesian deduction appears to consist primarily of drawing inferences 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.[23][24][25] One quote often heard from Holmes is "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".

Holmes's straightforward practical principles are generally of the form, "If 'p', then 'q'," where 'p' is observed evidence and 'q' is what the evidence indicates. But there are also, as may be observed in the following example, intermediate 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." When 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 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.

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 crusted 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 person is clumsy and careless.
    * If someone's shoes had encrusted mud on them, then they are likely to have been 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 modus ponens), Holmes is able to infer from his observation that "the sides of Watson's shoes are scored by several parallel cuts" that:

"Watson's servant girl is clumsy and careless" and "Watson has been very wet lately and has been out in vile weather".

Deductive reasoning allows Holmes to impress his favourite weapon—he uses it to break open 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 night of your benefit four years back". McMurdo responds by saying, "Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy".

    Holmes engages in hand-to-hand combat with his adversaries on occasions throughout the stories, inevitably emerging the victor.[32] 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 death at the Reichenbach Falls. He states, "I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me". The name "baritsu" appears to be a reference to the real-life martial art of Bartitsu, which combined jujitsu with Holmes' canonical skills of boxing and cane fencing.

[edit] 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 with 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 appears for the first time, he is crowing with delight at having invented a new method 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 on what influenced Holmes to become a detective: a college friend's father richly complimented his deductive skills. Holmes maintains strict adherence to scientific 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 have something in it”.

In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes claims he does not know that the Earth revolves around the Sun, as such information is irrelevant to his work. Directly after having 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, and so learning useless things would merely reduce his ability to learn useful things. Dr. Watson subsequently assesses Holmes's abilities thus:

   1. Knowledge of Literature — Nothing.
   2. Knowledge of Philosophy — Nothing.
   3. Knowledge of Astronomy — Nothing.
   4. Knowledge of Politics — Feeble.
   5. Knowledge of Botany — Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
   6. 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 what part of London he had received them.
   7. Knowledge of Chemistry — Profound.
   8. Knowledge of Anatomy — Accurate, but unsystematic.
   9. Knowledge of Sensational Literature — Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
  10. Plays the violin well.
  11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer and swordsman.
  12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.

At the very end of A Study in Scarlet itself, it is shown that Holmes knows Latin and needs no translation of Roman epigrams in the original—though knowledge of the language would be of illes), the comparison of typewritten letters to expose a fraud ("A Case of Identity"), the use of gunpowder residue to expose two murderers ("The Adventure of the Reigate Squire"), bullet comparison from two crime scenes ("The Adventure of the Empty House") and even an early use of fingerprints ("The Norwood Builder"). Holmes also demonstrates knowledge of psychology 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), Holmes retired to the Sussex Downs to take up beekeeping ("The Second Stain") and wrote a book on the subject entitled "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen".[34] His search for relaxation can also be seen in his love for music, notably in "The Red-Headed League", wherein 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 Circle").

The film Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which speculates about Holmes's youthful adventures, shows Holmes as a brilliant secondary school student.
[edit] Influence
[edit] 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 sequence of events. He makes great use of trace evidence such as shoe and tire impressions, as well as fingerprints, ballistics and handwriting analysis, now known as questioned document examination. Such evidence is used to test theories conceived by the police, for example, or by the investigator himself. All of the techniques 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 by others, especially by the police, emphasising the critical importance of maintaining 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 fingerprints), he often uses a magnifying glass at the scene, and an optical microscope back at his lodgings in Baker Street. He uses analytical chemistry for blood residue analysis as well as toxicology examination and determination for poisons. 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 others, noting style and state of wear of their clothes, any contamination (such as clay on boots), their state of mind and physical condition in order to infer their origin and recent history. Skin marks such as tattoos could reveal much about their past history. He applied the same method to personal items such as walking sticks (famously in The Hound of the Baskervilles) or hats (in the case of The Blue Carbuncle), with small details such as medallions, wear and contamination yielding vital indicators of their absent owners.

An omission from the stories is the use of forensic photography. Even before Holmes's time, high quality photography was used to record accident scenes, as in the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, for example, and it was widely used to record the faces of criminals to build index files, as well as crime scenes, especially those involving homicide (such as the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888).

In 2002, the Royal Society of Chemistry bestowed a posthumous honorary fellowship of their organization upon Sherlock Holmes, for his use of forensic science and analytical chemre both references to Holmes. Often the simplest reference is to dress anybody who does some kind of detective work in a deerstalker and cape. Another rich field of pop culture references is Holmes's ancestry and descendants, but really the only limit is the writer's imagination.[citation needed]

A third major reference is the oft-quoted but non-canonical phrase: "Elementary, 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 remarks 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 Holmes 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 played 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 to its use in Edith Meiser's scripts for The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes radio series, broadcast from 1939 to 1947.

Holmes, throughout the entire novel series, is never explicitly described as wearing a "deerstalker hat". Holmes dons "his ear-flapped travelling cap" in "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". Sidney Paget first drew Holmes wearing the deerstalker cap and Inverness cape in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" and subsequently in several other stories.[citation needed]
[edit] 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 his reappearance in "The Adventure of the Empty House"—as "the Great Hiatus."[39] 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 1901, implicitly setting it before Holmes's "death" (some theorise that it actually took place after "The Return" but with Watson planting clues to an earlier date).[40][41] 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-director 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 obvious: publishers offered to pay generously. For whatever reason, Conan Doyle continued 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 novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, the hiatus is depicted as a secret sabbatical following Holmes's treatment for cocaine addiction at the hands of Sigmund Freud, and presents Holmes making the light-hearted suggestion that Watson write a fictitious account claiming he had been killed by Moriarty, saying of the public: "They'll never believe you in any case."[citation needed]

In his memoirs, Conan Doyle quotes a reader, who judged the later stories inferior 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 differences in the pre- and post-Hiatus Holmes have in fact created speculation among t as Watson. The storylines deviated from the books of Conan Doyle, changing characters and other details.

Until 1980es, Douglas Wilmer's genial and believable version of Holmes (1964–1965) was regarded as definitive. By comparison, Peter Cushing's 1968 series and a Hound of the Baskervilles movie (1959) were more of a hammy caricature, the public perception of Holmes.

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 played Moriarty. Virginia Vestoff, Tommy Tune, and Christopher Walken were also members of the original cast.[45]

Jeremy Brett is generally considered the definitive Holmes,[by whom?] having played the role in four series of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, created by John Hawkesworth 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 and Edward Hardwicke in the series.
Sculpture of Holmes and Watson, as portrayed in the Soviet series, in Moscow

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. Watson, starring Vasily Livanov as Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Watson. Livanov's portrayal 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 as Holmes in his 20s. The story noticeably departs from the style and backstory of the canon and D'Arcy's portrayal of Holmes is slightly different from prior incarnations of the character, psychologically disturbed, an absinthe addicted, a heavy drinker and a ladies' man.

In the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes, based on a story by Lionel Wigram and images by John Watkiss,[46] directed by Guy Ritchie, the role of Holmes is performed by Robert Downey Jr. with Jude Law portraying Watson. It is a reinterpretation which heavily focuses on Holmes's more anti-social personality traits as an unkempt eccentric with a brilliant analytical mind and formidable martial abilities, making this the most cynical incarnation of Holmes. Robert Downey Jr. won the Golden Globe Award for his portrayal.[47]

Low budget independent film company The Asylum released Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in January 2010. Despite the title, it features Spring Heeled Jack (Dominic Keating) who wears steam-powered armour, commits crimes with the aid of several dinosaurs and a giant octopus and is revealed to be Holmes's brother Thorpe. Like most Asylum films, this is a direct-to-DVD "mockbuster" capitalising on higher budget films - here, Ritchie's 2009 production.[48] Holmes (Ben Syder) is portrayed as fairly polite and sociable, unlike his dysfunctional counterpart in Ritchie's film. Watson is played by Gareth David-Lloyd.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays a modern-day version of the detective in the BBC One three-part TV series Sherlock, which premiered on July 25, 2010 and ended on August 8, 2010. The series changes the books' 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 never about frock coats and gas light; they're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains 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 the better. He has set himself up as the world's only consulting detective, wh    * The Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised 1901–1902 in The Strand)
    * The Valley of Fear (serialised 1914–1915 in The Strand)

[edit] 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 Strand as further episodes of the Adventures)
    * The Return of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1903–1904 in The Strand)
    * His Last Bow (contains stories published 1908–1913 and 1917)
    * The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1921–1927)

[edit] See also

    * "Holmes-ian" Detection:
          o Forensic chemistry
          o Forensic engineering
          o HOLMES2 (police computer system)
    * List of people who have played Sherlock Holmes
    * List of Holmesian studies
    * Other Arthur Conan Doyle characters:
          o Professor Challenger

    * Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes
          o Games:
          o Sherlock (1984) (Philip Mitchell) (PC text adventure)
          o 221B Baker Street (1987) (Datasoft) (PC and Mac)
          o Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels (1988) (Infocom)
          o Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective (1991) (ICOM Simulations)
          o Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Vol. II (1992) (ICOM Simulations)
          o Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Vol. III (1993) (ICOM Simulations)
          o The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel (1992) (Electronic Arts) (PC)
          o The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo (1996) (Electronic Arts) (PC)
          o Sherlock Holmes series: (Frogwares) (PC)
                + Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy (2002) (Frogwares) (PC)
                + Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Silver Earring (2004) (Frogwares) (PC)
                + Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (2006) (Frogwares) (PC)
                + Sherlock Holmes versus Arsène Lupin (2007) (Frogwares) (PC)
                + Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet (Frogwares) (PC)
                + Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper (2009) (Frogwares) (PC)(X360)

[edit] References

   1. ^ Lycett, Andrew (2007). The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Free Press. pp. 53–54, 190. ISBN 978-0-7432-7523-1. 
   2. ^ Doyle, A. Conan (1961). The boys' Sherlock Holmes, New & Enlarged Edition. Harper & Row. p. 88. 
   3. ^ Klinger, Leslie (2005). The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. New York: W.W. Norton. p. xlii. ISBN 0-393-05916-2. 
   4. ^ Dorothy L. Sayers, "Holmes’ College Career," for the Baker Street Studies, edited by H.W. Bell, 1934. Sayers's analysis was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. In the foreword to Unpopular Opinions, in which her essay appeared, Sayers says that the "game of applying the methods of the Higher Criticism to the Sherlock Holmes canon... has become a hobby among a select set of jesters here and in America."
   5. ^ a b c Doyle, Arthur Conan (1893). The Original illustrated 'Strand' Sherlock Holmes (1989 ed.). Ware, England: Wordsworth. pp. 354–355. ISBN 9781853268960. 
   6. ^ "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott"
   7. ^ "The Greek Interpreter", "The Final Problem" and "The Bruce-Partington Plans";
   8. ^ "The Empty House".
   9. ^ "The Sign of the Four; Chapter 1 The Science of Deduction; p. 90; Copyright Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle; Edition published in 1992 - Barnes & Noble, Inc.".
  10. ^ "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger".
  11. ^ Conan Doyle, Arthur (1903). "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", Strand Magazine.
  12. ^ "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"; "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client"
  13. ^ "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
  14. ^ "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans"; "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty".
  15. ^ In The Adventure of the Naval Tres decorated the wall of their flat with a patriotic "V.R." done in bullet marks. In "The Problem of Thor Bridge", Holmes uses Watson's revolver in a reconstruction of the crime.
  30. ^ See "The Red-Headed League" and "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client".
  31. ^ However, in the Granada TV version of "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty" Holmes uses a sword cane to force Joseph Harrison to give up the stolen treaty.
  32. ^ Inter alia "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist" and "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty".
  33. ^ Klinger, Leslie (1999). "LOST IN LASSUS: THE MISSING MONOGRAPH". http://webpages.charter.net/lklinger/lassus.htm. Retrieved 20 October 2008. 
  34. ^ His Last Bow.
  35. ^ Radford, John (1999). The Intelligence of Sherlock Holmes and Other Three-pipe Problems. Sigma Forlag. ISBN 82-7916-004-3. 
  36. ^ Snyder LJ (2004). "Sherlock Holmes: Scientific detective". Endeavour 28 (3): 104–108. doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2004.07.007. PMID 15350761. 
  37. ^ Kempster PA (2006). "Looking for clues". Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 13 (2): 178–180. doi:10.1016/j.jocn.2005.03.021. PMID 16459091. 
  38. ^ Didierjean, A & Gobet, F (2008). "Sherlock Holmes – An expert’s view of expertise". British Journal of Psychology 99 (Pt 1): 109–125. doi:10.1348/000712607X224469. PMID 17621416. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/854. 
  39. ^ Bookreporter.com - Author Profile: Laurie R. King.
  40. ^ Dakin, D. Martin (1972). A Sherlock Holmes Commentary. David & Charles, Newton Abbot. ISBN 0-7153-5493-0. 
  41. ^ McQueen, Ian (1974). Sherlock Holmes Detected. David & Charles, Newton Abbot. ISBN 0-7153-6453-7. 
  42. ^ a b Itzkoff, Dave (19 January 2010). "For the Heirs to Holmes, a Tangled Web". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/books/19sherlock.html?pagewanted=all. 
  43. ^ Blezard, Paul (13 June 2010). "Elementary, my dear boy: An investigation into Sherlock Holmes’ early years". London: Independent.co.uk. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/elementary-my-dear-boy-an-investigation-into-sherlock-holmes-early-years-1995791.html. Retrieved 13 June 2010. 
  44. ^ Sherlock Holmes: pipe dreams, Daily Telegraph 15 December 2009, accessed 2010-04-23
  45. ^ Internet Broadway Data Base - Baker Street Accessed 2010-05-31
  46. ^ http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/05/07/sherlock-holmes-mystery-solved/
  47. ^ http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/year/2009/
  48. ^ The Asylum Film Company site
  49. ^ "BBC 1: Sherlock". http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t4pgh. 
  50. ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (18 July 2010). "The Guardian. Sherlock Holmes is back… sending texts and using nicotine patches". London. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/jul/18/sherlock-holmes-is-back-bbc. 
  51. ^ "The Herald Scotland. Times have changed but crimes are the same for new Sherlock Holmes". http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/times-have-changed-but-crimes-are-the-same-for-new-sherlock-holmes-1.1042129. 
  52. ^ Nordberg, Nils: Døden i kiosken. Knut Gribb og andre heftedetektiver.
  53. ^ http://www.levinson.com/bl/ysherlock/index.htm
  54. ^ http://bluestalking.typepad.com/the_bluestalking_reader/2007/06/two-cozies-feat.html

[edit] Further reading

    * Accardo, Pasquale J. (1987). Diagnosis and Detection: Medical Iconography of Sherlock Holmes. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 0-517-50291-7. 
    * Baring-Gould, William (1967). The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. New York: Clarkson N. Potter. ISBN 0-517-50291-7. 
    * Baring-Gould, William (1962). Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: The Life of the World's First Consulting Detective. New York: Clarkson N. Potter. OCLC 63103488. 
    * Blakeney, T.S. (1994). Sherlock Holmes: Fact or Fiction?. London: Prentice Hall & IBD. ISBN 1-883402-10-7. 
    * Bradley, Alan (2004). Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock. Alberta: University of Alberta Press. ISBN 0-88864-415-9. 
    * Campbell, Mark (2007). Sherlock Holmes. London: Pocket Essentials. ISBN 978-0-470-12823-7. 
    * Dakin, David (1972). A Sherlock Holmes Comton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5493-0. 
    * Duncan, Alistair (2008). Eliminate the Impossible: An Examination of the World of Sherlock Holmes on Page and Screen. London: MX Publishing. ISBN 978-1-904312-31-4. 
    * Duncan, Alistair (2009). Close to Holmes: A Look at the Connections Between Historical London, Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. London: MX Publishing. ISBN 978-1-904312-50-5. 
    * Duncan, Alistair (2010). The Norwood Author: Arthur Conan Doyle and the Norwood Years (1891-1894). London: MX Publishing. ISBN 978-1904312697. 
    * Fenoli Marc, Qui a tué Sherlock Holmes ? [Who shot Sherlock Holmes ?], Review L’Alpe 45, Glénat-Musée Dauphinois,

Grenoble-France, 2009. ISBN 978-2-7234-6902-9

    * Green, Richard Lancelyn (1987). The Sherlock Holmes Letters. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. ISBN 0-87745-161-3. 
    * Hall, Trevor (1969). Sherlock Holmes: Ten Literary Studies. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-0469-4. 
    * Hammer, David (1995). The Before-Breakfast Pipe of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. London: Wessex Pr.. ISBN 0-938501-21-6. 
    * 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. ISBN 0-948193-25-5. 
    * Keating, H. R. F. (2006). Sherlock Holmes: The Man and His World. Edison, NJ: Castle. ISBN 0-7858-2112-0. 
    * Kestner, Joseph (1997). Sherlock's Men: Masculinity, Conan Doyle and Cultural History. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 1-85928-394-2. 
    * King, Joseph A. (1996). Sherlock Holmes: From Victorian Sleuth to Modern Hero. Lanham, US: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3180-5. 
    * Klinger, Leslie (2005). The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-05916-2. 
    * Klinger, Leslie (1998). The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library. Indianapolis: Gasogene Books. ISBN 0-938501-26-7. 
    * Lester, Paul (1992). Sherlock Holmes in the Midlands. Studley, Warwickshire: Brewin Books. ISBN 0-947731-85-7. 
    * Lieboe, Eli. Doctor Joe Bell: Model for Sherlock Holmes. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1982; Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-87972-198-5
    * Mitchelson, Austin (1994). The Baker Street Irregular: Unauthorised Biography of Sherlock Holmes. Romford: Ian Henry Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-8021-4325-3. 
    * 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. ISBN 0-934468-29-X. 
    * Redmond, Christopher (1987). In Bed with Sherlock Holmes: Sexual Elements in Conan Doyle's Stories. London: Players Press. ISBN 0-8021-4325-3. 
    * Redmond, Donald (1983). Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Sources. Quebec: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-0391-9. 
    * Rennison, Nick (2007). Sherlock Holmes. The Unauthorized Biography. London: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-4325-9. 
    * Richards, Anthony John (1998). Holmes, Chemistry and the Royal Institution: A Survey of the Scientific Works of Sherlock Holmes and His Relationship with the Royal Institution of Great Britain. London: Irregulars Special Press. ISBN 0-7607-7156-1. 
    * Riley, Dick (2005). The Bedside Companion to Sherlock Holmes. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-7156-1. 
    * Riley, Peter (2005). The Highways and Byways of Sherlock Holmes. London: P.&D. Riley. ISBN 978-1-874712-78-7. 
    * Roy, Pinaki (Department of English, Malda College) (2008). The Manichean Investigators: A Postcolonial and Cultural Rereading of the Sherlock Holmes and Byomkesh Bakshi Stories. New Delhi: Sarup and Sons. ISBN 978-81-7625-849-4. 
    * Shaw, John B. (1995). Encyclopedia of Sherlock Holmes: A Complete Guide to the World of the Great Detective. London: Pavillion Books. ISBN 1-85793-502-0. 
    * Smith, Daniel (2009). The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1845134587. 
    * Starrett, Vincent (1993). The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. London: Prentice Hall &2-05-1. 
    * Tracy, Jack (1988). The Sherlock Holmes Encyclopedia: Universal Dictionary of Sherlock Holmes. London: Crescent Books. ISBN 0-517-65444-X. 
    * Tracy, Jack (1996). Subcutaneously, My Dear Watson: Sherlock Holmes and the Cocaine Habit. Bloomington, Ind.: Gaslight Publications. ISBN 0-934468-25-7. 
    * Wagner, E.J. (2007). La Scienza di Sherlock Holmes. Torino: Bollati Boringheri. ISBN 978-0-470-12823-7. 
    * Weller, Philip (1993). The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes. Simsbury: Bracken Books. ISBN 1-85891-106-0. 
    * Wexler, Bruce (2008). The Mysterious World of Sherlock Holmes. London: Running Press. ISBN 978-0-7624-3252-3. 

[edit] External links

    * For the Heirs to Holmes, a Tangled Web
    * The Equinoctial Gales A popular Holmes Canon website, with insightful comments, other notes and useful links, and full story listing.
    * The Sherlock Holmes Museum 221b Baker Street, London England.
    * The Sherlock Holmes Society of London London society founded 1951
    * Sherlockian Major Sherlock Holmes reference with Original Stories, Pictures, articles and links to other holmesian websites.
    * Baker Street Dozen Sherlock Holmes in Books, Film and Media
    * Bert Coules' website (BBC Radio 4 canonical and original stories, 1989–2004)
    * Discovering Sherlock Holmes at Stanford University
    * Sherlock Holmes Special Collections
    * The Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota Special Collections and Rare Books
    * Edward Winter, Chess and Sherlock Holmes
    * Mostly-Victorian.com original Sherlock Holmes tales from the Strand
    * Wall Street Journal on Sherlock Holmes
    * Parallel translation of stories about Sherlock Holmes in Russian and English

