Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character of the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries who first appeared in publication in 1887. He was the

creation of Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A
brilliant London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his
intellectual prowess and is renowned for his skillful use of astute
observation, deductive reasoning and forensic skills to solve difficult
cases.

Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that feature
Holmes. 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 The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and
two serialised novels appeared until 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' friend and biographer, Dr.
John H. Watson; two are narrated by Holmes himself, this including the
Blanched Soldier, and two others are written in the third person. In two
stories ("The Musgrave Ritual" and "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott"),
Holmes tells Watson the main story from his memories, while Watson
becomes the narrator of the frame story.

Conan 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