Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes ( or ) is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard. First appearing in print in 1887's "A Study in Scarlet", the character's popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in "The Strand Magazine", beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional tales appeared
Sherlock Holmes in popular literature, making him (as of 2017) the only fictional character thus honoured. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes has meant that many writers other than Arthur Conan Doyle have created tales of the detective in a wide variety of different media, with varying degrees of fidelity to the original characters, stories, and setting. According to "The Alternative Sherlock Holmes: Pastiches, Parodies, and Copies" by Peter Ridgway Watt and Joseph Green, the first known period pastiche dates from 1893. Titled "The Late Sherlock Holmes", it came from the pen of Conan Doyle's close friend, J. M. Barrie. A common pastiche