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
Canon of Sherlock Holmes Canon of Sherlock Holmes Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the 56 short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term "canon" is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle's original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters. The traditional canon—usually capitalized by aficionados of the Sherlockian game as "the Canon"—consists of four novels and 56 short stories. The description of these 60 adventures as the Sherlock Holmes canon and the game of applying the methods of "Higher Criticism" to it was started by Ronald Knox as a