First appeared in
A Study in Scarlet in 1887, written by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes is the most famous and enduring fictional detective character.
Conan Doyle used his former
teacher in
medical school, Dr. Joseph Bell of
Edinburgh as a model for the character. Holmes uses his incomparable powers of observation and deduction to solve the most
bizarre and "
improbable"
mysteries, turning trivial details overlooked by others into hard evidence. He
smokes a
pipe, wears a
deer-hunter's cap, plays the
violin, and is a recreational user of
cocaine. He lives at 221B Baker Street.
His
intimate friend and
associate,
Dr. Watson, is the narrator of the
Sherlock Holmes stories. Holmes's
arch-nemesis is the
criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty.
His
brother is
Mycroft Holmes, who is possibly more
brilliant than Sherlock, but who is
profoundly
lazier.
One of Holmes's favorite sayings to Watson is "When you
dismiss the
impossible, whatever you have left, however
improbable, is the answer", or something like that.