The immortal duo of Holmes and Watson- Poor Doyle. Review on Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, The - Arthur Conan Doyle

If ever there was a case of an author regretting his finest creation it has to be that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creating of Sherlock Holmes. The man who gave Doyle the respect and love of the nation also robbed him of his life. It would however be important to mention here that as with Shakespeare and his marvelous plays there lies a controversy to the actual author of the Sherlock Holmes saga. There still lies a school of thought which claims that Holmes was not created by Doyle but that is not the subject of this review.

There really aren’t too many people who can read a few stories of Holmes and his faithful ally Dr Watson and not be intrigued by the magic they create. Especially Holmes, it is extremely difficult not too like this man who seems to do nothing but spend his time cracking impossible puzzles, who’s mind is like an encyclopedia and whos energies when in action defy logic. Holmes certainly displays the dry sense of humour all Englishman are famous for and uses it to great effect especially in his conversations with the police detectives who he always seems to leave behind.

Holmes and Watson featured in numerous short stories and full length novels( The Hound of the Baskervilles, A study in Scarlet). They completely captivated their readers who grew to love them so much that when Doyle killed off Holmes at the hands of Moriarty in a story titled ‘the final problem’ there was a public outcry. There were groups of protesters who wore black arm bands, wrote numerous letters of protest to the newspapers who published the stories besides sending anonymous threatening letters to Doyle. Doyle however stood firm and it was eight years before Holmes surfaced again in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Between this time Doyle spent his time writing books on various other subjects such as science fiction and history. These books too were well received but they never matched the success or the kind of following he received with Holmes.

Just for trivia- Holmes was modelled on Dr. Joseph Bell who was a surgeon at the Edinburgh infirmary. Bell who was a tall thin and a brilliant diagnostician to boot also possessed excellent deductive powers which was exactly what Doyle used to put together probably the greatest fictional mystery solver of all times- The immortal Sherlock Holmes.