75-501: Mademoiselle Holmes is a French television series, inspired by the Sherlock Holmes stories. Shy French cop Charlie Holmes is the great-granddaughter of the great English detective Sherlock Holmes . She uses her hereditary deductive brilliance to solve crimes with the aid of Samy Vatel, her Dr. Watson substitute. The series was broadcast from 11 April 2024, on TF1 . This French television programme–related article
150-530: A knighthood "for services which may perhaps some day be described". However, he does not actively seek fame and is usually content to let the police take public credit for his work. The first set of Holmes stories was published between 1887 and 1893. Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in a final battle with the criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty in " The Final Problem " (published 1893, but set in 1891), as Conan Doyle felt that "my literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel". However,
225-758: A Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), a justice of the peace, and a deputy lieutenant. In 1867 Bell was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh and served as president in 1897. In 1876 he was elected a member of the Aesculapian Club . He was elected president of the RCSEd in 1887. Bell wrote the book Manual of the Operations of Surgery , published in 1866. In 1883, Bell bought 2 Melville Crescent,
300-610: A Mark III Adams revolver , issued to British troops during the 1870s). Holmes and Watson shoot the eponymous hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles , and in "The Adventure of the Empty House", Watson pistol-whips Colonel Sebastian Moran . In " The Problem of Thor Bridge ", Holmes uses Watson's revolver to solve the case through an experiment. Joseph Bell Joseph Bell FRCSE (2 December 1837 – 4 October 1911)
375-481: A central theme of " The Yellow Face "). Though Holmes is famed for his reasoning capabilities, his investigative technique relies heavily on the acquisition of hard evidence. Many of the techniques he employs in the stories were at the time in their infancy. The detective is particularly skilled in the analysis of trace evidence and other physical evidence, including latent prints (such as footprints, hoof prints, and shoe and tire impressions) to identify actions at
450-402: A crime scene, using tobacco ashes and cigarette butts to identify criminals, utilizing handwriting analysis and graphology , comparing typewritten letters to expose a fraud, using gunpowder residue to expose two murderers, and analyzing small pieces of human remains to expose two murders. Because of the small scale of much of his evidence, the detective often uses a magnifying glass at
525-503: A glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation. After confirming Watson's assessment of the wound, Holmes makes it clear to their opponent that the man would not have left the room alive if he genuinely had killed Watson. Holmes' clients vary from the most powerful monarchs and governments of Europe, to wealthy aristocrats and industrialists , to impoverished pawnbrokers and governesses . He
600-404: A knowledge of Latin . The detective cites Hafez , Goethe , as well as a letter from Gustave Flaubert to George Sand in the original French. In The Hound of the Baskervilles , the detective recognises works by Godfrey Kneller and Joshua Reynolds : "Watson won't allow that I know anything of art, but that is mere jealousy since our views upon the subject differ." In " The Adventure of
675-664: A large townhouse, previously the home of the engineer John Miller of Leithen . Joseph Bell died on 4 October 1911. He was buried at the Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh alongside his wife Edith Katherine (or Catherine) Erskine Murray (1840–1874) and their son Benjamin, and next to his parents' and brother's plots. The grave is mid-way along the north wall of the northern section to the original cemetery. The couple had five children, of whom only three survived infancy: Arthur Conan Doyle met Bell in 1877, and served as his clerk at
750-483: A person's clothes and personal items are also commonly relied on; in the stories, Holmes is seen applying his method to items such as walking sticks, pipes, and hats. For example, in "A Scandal in Bohemia", Holmes infers that Watson had got wet lately and had "a most clumsy and careless servant girl". When Watson asks how Holmes knows this, the detective answers: It is simplicity itself ... my eyes tell me that on
825-446: A salesman with a wager: "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet ... I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of him, that man would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager." Maria Konnikova points out in an interview with D. J. Grothe that Holmes practises what
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#1732791819254900-401: A stranger, and by observing him, deduce his occupation and recent activities. These skills caused him to be considered a pioneer in forensic science , ( forensic pathology in particular) at a time when science was not yet widely used in criminal investigation. He served as personal surgeon to Queen Victoria whenever she visited Scotland. He also published several medical textbooks. Bell was
975-589: A strong aptitude for acting and disguise. In several stories (" The Sign of Four ", " The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton ", " The Man with the Twisted Lip ", " The Adventure of the Empty House " and " A Scandal in Bohemia "), to gather evidence undercover, he uses disguises so convincing that Watson fails to recognise him. In others (" The Adventure of the Dying Detective " and " A Scandal in Bohemia "), Holmes feigns injury or illness to incriminate
1050-553: A thumbprint to solve a crime in " The Adventure of the Norwood Builder " (generally held to be set in 1895), the story was published in 1903, two years after Scotland Yard's fingerprint bureau opened. Though the effect of the Holmes stories on the development of forensic science has thus often been overstated, Holmes inspired future generations of forensic scientists to think scientifically and analytically. Holmes displays
1125-411: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes ( / ˈ ʃ ɜːr l ɒ k ˈ h oʊ m z / ) is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle . Referring to himself as a " consulting detective " in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on
1200-405: Is as inhuman as a Babbage 's Calculating Machine and just about as likely to fall in love." Holmes says of himself that he is "not a whole-souled admirer of womankind", and that he finds "the motives of women ... inscrutable. ... How can you build on such quicksand? Their most trivial actions may mean volumes". In The Sign of Four , he says, "Women are never to be entirely trusted—not
1275-422: Is generally acknowledged as the first detective in fiction and served as the prototype for many later characters, including Holmes. Conan Doyle once wrote, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed ... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?" Similarly, the stories of Émile Gaboriau 's Monsieur Lecoq were extremely popular at
1350-402: Is his most significant relationship. When Watson is injured by a bullet, although the wound turns out to be "quite superficial", Watson is moved by Holmes's reaction: It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught
1425-479: Is implied that wealthy clients habitually pay Holmes more than his standard rate. In " The Adventure of the Priory School ", Holmes earns a £6,000 fee (at a time where annual expenses for a rising young professional were in the area of £500). However, Watson notes that Holmes would refuse to help even the wealthy and powerful if their cases did not interest him. As Conan Doyle wrote to Joseph Bell, "Holmes
1500-682: Is kept alive by the photograph of Adler that Holmes received for his part in the case. Shortly after meeting Holmes in the first story, A Study in Scarlet (generally assumed to be 1881, though the exact date is not given), Watson assesses the detective's abilities: In A Study in Scarlet , Holmes claims to be unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun since such information is irrelevant to his work; after hearing that fact from Watson, he says he will immediately try to forget it. The detective believes that
1575-524: Is known only in select professional circles at the beginning of the first story, but is already collaborating with Scotland Yard . However, his continued work and the publication of Watson's stories raise Holmes's profile, and he rapidly becomes well known as a detective; so many clients ask for his help instead of (or in addition to) that of the police that, Watson writes, by 1887 "Europe was ringing with his name" and by 1895 Holmes has "an immense practice". Police outside London ask Holmes for assistance if he
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#17327918192541650-554: Is known to charge clients for his expenses and claim any reward offered for a problem's solution, such as in " The Adventure of the Speckled Band ", " The Red-Headed League ", and " The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet ". The detective states at one point that "My professional charges are upon a fixed scale. I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether." In this context, a client is offering to double his fee, and it
1725-441: Is maintained by their landlady, Mrs. Hudson . Holmes works as a detective for twenty-three years, with Watson assisting him for seventeen of those years. Most of the stories are frame narratives written from Watson's point of view, as summaries of the detective's most interesting cases. Holmes frequently calls Watson's records of Holmes's cases sensational and populist, suggesting that they fail to accurately and objectively report
1800-734: Is nearby. A British prime minister and the King of Bohemia visit 221B Baker Street in person to request Holmes's assistance; the President of France awards him the Legion of Honour for capturing an assassin; the King of Scandinavia is a client; and he aids the Vatican at least twice. The detective acts on behalf of the British government in matters of national security several times and declines
1875-443: Is no known contemporaneous source for this; the earliest known reference to such events comes from 1949. However, the recorded public reaction to Holmes's death was unlike anything previously seen for fictional events. After resisting public pressure for eight years, Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised in 1901–02, with an implicit setting before Holmes's death). In 1903, Conan Doyle wrote " The Adventure of
1950-468: Is now called mindfulness, concentrating on one thing at a time, and almost never "multitasks". She adds that in this he predates the science showing how helpful this is to the brain. Holmes observes the dress and attitude of his clients and suspects, noting skin marks (such as tattoos), contamination (such as ink stains or clay on boots), emotional state, and physical condition in order to deduce their origins and recent history. The style and state of wear of
2025-476: Is really very showy and superficial." Nevertheless, Holmes later performs the same 'trick' on Watson in " The Cardboard Box " and " The Adventure of the Dancing Men ". Though the stories always refer to Holmes's intellectual detection method as " deduction ", Holmes primarily relies on abduction : inferring an explanation for observed details. "From a drop of water," he writes, "a logician could infer
2100-427: Is the frequent subject of pastiche writing. The beginning of the story describes the high regard in which Holmes holds her: To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. ... And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman
2175-519: The Diogenes Club . Holmes says that he first developed his methods of deduction as an undergraduate; his earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from his fellow university students. A meeting with a classmate's father led him to adopt detection as a profession. In the first Holmes tale, A Study in Scarlet , financial difficulties lead Holmes and Dr. Watson to share rooms together at 221B Baker Street , London. Their residence
2250-497: The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary . Doyle later went on to write a series of popular stories featuring the fictional character Sherlock Holmes , who Doyle stated was loosely based on Bell and his observant ways. Bell was aware of this inspiration. According to Irving Wallace (in an essay originally in his book The Fabulous Originals but later republished and updated in his collection The Sunday Gentleman ), Bell
2325-578: The University of Edinburgh Medical School and received an MD in 1859 presenting the thesis "Epithelial cancer: its pathology and treatment" . During his time as a student, he was a member of the Royal Medical Society and delivered a dissertation which is still in possession of the society today. In his instruction, Joseph Bell emphasized the importance of close observation in making a diagnosis. To illustrate this, he would often pick
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2400-453: The University of Edinburgh Medical School , is also cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh, provided Conan Doyle with a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime. Other possible inspirations have been proposed, though never acknowledged by Doyle, such as Maximilien Heller , by French author Henry Cauvain. In this 1871 novel (sixteen years before
2475-470: The Victorian or Edwardian eras between 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson , who usually accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often shares quarters with him at the address of 221B Baker Street , London, where many of the stories begin. Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best-known. By
2550-471: The "science" of his craft: Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it [ A Study in Scarlet ] with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid . ... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in
2625-456: The 1990s, over 25,000 stage adaptations, films, television productions, and publications had featured the detective, and Guinness World Records lists him as the most portrayed human literary character in film and television history. Holmes's popularity and fame are such that many have believed him to be not a fictional character but an actual individual; numerous literary and fan societies have been founded on this pretence . Avid readers of
2700-484: The British war effort. Only one other adventure, " The Adventure of the Lion's Mane ", takes place during the detective's retirement. Watson describes Holmes as " bohemian " in his habits and lifestyle. Said to have a "cat-like" love of personal cleanliness, at the same time Holmes is an eccentric with no regard for contemporary standards of tidiness or good order. Watson describes him as in his personal habits one of
2775-629: The Bruce-Partington Plans ", Watson says that "Holmes lost himself in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus ", considered "the last word" on the subject—which must have been the result of an intensive and very specialized musicological study which could have had no possible application to the solution of criminal mysteries. Holmes is a cryptanalyst , telling Watson that "I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writing, and am myself
2850-411: The Empty House "; set in 1894, Holmes reappears, explaining to a stunned Watson that he had faked his death to fool his enemies. Following "The Adventure of the Empty House", Conan Doyle would sporadically write new Holmes stories until 1927. Holmes aficionados refer to the period from 1891 to 1894—between his disappearance and presumed death in "The Final Problem" and his reappearance in "The Adventure of
2925-693: The Empty House"—as the Great Hiatus. The earliest known use of this expression dates to 1946. In His Last Bow , the reader is told that Holmes has retired to a small farm on the Sussex Downs and taken up beekeeping as his primary occupation. The move is not dated precisely, but can be presumed to be no later than 1904 (since it is referred to retrospectively in " The Adventure of the Second Stain ", first published that year). The story features Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement to aid
3000-437: The Holmes stories helped create the modern practice of fandom . The character and stories have had a profound and lasting effect on mystery writing and popular culture as a whole, with the original tales, as well as thousands written by authors other than Conan Doyle , being adapted into stage and radio plays, television, films, video games, and other media for over one hundred years. Edgar Allan Poe 's C. Auguste Dupin
3075-596: The London slavey. In the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet , Dr. Watson compares Holmes to C. Auguste Dupin , Edgar Allan Poe's fictional detective, who employed a similar methodology. Alluding to an episode in " The Murders in the Rue Morgue ", where Dupin determines what his friend is thinking despite their having walked together in silence for a quarter of an hour, Holmes remarks: "That trick of his breaking in on his friend's thoughts with an apropos remark ...
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3150-523: The Missing Three-Quarter ", Watson says that although he has "weaned" Holmes from drugs, the detective remains an addict whose habit is "not dead, but merely sleeping". Watson and Holmes both use tobacco, smoking cigarettes, cigars, and pipes . Although his chronicler does not consider Holmes's smoking a vice per se , Watson—a physician—does criticise the detective for creating a "poisonous atmosphere" in their confined quarters. Holmes
3225-537: The Operations of Surgery as a Christmas gift. The character of House is based on Holmes, who, as noted, was based in turn on Bell. In episode 14 of the show's eighth and final season, House briefly comes to believe that his biological father is a man named Thomas Bell, played by prominent Scottish actor Billy Connolly . The novel Mr. Doyle & Dr. Bell (1997) by Howard Engel is a fictionalized account of Joseph Bell and his influence on Conan Doyle. In Elementary , an American procedural drama television series that
3300-692: The Original Sherlock Holmes . In the Doctor Who episode " Tooth and Claw " in 2006, the time travelling adventurer known as the Doctor identifies himself as an ex-student of Bell to Queen Victoria . The comic book Les dossiers du Professeur Bell by Joann Sfar is about the (fictional) supernatural adventures of Dr. Bell. In episode 11, Season 5, of the Fox TV show House M.D. , Wilson presents House with Joseph Bell's Manual Of
3375-418: The absence of stimulating cases. He sometimes used morphine and sometimes cocaine , the latter of which he injects in a seven-per cent solution; both drugs were legal in 19th-century England. As a physician, Watson strongly disapproves of his friend's cocaine habit, describing it as the detective's only vice, and concerned about its effect on Holmes's mental health and intellect. In " The Adventure of
3450-510: The author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyse one hundred and sixty separate ciphers." Holmes also demonstrates a knowledge of psychology in "A Scandal in Bohemia", luring Irene Adler into betraying where she hid a photograph based on the premise that a woman will rush to save her most valued possession from a fire. Another example is in " The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle ", where Holmes obtains information from
3525-541: The best of them", a feeling Watson notes as an "atrocious sentiment". In "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", Holmes writes, "Women have seldom been an attraction to me, for my brain has always governed my heart." At the end of The Sign of Four , Holmes states that "love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true, cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgement." Ultimately, Holmes claims outright that "I have never loved." But while Watson says that
3600-410: The case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it. Nevertheless, when Holmes recorded a case himself, he was forced to concede that he could more easily understand the need to write it in a manner that would appeal to the public rather than his intention to focus on his own technical skill. Holmes's friendship with Watson
3675-616: The city's underclass. These agents included a variety of informants , such as Langdale Pike, a "human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal", and Shinwell Johnson, who acted as Holmes's "agent in the huge criminal underworld of London". The best known of Holmes's agents are a group of street children he called "the Baker Street Irregulars ". Holmes and Watson often carry pistols with them to confront criminals—in Watson's case, his old service weapon (probably
3750-519: The degree to which Holmes was based on Bell (played by Ian Richardson ), and it positioned Doyle in the role of a Dr. Watson to Bell's Holmes. The original one-off production, which led to the later series, was released on DVD and VHS in the US in 2003, titled Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle – The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes . In 2006, Stone Publishing House published a book, written by historian Dr. Robert Hume, aimed at schoolchildren titled Dr. Joseph Bell –
3825-423: The detective becomes engaged under false pretenses in order to obtain information about a case, abandoning the woman once he has the information he requires. Irene Adler is a retired American opera singer and actress who appears in " A Scandal in Bohemia ". Although this is her only appearance, she is one of only a handful of people who bests Holmes in a battle of wits, and the only woman. For this reason, Adler
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#17327918192543900-404: The detective has an "aversion to women", he also notes Holmes as having "a peculiarly ingratiating way with [them]". Watson notes that their housekeeper Mrs. Hudson is fond of Holmes because of his "remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women. He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent." However, in " The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton ",
3975-593: The detective. A statement of Holmes' age in " His Last Bow " places his year of birth at 1854; the story, set in August 1914, describes him as sixty years of age. His parents are not mentioned, although Holmes mentions that his "ancestors" were " country squires ". In " The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter ", he claims that his grandmother was sister to the French artist Vernet, without clarifying whether this
4050-492: The development of the character in 1912, Conan Doyle wrote that "In the first one, the Study in Scarlet , [Holmes] was a mere calculating machine, but I had to make him more of an educated human being as I went on with him." Despite Holmes's supposed ignorance of politics, in "A Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognises the true identity of the disguised "Count von Kramm". At the end of A Study in Scarlet , Holmes demonstrates
4125-513: The doctor that during two years at college he made only one friend: "I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson ... I never mixed much with the men of my year." The detective goes without food at times of intense intellectual activity, believing that "the faculties become refined when you starve them". At times, Holmes relaxes with music, either playing the violin or enjoying the works of composers such as Wagner and Pablo de Sarasate . Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially in
4200-551: The fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard . The character Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887's A Study in Scarlet . His 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 from then until 1927, eventually totalling four novels and 56 short stories . All but one are set in
4275-526: The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes), Henry Cauvain imagined a depressed, anti-social, opium-smoking polymath detective, operating in Paris. It is not known if Conan Doyle read the novel, but he was fluent in French. Details of Sherlock Holmes' life in Conan Doyle's stories are scarce and often vague. Nevertheless, mentions of his early life and extended family paint a loose biographical picture of
4350-524: The guilty. In the latter story, Watson says, "The stage lost a fine actor ... when [Holmes] became a specialist in crime." Guy Mankowski has said of Holmes that his ability to change his appearance to blend into any situation "helped him personify the idea of the English eccentric chameleon, in a way that prefigured the likes of David Bowie ". Until Watson's arrival at Baker Street, Holmes largely worked alone, only occasionally employing agents from
4425-403: The inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of
4500-462: The law as a means for righting a wrong, contending that "there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge." His companion condones the detective's willingness to do this on behalf of a client—lying to the police, concealing evidence or breaking into houses—when he also feels it morally justifiable. Except for that of Watson, Holmes avoids casual company. In "The Gloria Scott " , he tells
4575-475: The mind has a finite capacity for information storage, and learning useless things reduces one's ability to learn useful things. The later stories move away from this notion: in The Valley of Fear , he says, "All knowledge comes useful to the detective", and in "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", the detective calls himself "an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles". Looking back on
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#17327918192544650-407: The most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction. [He] keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle , his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece. ... He had a horror of destroying documents. ... Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room
4725-504: The possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other." However, Holmes does employ deductive reasoning as well. The detective's guiding principle, as he says in The Sign of Four , is: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Despite Holmes's remarkable reasoning abilities, Conan Doyle still paints him as fallible in this regard (this being
4800-480: The reaction of the public surprised him very much. Distressed readers wrote anguished letters to The Strand Magazine , which suffered a terrible blow when 20,000 people cancelled their subscriptions to the magazine in protest. Conan Doyle himself received many protest letters, and one lady even began her letter with "You brute". Legend has it that Londoners were so distraught upon hearing the news of Holmes's death that they wore black armbands in mourning, though there
4875-454: The scene and an optical microscope at his Baker Street lodgings. He uses analytical chemistry for blood residue analysis and toxicology to detect poisons; Holmes's home chemistry laboratory is mentioned in " The Naval Treaty ". Ballistics feature in "The Adventure of the Empty House" when spent bullets are recovered to be matched with a suspected murder weapon, a practice which became regular police procedure only some fifteen years after
4950-406: The story was published. Laura J. Snyder has examined Holmes's methods in the context of mid- to late-19th-century criminology, demonstrating that, while sometimes in advance of what official investigative departments were formally using at the time, they were based upon existing methods and techniques. For example, fingerprints were proposed to be distinct in Conan Doyle's day, and while Holmes used
5025-503: The time Conan Doyle began writing Holmes, and Holmes's speech and behaviour sometimes follow those of Lecoq. Doyle has his main characters discuss these literary antecedents near the beginning of A Study in Scarlet , which is set soon after Watson is first introduced to Holmes. Watson attempts to compliment Holmes by comparing him to Dupin, to which Holmes replies that he found Dupin to be "a very inferior fellow" and Lecoq to be "a miserable bungler". Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes
5100-406: Was Claude Joseph , Carle , or Horace Vernet . Holmes' brother Mycroft , seven years his senior, is a government official. Mycroft has a unique civil service position as a kind of human database for all aspects of government policy. Sherlock describes his brother as the more intelligent of the two, but notes that Mycroft lacks any interest in physical investigation, preferring to spend his time at
5175-457: Was a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is best known as an inspiration for the literary character, Sherlock Holmes . Bell was the son of Cecilia Barbara Craigie (1813–1882) and Benjamin Bell (1810–1883), and a great-grandson of Benjamin Bell , considered to be the first Scottish scientific surgeon. Bell studied medicine at
5250-470: Was inspired by the real-life figure of Joseph Bell , a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh , whom Conan Doyle met in 1877 and had worked for as a clerk. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing broad conclusions from minute observations. However, he later wrote to Conan Doyle: "You are yourself Sherlock Holmes and well you know it". Sir Henry Littlejohn , Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at
5325-461: Was introduced as a contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes, Holmes and Watson often work with a Detective called Marcus Bell, which is likely a nod to the real-life Joseph Bell. A bronze plaque memorial was erected to Joseph Bell at 2 Melville Crescent in Edinburgh, his home for his final decades, on 8 October 2011, the centenary of his death. The plaque explains Bell's connection to Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, and
5400-622: Was involved in several police investigations, mostly in Scotland, such as the Ardlamont mystery of 1893, usually with forensic expert Professor Henry Littlejohn . Bell also gave his analysis of the Ripper murders to Scotland Yard . The BBC television series Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes was a fictionalized account of Doyle's time as Bell's clerk. The series may have exaggerated Bell's criminal investigations as well as
5475-554: Was organized and funded by the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club. The building is now the Japanese Consulate in Edinburgh. The unveiling ceremony was attended by the several people involved in the erection of the plaque (principally Takeshi Shimizu) and representatives of various Sherlock Holmes clubs and societies . All present gave a short speech on their connections to either Holmes or the project, and
5550-412: Was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner. While Holmes is characterised as dispassionate and cold, he can be animated and excitable during an investigation. He has a flair for showmanship, often keeping his methods and evidence hidden until the last possible moment so as to impress observers. Holmes is willing to break
5625-512: Was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory. Five years before the story's events, Adler had a brief liaison with Crown Prince of Bohemia Wilhelm von Ormstein. As the story opens, the Prince is engaged to another. Fearful that the marriage would be called off if his fiancée's family learns of this past impropriety, Ormstein hires Holmes to regain a photograph of Adler and himself. Adler slips away before Holmes can succeed. Her memory
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