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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) studied medicine at Edinburgh University, where he became the clerk to a surgeon whose diagnostic methods provided the model for the science of deduction perfected by Sherlock Holmes. He set up as a doctor and it was while waiting for patients that he began to write. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet (1887). The Holmes stories soon attracted such a following that Conan Doyle felt the character overshadowed his other work. In The Final Problem (1893) Conan Doyle killed him off, but was obliged by public demand to restore the detective to life.
Now, as in his lifetime, cab drivers, statesmen, academics, and raggedy-arsed children sit spellbound at his feet... No wonder, then, if the pairing of Holmes and Watson has triggered more imitators than any other duo in literature -- John Le Carre The brilliance of the stories lies in the relationship between Holmes and Watson, which is both funny and touching -- Jonathan Coe The world's most famous detective -- Ruth Rendell I read every Sherlock Holmes story...they have certainly found a permanent place in English literature -- Winston Churchill Why do people still read Sherlock Holmes in an age of DNA testing and electron microscopes? It's elementary. Holmes has a timeless intelligence that puts him head, shoulders and deer-stalker above all other detectives -- Alexander McCall Smith The immense talent, passion and literary brilliance that Conan Doyle brought to his work gives him a unique place in English letters... Personally, I'd walk a million in tight boots just to read his letters to the milkman. -- Stephen Fry Holmes is a mesmerising creation and Conan Doyle a master storyteller * The Times *
