For longtime Conan Doyle fans as well as readers just discovering Sherlock Holmes, a wickedly smart and rollicking journey through the birth, life, and afterlives of popular culture's most beloved sleuth. More than a century after Sherlock Holmes first capered into our world, what is it about Arthur Conan Doyle's peculiar creation that continues to fascinate us? Dundas provides a history of an idea, a biography of someone who never lived, a tour of the borderland between reality and fiction. He unearths the inspirations behind Holmes and his indispensable companion, Dr. John Watson, and reveals how Conan Doyle's tales laid the groundwork for an infinitely remixable myth, kept alive over the decades by writers, actors, and readers.

Prelude: 221B -- Bohemia -- The science of deduction -- The wilderness -- Holmes & Watson -- Moriarty & friends -- The curse of the Baskervilles -- Secret histories -- Black mask -- The great game -- The return(s) of Sherlock Holmes -- Casebook.