The Consulting Detective
Master of deduction, chemist, violinist, and the world’s only consulting detective. Residing at 221B Baker Street with Dr. John Watson, Holmes takes on cases that baffle Scotland Yard.
- Expert in chemistry & anatomy
- Skilled in boxing, singlestick & bartitsu
- Author of monographs on tobacco ash, tattoos & ciphers
- Employs the Baker Street Irregulars
The Science of Deduction
"You see, but you do not observe." Holmes notices the minutiae: a worn cuff, a splash of mud, the type of cigar ash. Everything tells a story.
Start from the effect and reason to the cause. If a man has a calloused thumb and ink-stained fingers, he is a writer. Combine with location and attire for a complete portrait.
Holmes's "brain attic" holds only useful facts: chemistry, sensational literature, law, and the geography of London. He famously did not know the Earth revolved around the sun — irrelevant to his work.
Chronicles of Note
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1901A demonic hound haunts the moors. Holmes uncovers a scheme of greed and family curse. “Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”
A Scandal in Bohemia
1891The woman who outwitted Holmes: Irene Adler. “To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman.” A photograph, a clever disguise, and a wedding.
The Speckled Band
1892A locked-room mystery, a whistle in the night, and a swamp adder. Holmes saves a life minutes before tragedy.
The Final Problem
1893Holmes meets his intellectual equal, Professor Moriarty, at Reichenbach Falls. “The Napoleon of Crime.”
Test Your Observation
the game is afootA man enters 221B. His right cuff is shiny but the left is frayed. He has a faint smell of ink and turpentine, and a smudge of ultramarine on his collar. What is his profession?