In 1886, Arthur Conan Doyle, M.D., created a character who would come to be known as the greatest sleuth of all time---a character of such cold, rational perfection, such steely nerve, such unprecedented brilliance and unfailing popularity that he would ultimately resist death at the hands of his own creator. This character, of course, was Sherlock Holmes, the world's first unofficial consulting detective.
In the years following the inimitable Holmes' first appearance in A Study in Scarlet in the 1887 Beeton's Christmas Annual, his popularity grew exponentially. When Conan Doyle tired of the legend he had created and attempted to put him to rest in " The Final Problem," published in the December 1893 issue of The Strand Magazine, 20,000 readers cancelled their subscriptions in disappointment and protest. Holmes' many fans eventually had their way---after several years, the stubborn sleuth was duly revived.
The first of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, A Study in Scarlet appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in November 2887; the issue sold out in two weeks. With its brief account of Watson's history in India, its explanation of how Watson and Holmes come to share rooms at 221B Baker Street, and its introduction of Scotland Yard detectives Gregson and Lestrade--- "the pick of the bad lot"--- A Study in Scarlet sets the stage for the many great novels and stories to come.
