Sherlock Holmes - Is he fully appreciated?

I love Sherlock Holmes stories, my favourite film version was Basil Rathbone, many great actors have tried to play the part including the legendary Peter Ustinov, but for me the best of the modern Holmes is Jeremy Brett.

My only reservation about Conan Doyle was that he believed in fairies and that his friend Houdini escaped from seemingly impossible confinements by de-materialising himself, even though Houdini told him it was a trick.

No, I don't think he is, but it's strange, a lot of people still believe Sherlock Holmes to be Non-fiction, yet he was obviously created by a man. So the question is; Is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Fully Appreciated?

Think about it, if one man could create such a persona, why is it that the majority of people still think Sherlock Holmes is real and don't even know the name of the man who created him. I actually doubt any actual person could be as intelligent as him, but then again not many people know the true vastness of the character.

Oh yeah, another thing, I think they kind of based the main character in the show, "House M,D" after Sherlock Holmes. His name is Dr. Gregory House, emphasis on "House", which is strikingely similar to "Holmes", there's also his mannerisms and his ability to deduce the most complex illness' with only the most minute details. His friend is called Dr James Wilson. "Wilson", "Watson", sounds similar and then there are the small things like House's flat number, I can;t remember of hand, but it's something like 21B.

Oh, I think so. Conan Doyle created a remarkable character, great plots, fathomable mysteries (if you were really clued-up) and a cute device with Dr Watson as the narrator. But what I think sets Holmes apart from other fictional detectives is that the process is more interesting than the result. And wouldn't we all like to be like Mrs Holmes kid?

Let's put it this way---Sherlock Holmes is one of the most well-known characters in fiction. So well-known that Conan-Doyle's stories and novels about the sleuth are never out of print, and known and read in almost every language. So well-known that literally thousands of people have written to him at the 221-B Baker Street address, even knowing that he's a fictional character. Plays and films and teleseries have been adapted from the stories since the early 1900s, his face and image are instantly recognizable in most literate cultures in everything from cartoons, to advertisements, to "guest" appearances on other books and films---and hundreds of writers have based their own fictional detectives on Holmes, either closely, as a kind of homage (such as August Derleth's "Solar Pons" series of stories, or loosely, or even made Holmes a large part of their novels and stories (Laurie King has written an excellent series of novels about a remarkable woman who becomes Holmes' partner following his "retirement", not only in detection, but in marriage!).

Holmes is the best known and loved, but not the only great detective out there---Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn, Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, the creations of modern authors like P.D. James and Elizabeth George (and many, many others), although not based on Holmes or his methods, are equally worthy members of the high ranks of mystery fiction.

Yes, but there are other good detective series.

Have you tried Peter Lovesey's sergant Cribb and G.K. Chestertons Father Brown stories?

Less well known are the detective novels of Anne Perry. I have enjoyed the few stories that I have tried so far.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliet_Hulme#Featurin...

Reginald Hill's work is also good.

OH God yes! Not only is Holmes studied in literature classes, he is also studied in philosophy and logic classes. He was brilliant. None better. Pax-C