Sherlock Holmes, our detective is shown as the best in the detective business as he has every skill that a detective needs... He has a brilliant reasoning power and it is amazing how he comes to the correct conclusions from really small observations .Take for example, in The Red Headed League, by looking at Johns worn wrinkled knees he thinks that John must have been digging a passage to the bank .Although he is also shown as a lonely man without a family life.
Dr. Watson is the narrator in these stories. I feel that doctors are one of the most trusted professions, so I also think that is the reason why Dr. Watson is shown as a doctor is to make the readers believe in the story that is being told. He is shown as less skilful, with less of the reasoning skills Holmes has, which make the reader feel he is a normal person. As a doctor he possesses an excellent skill of observation and description which helps us get the story more as he can tell it well.
People always prefer familiar settings. That is why the stories provide information such as the name of the streets and underground stations such as Baker Street. This would have attracted the British especially London readers who knew these places. Conan Doyle also provides precise dates such as in The Red Headed League is solved on Oct. 9, 1980 which would have made the readers feel as though it actually took place
Conan Doyle always gives the readers clues like when Dr. Roylott warns Holmes by saying "Don’t you dare to meddle with my affairs “in "The Speckled Band", we may guess that he might be the villain in this story as he feels uncomfortable with Mr. Holmes´ investigating. Similarly when Holmes asks whether John Clay’s ears are pierced for ear-rings in The Red Headed League we guess that he might be a well known criminal. This is a technique to make the reader follow the investigation in the right track and at the end when Holmes explains everything instead of feeling completely lost they find it easier to understand.
In these stories the climax is an interesting part which is full of suspense and action .In "The Red Headed League" the climax is more like a thriller which includes our detective and Scotland Yard Officers surrounding the cellar and arresting the criminals. In "The Speckled Band" the climax is set more like a horror sequence which includes action with a mysterious creature and the death of Dr.Roylott. Even though they might not be as exciting to us as we have seen many films but it would have been really interesting for the Victorian and Edwardian readers.
The books also include many references to foreign countries. "Indian animals" in "The Speckled Band" and 'the Chinese tattoo´ in "The Red Headed League" are two fine examples for this. As the British Empire was ruling many foreign countries Victorian and Edwardian people were interested in these countries. But the author’s common usage of French sentences such as “‘L´homme chest rien-l´oeuvre chest tout" also serves to show the readers that our detective is intellectual.
Sherlock Holmes stories were famous during Victorian and Edwardian times because of the techniques Conan Doyle uses. He seems to have got the ability to describe virtually everything in the imaginative scene of crime and make the reader as if they are a detective. Even if Sherlock Holmes stories might not be as successful as they were in the Victorian and Edwardian societies due to the time gap, I still feel that they are relevant as still many crime novelists use Sherlock Holmes stories as basis for their modern novels. If we look at the famous detective series Inspector Morse for example Inspector Morse also has an assistant, like Dr.Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories and he also draws conclusions from his observations. This is a proof for Conan Doyle’s long lasting effect on detective literature.
On the whole, the excellent characterization, brilliant plot, griping climax and the sense of realism make Sherlock Holmes stories very successful.
