An Intimate Study Of Sherlock Holmes By His Creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This issue of Detective Story Magazine (January 15, 1918) features "An Intimate Study of Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle, a nonfiction essay. Doyle discusses the real-world impact of his fictional detective, recounting letters from readers worldwide—Russian correspondents, French schoolboys seeking Baker Street, and people requesting Holmes's autograph. He describes receiving inquiries to locate Holmes for private matters and offers of employment for his detective services.

Doyle details his application of Holmes's deductive methods to actual cases, including the George Edalji case (wrongful imprisonment) and Oscar Slater (murder conviction Doyle believes unjust). He presents a solved disappearance case—a man who drew forty pounds and vanished from a London hotel—which he deduced through logical analysis of hotel procedures and train schedules. Doyle concludes by acknowledging both the practical value and limitations of systematic deduction, comparing it to ordinary police work, and recounts several unsolvable mysteries, including a registered letter with blank pages sent to a deceased employee.