Sherlock Holmes Novels, short story, and etc.

Sherlock Holmes novels:
1887	-	A Study in Scarlet
1890	-	The Sign of Four
1902	-	The Hound of the Baskervilles
1915	-	The Valley of Fear
Sherlock Holmes short story collections:
1892	-	The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
1894	-	The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
1905	-	The Return of Sherlock Holmes
1917	-	His Last Bow
1927	-	The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
1928	-	The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
Another Collection!

Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey, Jr.?

Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed that some five years after they first stepped into the character in separate projects, he and Robert Downey Jr have discussed their respective versions of Sherlock Holmes. It took two films and three TV series but the pair finally met recently, with Cumberbatch explaining at the TCA Press Tour: "I sat down on the sofa with Robert Downey Jr last night, and we had our first conversation and shared notes on playing Sherlock Holmes."

The actors have taken fairly different approaches to the detective role, with RDJ using brains and brawn in equal amounts and Cumberbatch opting for a little more reserved, cerebreal Holmes.
"This is the most dramatised fictional character of all time, so there's a lot to talk about," he added.
Cumberbatch revealed that he also tries to keep up to date with third major league Sherlock Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Holmes in the US series Elementary.
"Jonny is incredibly busy with it. I've seen him on one plane, just by happenstance, since we both started on our separate journeys with it," he said.
"We haven't had a proper sit-down about it, but we adore each other. We're in contact, every now and again, but the last thing we want to do is talk shop. So, I see as much of his as I can, and I think he sees all of our three at a time.
"We're all fans of one another. We're all supportive of it. No matter what bulls**t the press has tried to whip up in the past, we're really good friends. And I can safely say that Robert's in the same camp now, after last night. We had a wonderful chat."
Cumberbatch is set to continue with the BBC adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels for at least another series, with showrunner Steven Moffat joking about Cumberbatch's schedule and saying that the show will continue until the lead actor becomes "too famous".

Influence of Sherlock Holmes

Microscope by Seibert from the 19th century

Sherlock Holmes remains a great inspiration for forensic science in literature, especially for the way his acute study of a crime scene yields small clues as to the precise sequence of events. He makes great use of trace evidence such as shoe and tire impressions, as well as fingerprints, ballistics and handwriting analysis, now known as questioned document examination. Such evidence is used to test theories conceived by the police, for example, or by the investigator himself. All of the techniques advocated by Holmes later became reality, but were generally in their infancy at the time Conan Doyle was writing. In many of his reported cases, Holmes frequently complains of the way the crime scene has been contaminated by others, especially by the police, emphasising the critical importance of maintaining its integrity, a now well-known feature of crime scene examination.

The Game of Shadows

Sherlock has been increasingly crazy-seeming since the first film as he investigates Professor Moriarty and his nefarious scheme (which Sherlock doesn’t actually know, or even work out. He just keeps stumbling onto it in action-film style). Also, it happens to be the day before (and day of) Watson’s wedding. And instead of going on a honeymoon, Sherlock takes him away on a rollicking adventure to stop Moriarty and help avert a world war. If you didn’t know that Sherlock is supposed to be a detective, you would think he was a psychic. In the first film they showed him deducing things by slowing down time in what was essentially Sherlock-vision. This worked well, because we saw things for an instant as Sherlock sees them all the time – seeing all the details at every moment.In this film, he doesn’t do the voice-over where he works out the details. It jumps straight to the part where he fast-forwards through the fight without explaining how he got there. It gets especially stupid when, during one fast-forward of a fight with Moriarty, Moriarty’s voice-over interrupts. What? Why is Moriarty interrupting Sherlock’s prediction? Are they having some sort of psychic battle now?

Last Fight

 

Is more interesting than the final fight, but since half of it is played in their minds rather than on the board, it would have been nice to see those pieces move. Otherwise it just sounds like useless, meaningless jargon. A flash to the pieces moving would have given it the feeling of action and would have shown Sherlock starting to turn the conversation and dismantle Moriarty’s defences. Instead, they break up a tense conversation to say lines like “Queen to rook four” or something, which ruins an otherwise excellent scene



Video of the Last Fight

Professor Moriarty

Illustration of Professor Moriarty by Sidney Paget

Professor Moriarty a.k.a James Moriarty is a character in the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The archenemy of Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty is a criminal mastermind whom Holmes describes as the "Napoleon of crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was referring to Adam Worth, one of the real life models of Moriarty. The character of Moriarty as Holmes' greatest enemy was introduced primarily as a narrative device to enable Conan Doyle to kill off Sherlock Holmes, and only featured directly in two of the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, in more recent derivative work he has been given a greater prominence and treated as Holmes' primary antagonist. Moriarty vows that Holmes faces inevitable destruction if he continues to meddle in Moriarty's plans. Moriarty has full respect for Holmes' intellect and says that it has been an intellectual treat to grapple with him but is also completely willing to kill Holmes should he oppose him any further, showing a ruthless side.

Sherlock Habbits

Sherlock Holmes pipe and hat

Although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind... [he] keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very center of his wooden mantelpiece... He had a horror of destroying documents.... Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner.
Holmes had no breakfast for himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him to presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.