Katie's Writing Notes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a truly prolific write, publishing his first short story, “The Mystery of Sasassa Valley” in 1879 before he was 20 years old.  He was still in medical school at the University of Edinburgh at the time.  Throughout his lifetime, he wrote short stories, novels, plays, poems, and pamphlets.

Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on May 22 1859 and he died at “Windlesham,” his home in Crowborough, East Sussex, England, on July 7, 1930 of a heart attack at 71.

Doyle served his community as a medical doctor, but while waiting for patients to show up, he had plenty of time to write his short stories..  He created the character of Sherlock Holmes in one of his early stories and just kept writing about him, despite his attempt to kill him off.  The public would have nothing to do with that, so he kept writing.

Sherlock Holmes was based on Dr. Joseph Bell, Conan Doyle’s favorite professor at medical school.  Bell’s obvious use of inferences using deduction, logic, and observation became the basis for the character traits of Sherlock Holmes.

You can learn more information about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the official estate website: www.sherlockholmesonline.org.

Conan Doyle wrote four novels and six short story collections totaling 56 stories. Here is the listing featuring Sherlock Holmes:

1887            A Study in Scarlet

1892            A Sign of Four

1892            The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

1894            The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

1902             The House of the Baskervilles

1905            The Return of Sherlock Holmes

1915            The Valley of Fear

1917            His Last Bow

1927            The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes

1928            The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

Many of these stories have been brought to the screen since the 1930s staring Basil Rathbone, later with Jeremy Britt, and lately with Robert Downey, Jr.