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For ten years, Conan-Doyle concentrated on historical fiction, which was well received. In 1901 he returned to writing stories about Holmes, after pressure from his writing public and lucrative offers from publishers. In total, Doyle wrote four novels and 57 short stories over his career. He wrote the last story about his most famous creation was in 1927.

Since the death of Conan Doyle, many authors and filmmakers have continued to write stories and make movies and television series based on Conan Doyles’s creation. This is not surprising because Sherlock Holmes is currently in the public domain.

In 2020, <i>Enola Holmes</i> starring Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavil, based on a novel by Nancy Springer about Sherlock Holmes' sister, was streamed by Netflix. The Conan Doyle estate even filed a lawsuit regarding the Cavil's interpretation of Holmes even though the character is undeniably in the public domain.

[[File: Sherlock Three.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The cover of the Hounds of the Baskervilles]]

There are a few references to Holmes's early life. It appears that he was born in the 1850s and that he came from the English gentry and that his mother may have been part-French. It has been speculated that Holmes, who never married, had a cruel governess in his youth, and this is why he never had a lasting relationship with a female. Sherlock had an older brother called Mycroft, a genius who worked for the government and is often referred to in the stories. The future detective went to Oxford, and it was here that he acquired his formidable powers of deduction. He became an amateur detective after he visited a university friend during his summer vacation.

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At the time of the stories’ publication, many critics came to believe that Holmes was inspired not by a real-life detective but by fictional ones. Some critics believe that Conan-Doyle was inspired by the works of the English mystery writer Wilkie Collins. However, undoubtedly, one of the main influences on creating the world’s most famous fictional detective was Edgar Alan Poe (1809-1849). He created the world’s first fictional detective, Auguste Dupin. He is a very logical and rational thinker who used reason to solve impossible mysteries.

For example, in ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (1841), he solved a murder that took part in a locked and inaccessible room. The creator of the world’s best-known fictional crime fighter was a great admirer of the Baltimore born poet and short-story writer. The stories of Dupin certainly influenced the writer and doctor. Another potential model for Holmes was the fictional French detective M. Lecoq, created by Emile Gaboriau (1832–1873). This Parisian criminal, like Holmes, is an opium addict, and there are several other similarities to the most famous creation of Conan-Doyle.<ref> Murch, Alma Elizabeth, and Peter Owen. The development of the detective novel (London, Peter Owen, 1968), p 116</ref>

Another potential model for the hero who solves so many mysteries was Joseph Caminada (1854-1914). There are many undeniable similarities between this real-life detective and the one who operated out of Baker Street. Caminada was born in Manchester and was the son of an Italian immigrant. He joined the police force at an early age and studied criminals to catch them; this is something that Holmes also did during his many visits to London’s Underworld. Caminada was like Conan Doyle's literary figure, a master of disguise, and used a scientific method to catch criminals, which resulted in him apprehending over 1000 offenders.

The Manchester-based detective was also like Holmes regularly consulted by the police when he became a ‘consultant.’ Then, as was the case with the man who solved the Mystery of the Hounds of the Baskervilles, Caminada had a nemesis, who was a criminal mastermind. His enemy was not some egocentric Professor like Moriarty, but a young man who swore revenge on Caminada for arresting him.<ref>O'Neill, Joseph, Crime City: Manchester's Victorian Underworld, Milo Books, 2008), p 14, 89)</ref>

Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn (1826-1914) was a Scottish medical doctor, a public health advocate, and a social reformer. Doyle knew him because Littlejohn taught him at medical school in Edinburgh. He was one of the earliest experts in the new forensic science, and like Holmes, he was regularly consulted by the police, especially in Scotland.

He was also a happily married man with a large family. This was very dissimilar to Sherlock's life, a committed bachelor and an opium addict. Moreover, Holmes is portrayed by Doyle as rejecting the opportunity to be knighted, while Littlejohn was knights by Queen Victoria for his medical services.<ref> Ben-Yami, Hanoch. "Could Sherlock Holmes Have Existed?." Croatian Journal of Philosophy 10, no. 30 (2010): 3-9</ref>

It is widely held by scholars of the works of Conan Doyle that the main model for Sherlock Holmes was Joseph Bell (1837 – 1911). He was a doctor and a lecturer and lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, and that Doyle was taught by Bell and later became his assistant, for a while.<ref>Jacks, p. 12</ref> Bell believed that observation was essential for correct diagnosis. This made him a very successful doctor and surgeon.

However, Bell did not have any of the eccentricities of Holmes and was a rather respectable figure. He even served as Queen Victoria’s personal medic when she visited Scotland.<ref>Scarlett, Earle P. "The Old Original: Notes on Dr. Joseph Bell Whose Personality and Peculiar Abilities Suggested the Creation of Sherlock Holmes." Archives of internal medicine 114, no. 5 (1964): 696-701</ref>

Conan Doyle created not only one of the great figures in crime fiction; he fashioned one of the most significant figures in popular culture. Sherlock Holmes's creator, Conan Doyle, was influenced by other writers' work, especially that of Poe. However, there is a great deal of evidence that suggests that he based his classic character on a historical figure. It is not likely that Joseph Caminada was used as a model by the Edinburgh born writer for his most famous creation. Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn was probably someone who inspired the young writer to conceive Holmes's famous powers of deduction.