Questions About Sherlock Holmes: The Hidden Years

by Michael Kurland (Goodreads Author)

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If I remember right , was it not public pressure that forced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to ' bring back ' Sherlock Holmes ? The public refused to accept ' the death ' of Holmes !

Allison So far as I know, that's right! He wanted people to pay attention to his other literary works, he put out a good deal of historical fiction and other …moreSo far as I know, that's right! He wanted people to pay attention to his other literary works, he put out a good deal of historical fiction and other varied short stories that were eclipsed by Holmes, so Doyle got rid of him.

From what I understand people nearly rioted, 20,000 canceled their Strand subscriptions, Doyle and the magazine were subjected to hate mail and petitions for years, people wore black armbands in the street to mourn Holmes, so eventually Doyle just got sick of it and wrote 'The Empty House' to silence the public.

There's an argument that Holmes was never meant to stay dead, though, because Doyle killed him in a very ambiguous way, having him 'die off-screen' and leaving himself enough wiggle room to bring the detective back later on. If Doyle had really wanted Holmes gone forever, he probably would have had him murdered on the street with Watson at his side or something similar and left no room for a resurrection.

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