"It is my business to know what other people don't know."

Today is the birthday of the famous fictional character, British detective Sherlock Holmes. Some place Holmes's birth year at 1854, although others argue that it is more likely 1861. Holmes made his debut in 1887 in A Study in Scarlet, which was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual. The author, Arthur Conan Doyle received $25 for the story. Conan Doyle initially named his hero Sherringford Hope, but at his wife's urging, he renamed him after his favorite violinist Alfred Sherlock and Oliver Wendell Holmes, who had recently published a book on criminal psychology. Holmes was a huge success with readers, but Conan Doyle made the bold move of killing the hero off in 1893 in the story The Final Problem. As a result, 20,000 readers cancelled their subscriptions to the The Strand magazine, which carried Holmes's stories. After he was offered a nice financial incentive, Doyle resurrected Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Holmes has appeared in 56 short stories and four novels.

Despite being over 100 years old, Sherlock Holmes still remains popular. Aside from the original stories, new authors have taken up Sherlock Holmes, inventing new cases and adventures. Movies and television shows are still being made: last year's blockbuster starring Robert Downey Jr. and the BBC's new television series featuring a modern day Sherlock are just a few. If you've never read any of the Holmes canon (or even if you have), a good place to start is The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, which has wonderful background information on Holmes and Doyle, as well as great insight into the stories.