Introduction: The Successors to Sherlock Holmes

Abstract

This chapter introduces the context and rationale for this book, which is concerned with the developments in the detective genre that took place from 1893 to 1901, the years when Sherlock Holmes was dead, having been killed off by Arthur Conan Doyle in “The Final Problem.” The chapter begins by examining Sherlock Holmes’s time in the Strand Magazine, focusing on the periodical publication and short story serial format as a key component in the detective’s success. The chapter outlines the ways in which the Strand and rival periodicals portrayed crime, both in fiction and in fact in the 1890s. It goes on to examine and explore the response of the Strand and its rivals to Sherlock’s absences (between the first and second series of Holmes stories) and after his death in 1893. Focussing upon a range of detective series, which were published in a diverse range of ephemeral publications from cheap provincial newspapers to lavish monthly magazines, allows this book to explore the culture of the late-Victorian literary marketplace, touching on issues from newspaper syndication to the importance of illustrations, and the ways in which authors responded to the dictates of editors and the reading public.