Sherlock Holmes died in 1893 but then came back to life ten years later. After writing twenty-four Holmes stories in six years, Arthur Conan Doyle had grown weary of the popular hero and wanted to focus on writing historical novels. So he figured he could put an end to the whole thing by having Holmes plunge to his death from Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls, holding his arch-enemy, Professor Moriarity, in a mutual death grip.
Although public outcry was enormous, Doyle remained adamant about not bringing Holmes back. Ten years later, though, McClure's magazine in the United States offered Doyle $5,000 per story if he'd bring his detective back to life. That was the equivalent of nearly $100,000 in today's money, and Doyle couldn't resist. His first story had Holmes coming out of hiding after ten years, and Doyle wrote Holmes stories for a quarter of a century before retiring himself and his detective for good in 1927.
Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo, It Takes a Certain Type To Be a Writer, 2003
Although public outcry was enormous, Doyle remained adamant about not bringing Holmes back. Ten years later, though, McClure's magazine in the United States offered Doyle $5,000 per story if he'd bring his detective back to life. That was the equivalent of nearly $100,000 in today's money, and Doyle couldn't resist. His first story had Holmes coming out of hiding after ten years, and Doyle wrote Holmes stories for a quarter of a century before retiring himself and his detective for good in 1927.
Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo, It Takes a Certain Type To Be a Writer, 2003
When I was a young girl, my dad bought me a copy of Sherlock Holmes stories at a used bookstore(still and always my favorite kind of store). It was an anthology that ended with the death of Holmes and Moriarty. First time I ever got teary over a story! Daddy had to go looking in book stores and the library to find me a copy of the Return of Sherlock Holmes to reassure me that he was not really dead! I had a wonderful father.
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