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F.
 
The first two Sherlock Holmes s
tories, the novel “A Study in Scarlet” and “The Sign of the 

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Four”, were reasonably received well. However, Holmes first became exceedingly 
popular, when the first six short stories featuring the former characters were published 
in 1891 in The Stand Magazine. Holmes became a celebrity in Britain and America. In 
1893, when Arther Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in the story “The Final Problem”, public 
reaction to try to bring him back was so aggressive and unprecedented in fictional events. 
As a result of Holme
’s death, more than 20,000 readers cancelled their subscription. 
Public pressure finally contributed to the author writing another story of Holmes as a 
resurrected character. While not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is 
undoubtedly the best known. Until the 2000s, there were already more than 25,000 plays, 
films, TV programs featuring the detective, and he is listed as the most appeared literary 
character in film and television history by Guinness World Records.
G.
 
Holmes’s success and reputati
on lead many to believe he is not a character in fiction, but 
a real person. A number of literary and fan communities have been founded on this 
pretence. Avid readers contributed to establishing the modern practice of fandom. The 
fiction and character have had a far-reaching and everlasting effect on mystery writing 
and mainstream culture as a whole, with the original stories, as well as thousands adapted 
into radio plays, TV, films, and even video games by authors other than Conal Doyle for 
over ten decades.
H.
 
Many fans sent letters to Holmes’s address, 221B Baker Street. Though the address did 
not exist, those letters began to arrive at the large Abbey National building that first 
encompassed the address soon after it was built in 1932. The Sherlock Holmes Museum 
now holds the letters, and many of the people who sent the letter believed that Holmes 
was real. In a 2008 survey of British teenagers, over half of respondents believed that 
Sherlock Holmes was a real human.