"How Do You Like 'Sherlock?'"

"How do you like that English show, 'Sherlock'?"


"I think it's very clever and well written. And I really appreciate all the coy references to the original Conan Doyle stories. But I'm really more of a reader than a watcher. Besides, I think the series kind of jumped the shark in the third season - just went too far."


"Have you seen 'Elementary'?"


"Just the pilot. It's on too late for me and we don't DVR. And I'm really more of a reader than a watcher."


I've had the above conversation dozens of times. It starts as soon as someone learns that I've written a number of mystery novels with a Sherlockian twist. I've taken to beginning every talk to general audiences by asking them if they've seen the two TV series or the Robert Downey Jr. films. Inevitably almost all of the hands go up.


Sherlock Holmes is riding the third big wave of popularity of my lifetime after the post-Seven Per Cent Solution phase and the Jeremy Brett phrase. This is bigger than both. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to be that a few long-time Sherlockians are less than thrilled that so many others have succumbed to Sherlockmania. It's as though they would prefer to be part of an elite few.


That's not my view. Whether I personally like the new incarnations or not, I'm excited that Holmes has gone so mainstream. A good portion of viewers have become readers of the Canon. Once hooked, they will stay hooked. So I'm enjoying the Holmes resurgence while I can. History suggests that it won't last.