Get Ready to Light the Birthday Candles

Statue at the Sherlock Holmes Museum

By tradition, Sunday will be the 159th birthday of Sherlock Holmes. Did you remember to send him a card?

After all, according to Vincent Starrett's beloved sonnet "221B," Holmes and his devoted friend Dr. Dr. John H. Watson "never lived and so can never die." Some Sherlockians may disagree with the first assertion, but none would doubt the second.

So Sherlock Holmes is alive, which explains why his obituary has never appeared in The Times of London. But I'm stating the obvious. Of course he's alive, mostly obviously on TV and movie screens! Holmes is the subject of two current TV series -- one on each side of the Atlantic -- and what may become the longest series of Holmes films since Basil Rathbone.

In the world of print, new Holmes pastiches and critical works keep being poured out at an amazing rate. My own small publisher alone published 49 Holmes books in 2012.

More important to me, all this activity is driving new readers to the Canon -- the original four novels and fifty-six short stories. The enthusiasm of these awestruck new fans of all ages and all around the world ensures that Sherlock Holmes and his Dr. Watson truly can never die.