Exit Sherlock Holmes
Exit Sherlock Holmes is an article published in The Bystander on 22 june 1927.
Exit Sherlock Holmes
I think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is very wise to put a definite period to the activities of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Not, of course, because we are tired of the famous sleuth, but because there is a fashion to seize upon this or that character when its creator had finished with it, and to continue its career under some such heading as: "What Happened to Lewis Dodd after the Death of his Constant Nymph." The only way to guard against such piracy is, obviously, to kill off all your characters, and I would remind Sir Arthur that although he may remove Sherlock Holmes from the scene of his triumphs, Dr. Watson still remains to be used as a peg on which to hang unauthorised sequels Assuredly, Dr. Watson must die lest he become the unofficial Boswell of the great detective.
