Sherlock Holmes, fictional character created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The prototype for the modern mastermind detective, Holmes first appeared in Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. As the world’s first and only “consulting detective,” he pursued criminals throughout Victorian and Edwardian London, the south of England, and continental Europe.From 1939 to 1946, Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes with his friend Nigel Bruce on cinema and radio.The Telltale Pigeon Feathers: Sherlock's brother Mycroft puts Sherlock on the trail of a spy, and Doctor Watson finds himself arrested for murder! Originally aired January 21, 1946.Support the show