Editing Sherlock Holmes (section)

==={{anchor|Role in the history of the detective story}}The detective story===
[[File:Statue of Sherlock Holmes in Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Statue of Holmes, holding a pipe|Statue of Holmes in an [[Inverness cape]] and a [[deerstalker]] cap on Picardy Place in [[Edinburgh]] (Conan Doyle's birthplace)]]
Although Holmes is not the original fictional detective, his name has become synonymous with the role. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories introduced multiple literary devices that have become major conventions in detective fiction, such as the companion character who is not as clever as the detective and has solutions explained to him (thus informing the reader as well), as with [[Dr. Watson]] in the Holmes stories. Other conventions introduced by Doyle include the arch-criminal who is too clever for the official police to defeat, like Holmes's adversary [[Professor Moriarty]], and the use of forensic science to solve cases.<ref name=":1"/>

The Sherlock Holmes stories established crime fiction as a respectable genre popular with readers of all backgrounds, and Doyle's success inspired many contemporary detective stories.<ref name=smith/> Holmes influenced the creation of other "eccentric [[gentleman detective]]" characters, like [[Agatha Christie]]'s fictional detective [[Hercule Poirot]], introduced in 1920.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Detecting Social Order|last=Jann|first=Rosemary|publisher=Twayne Publishers|year=1995|isbn=978-0805783841|page=16}}</ref> Holmes also inspired a number of anti-hero characters "almost as an antidote to the masterful detective", such as the [[gentleman thief]] characters [[A. J. Raffles]] (created by [[E. W. Hornung]] in 1898) and [[Arsène Lupin]] (created by [[Maurice Leblanc]] in 1905).<ref name=smith>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Daniel|title=The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide|publisher=Aurum Press|location=London|year=2014|edition=Updated|orig-year=2009|pages=107–108|isbn=978-1-78131-404-3}}</ref>