Yes! Well. In a way. Conan Doyle did intend to kill off Sherlock Holmes in The Final Problem (hence the title), because he was sick of being recognised for nothing but the author of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and not any of his other work. read more
Internet message boards were abuzz with theories yesterday as a legion of armchair sleuths pondered how Holmes, the detective known in literature for cracking difficult cases in the time it takes to smoke three pipes, faked his own death. read more
Alternate explanation: Sherlock spent the two years away secretly dismantling Moriarty's criminal network. In order for the ruse of his death to work, John had to believe Sherlock was dead because there was no way John, a noted bad liar, would be able to fake the grief for that period of time. read more