Book excerpt: A rollicking look at popular culture’s most beloved sleuth: “For even the casual fan, the history of this deathless character is fascinating” (The Boston Globe). Today he is the inspiration for fiction adaptations, blockbuster movies, hit television shows, raucous Twitter banter, and thriving subcultures. More than a century after Sherlock Holmes first capered into our world, what is it about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s peculiar creation that continues to fascinate us? Journalist and lifelong Sherlock fan Zach Dundas set out to find the answer. The result is The Great Detective: a history of an idea, a biography of someone who never lived, a tour of the borderland between reality and fiction, and a joyful romp through the world Conan Doyle bequeathed us. In this “wonderful book” (Booklist, starred review), Dundas unearths the inspirations behind Holmes and his indispensable companion, Dr. John Watson; explores how they have been kept alive over the decades by writers, actors, and readers; and visits locales—from the boozy annual New York City gathering of one of the world’s oldest and most exclusive Sherlock Holmes fan societies; to a freezing Devon heath out of The Hound of the Baskervilles; to sunny Pasadena, where Dundas chats with the creators of the smash BBC series Sherlock. Along the way, he discovers the ingredients that have made Holmes go viral—then, now, and as long as the game’s afoot.