Sherlock Holmes, a homage to the great detective. Data visualisation

The Sherlock Holmes collection of books, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are some of the greatest mystery novels that have ever been written. Edgar Allen Poe may have invented the English-speaking worlds detective story with “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” but it was Arthur Conan Doyle who perfected the style when he created the character of Sherlock Holmes. The typical story begins with the protagonist who is faced with a mostly mundane incident or the report of an incident that piques Holmes interest and the investigation begins. If we were not so accustomed to mystery novels and what makes them tick, this might seem like a quiet unimaginative way to begin a story.

In this data visualisation, I’ve looked at the different stories and their characters. I’ve also focused on the times that each of the characters are mentioned in each of the stories, to ensure they are represented correctly. The data visualisation therefore should inspire the viewer to read one or more of the classic tales of this literature genre.

To ensure fidelity to its history the same design of sherlock’s profile picture was utilised.

By creating Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle created a permanent place for himself in world literature. He also created a new, imaginative and polished way of storytelling that has been the basis of countless works by other authors the world over ever since.

I hope this data visualisation conveys the true detective experience and people can explore and intrigue themselves with the different designs, characters and facets of our main hero, Mr Sherlock Holmes.