This book provides a comprehensive overview of the history of British detective fiction from the late 19th to the early 21st century, as well as a detailed analysis of the evolution and longevity of the fictional investigator based on the "prototype" of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. In doing so, it not only reveals the particulars of Holmes's legacy and the development of the genre, but also embeds these in a broader socio-cultural, -historical, and -political context by addressing questions of gender and sexuality, ethnicity, age, or social class. This book is for anyone–including readers beyond the academic world–interested in the genre(s) of crime and detective fiction and its history and development in general, and in British detective fiction and the fictional detective character in particular. It's chronological structure, coupled with the introductory subchapters assigned to each time period, makes it accessible to readers with a specific interest in a particular period or character.