"Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practice for twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I was allowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings" -- Dr. John H. Watson (VEIL)

In addition to his private medical practice, Watson found the time to write, edit, and publish memoirs of his friend's cases. No less than 56 short stories, 4 novels, and 2 short pastiches were published about Mr. Holmes during his lifetime, the vast majority of which are directly accredited to Dr. Watson.

In a very few cases, the narrative is set in the third person, instead of Watson's usual first person; but because these were published in the same periodical and published under the same name, there can be little doubt that either Dr. Watson or Mr. Holmes, himself, wrote them. Yet, some scholars take exception to this conclusion. In any case, there can be little dispute that writing and preparing these many accounts took much of the doctor's time - and certainly contributed something to his cheque-book.

In addition to those published cases, he kept notes on infinitely more cases that never saw the printer's typeset for various reasons (which he occasionally lists in the published cases). To find lists and titles of the known published and unpublished cases, see "Archives."