What explains the timeless appeal of Sherlock Holmes?

NPR | By Adrian Ma,

Daniel Ofman, Tinbete Ermyas

Published March 28, 2026 at 5:33 PM EDT

What's behind the timeless appeal of the quintessential fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, who's been around for 140 years? Host Adrian Ma speaks with expert Sherlockian, Otto Penzler.

Adrian Ma

Adrian Ma covers work, money and other "business-ish" for NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.

Daniel Ofman

Tinbete Ermyas

Support nonprofit, fact-based public service journalism

WEKU depends on support from those who view and listen to our content. There's no paywall here. Please support WEKU with your donation.

Contribute now

Related Content

NPR News

Photos: 'No Kings' Protests Across the Country

Meredith Nierman

People gathered for pro-democracy protests across the country today.
Thousands of 'No Kings' protests take place around the world

Meg Anderson, Adrian Ma

Thousands of protests took place around the country today, against the Trump administration. We hear from people who came out about why they were there.
Ethics committee finds Florida Democratic representative guilty of violations

Barbara Sprunt

The House Ethics Committee found Rep. Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of ethics violations after a rare public hearing on allegations of financial crimes.
NPR News

Yemen's Houthi rebels enter the fighting in the Middle East

Jane Arraf, Adrian Ma

At least 15 U.S. military personnel were wounded in an Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi rebels entered the war with an attack on Israel.
How will two landmark social media verdicts reshape how we use this technology?

Adrian Ma, Sarah Robbins, Daniel Ofman

Two landmark verdicts this week could reshape the way social media works. Aza Raskin, a co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, explains the implications of the courts' decisions.