This entertaining collection of essays deserves to exist because Sherlock Holmes sees things others don't. He sees the world in a different way, and by so doing, allows us to see that same world - and human behavior - in different ways as well. Oh, sure, there have been countless detectives who have followed in his footsteps and who seem to rival his abilities. Just turn on the TV or browse the local bookshop and you'll find idiosyncratic super sleuths using forensics and reasoning to solve a whole host of crimes and misdeeds.

And yet no one rivals our dear, dear Holmes. Why does Sherlock...