Sir Arthur Canon Doyle (1859-1930) was a prolific British writer whose works include fantasy and science-fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. He is best known for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. His characters Holmes and Watson appear in four novels and over fifty short stories which are considered to be milestones in the field of crime fiction. His other major works include the novels The Lost World, The Poison Belt, The Land of Mist, The Valley of Fear, and so on.