To the layman, Sherlock Holmes and murder mysteries go together like cereal and milk. Sherlock Holmes was a detective who solve murders, right?

“Well,” the serious scholar of Holmes might reply, “not entirely.”

For Sherlock Holmes wasn’t just a consulting homicide detective. He was so much more. As Holmes himself describes his clients to Dr. Watson, “They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightenment. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.”  Simple enough.

Holmes doesn’t seem to discriminate, even when he’s complaining about it:  “As to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils, and giving advice to young ladies from boarding-schools.”   The case that follows those words involves the advice, the lost lead pencils matter is one we must file under “untold tales.” Yes, Sherlock Holmes was often more like a tech support guy on life than an actual criminal investigator.

In fact, Sherlock Holmes was a lot like Dr. Phil, a modern celebrated amateur consultant.

The thought occurred to me as I pondered the matter of Miss Mary Sutherland this afternoon.  We all know she came to Holmes about her missing fiance, something one could construe as a possible crime.  But as Sherlockians have gone on about for decades, Miss Sutherland was a bit of a dolt. The fiance whom she’d misplaced was actually her step-father wearing a disguise. And while Holmes spares Miss Sutherland the embarassment and possible psychological trauma of finding out the truth, he does do his own style of family counselling and give the step-father a good talking-to.

In fact, there are a few cases where Sherlock Holmes substitutes a lecture for an arrest.  And even when he doesn’t lecture, there are times when he just sets a family aright by being there, as with the Munros of “Yellow Face.” He’s not really a psychologist (like Dr. Phil), but he does have a way with setting people on the right path by letting them see the truth of things.

Considering how popular Sherlock Holmes became on his own, one has to wonder just how incredibly  celebrated he would have been if he had started out as a regular feature of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” It boggles the mind.

But now that I consider  it, Dr. Phil is really Oprah’s Watson, so Holmes probably wouldn’t have fit into her show to begin with. There can be only one star in such a duo, and neither would have tolerated the other for long.

Ah, but wouldn’t that have been fun to watch while it lasted!

Your humble correspondent,

Brad Keefauver