ot but sherlock holmes, the most popular detective of them all spends several years of his life working for British counter espionage before ww1, thwarting his German rival. This before mi5 existed! I find it remarkable how conan doyle also managed to pioneer the spy novel genre.

Sherlock Holmes stories are very interesting to read in order because they span a good 40 years. The first stories are set in the classic Victorian setting with horses and carriages and in the later ones the first cars appear, WW1 happens, etc…