I listened quite a lot of Holmes short stories recently. One thing strikes me. In many stories, the main characters are not married or don’t have children. To start with, Holmes himself is a bachelor.

I listened to the stories while I was going to sleep. Many details may not be correct. Anyway, here is what I remember. On YouTube, many of the Holmes stories are numbered. I put down the numbers as well as the titles for easy reference.

1. A scandal in bohemia. The king and his former lover, both were getting married, were not young.

2. The red headed league. The main character, an old man, is a bachelor.

9. The engineer ‘s thumb. The engineer is a bachelor. In that story, the criminal targeted bachelors, probably because nobody would look for them seriously if they are missing.

14. The cardboard box. Of the three sisters, only one is married and childless. The tragedy occurred probably because one sister is not married and the other one is childless.

15. The yellow face. The couple is married for three years, childless. The lady has one daughter from previous marriage.

25. The empty house. The murdered victim, a wealthy man, break off an engagement.

27. The Dancing Men. The couple in the story don’t have children.

37. The second stain. The secretary of European affairs and his wife don’t have children. The killed spy, who was 34, was not married.

The vanishing of the Atkinsons. The Atkinson brothers are not married. One of the brothers left a girl pregnant before their disappearance.

The mystery of the Addleton curse. The son of the archeologist, as well as himself, died of uranium radiation.

Overall, the number of children in Holmes’ stories are very small.