Would this be okay?

Not to be unhelpful, but it all depends on how you do it. Pretty much anything can work if the author can make it do so.

This was done to an artist in the book Angle of Repose.

It's a little different...it's basically a biography of a real life artist by a fictional son...who's a drug user, quadriplegic and a bit nasty. Not sure how that all worked out. But the book is of the literary spontaneous combustion genre....so ymv.

8thSamurai said:

What I'm really looking for is if there is a specific copyright issue with the Doyle estate on mentioning a relation of Doyle or the character Sherlock Holmes.

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Conan Doyle himself isn't "copyrighted," so I can't imagine any reason you'd be unable to mention him (although there are many reasons that you wouldn't, for example, be able to publish a book under the pseudonym "Arthur Conan Doyle"--in the US that's covered by trademark law, not copyright). He's a public figure, after all.

The copyright has expired on almost all his works, but several of his characters remain trademarked and thus cannot be used; here's some info: http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/LicensingInfo/index.htm
Now, what that means is that you can't write a new Sherlock Holmes story without the estate's permission, because he is trademarked. But I would be surprised if you couldn't even mention Sherlock Holmes in your own story--just as you can mention trademarked goods like Pepsi and Coke, you ought to be able to mention Holmes. I'm not sure of that, but I can't see why you wouldn't be able to mention him in passing, as long as you don't give him a big "part" in the story. It seems obvious to me that you can write a story in which a character reads a Sherlock Holmes book or thinks about Sherlock Holmes, just like they can drink or think about Coke. And they could meet someone who reminds them of Sherlock Holmes, or is crazy and believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes, and so on.

But using Holmes as an actual character would definitely expose you to some problems. You might also possibly run into problems with characters who think they're Sherlock Holmes or remind someone of him--if that character essentially IS Holmes, i.e. if they go around solving mysteries and such, you'd certainly have a problem; you might also get into hot water if that character and his Holmes-like personality dominates the story.

"Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character)" is listed as a subject at http://www.librarything.com/subject. I've shelved a few books at my local library involving both Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm pretty sure you can get away with it, though I'd treat the character carefully (though the MC's just a relative, so Doyle himself might not show up at all), more so than an original one.

If your character is strong enough to stand on her own, then why bother having a link to Doyle in the first place?

His keen mind was developed by his mentor, Scots Doctor Joseph Bell. Someone teamed him and Doyle up as characters. It was on Mystery a couple years ago. Doyle has been used many times over Sherlock.

I'm just thinking leaving out the Doyle connection might simplify things for you and keep from treading over ground already well-covered by others.

As it happens, I've been a Sherlockian since the 5th grade, and have a LOT of books on Holmes, Doyle, Houdini, and the times they lived in. It's a rich era in which to play.

Please do read the Amelia Peabody mysteries, which are an absolute delight for Victorian who-dunnit, with no mention of Doyle, but plenty about contemporary archaeologists of the time. Start with The Crocodile on the Sandbank.

If you're planning a Victorian mystery, please do read those, as Elizabeth Peters has been one of my writing mentors. I learned a lot from her! Her MC is an independently wealthy woman traveling the world with her infamous parasol, solving mysteries. I swear that Peters used Kate Hepburn as a model for Peabody and perhaps Sean Connery as Emerson!

I'll be re-reading her and Doyle's works again before I start on my own Victorian adventure next month. Read other mysteries written back then as they give you a feel for the language used.

You'll also find these books of help!