Arthur Conan Doyle began writing during a period when Realism was prominent in European literature; this literary approach sought to depict the daily lives of ordinary people. To achieve this goal, writers presented what they believed to be a detailed and unembellished version of reality. Reacting to the preceding Romantic period, which focused on unusual or idealized people and events with a special focus on emotions and the subconscious, Realism aimed for accuracy based on observation of ordinary social life.

Realism as a technique has existed in various cultures in different periods. Realism as an artistic ideology was consciously embraced in Europe and North America in the mid-19th century. It differed from preceding cultural trends in its focus on the middle and lower classes and the negative aspects of everyday existence: poverty, disease, and crime. Many of the leading writers of the age, such as Gustave Flaubert in France, Charles Dickens in England, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Russia, produced socially-engaged works critiquing contemporary society.

In the United Kingdom, the realist period coincided with the Victorian era, which is known for its rigid social and gender norms, suppression of sexuality and the body, and valorization of order and logic.