What is it about the character of sherlock holmes that a modern audience finds so engaging?

What is it about the character of Sherlock Holmes that a Victorian readership found so engaging? How do you account for the enduring appeal of the Baker Street detective?

Sherlock Holmes. Very few names are as evocative as that one. And yet there are many questions and speculations surrounding the creation of that marvellous fictional detective. It has been said that the only way to gain any true knowledge of Holmes is through his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The Sherlock Holmes stories changed the crime fiction genre in a significant way. Most writers base their work around the best selling books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and many aspects of crime fiction, which to us as modern readers seem cliched, were brand new ideas to the Victorian readers of these stories at the time. Although many other detective stories are also excellent, there is nothing quite like the original Holmes stories. As we read through the many adventures of Holmes and his ever faithful companion Dr. Watso...