Arthur Conan Doyle met Bell in 1877, and served
as his clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Doyle later went on to write a
series of popular stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, whom Doyle stated was
loosely based on Bell and his observant ways. Bell was aware of this
inspiration and took some pride in it. According to Irving Wallace (in an essay originally in his book The Fabulous Originals but later republished and updated in his collection The Sunday Gentleman) Bell was involved in several police
investigations, mostly in Scotland, such as the Altamont Mystery of 1893,
usually with forensic expert Professor Henry Littlejohn.
1877年，作家柯南道尔在爱丁堡皇家医学院与贝尔相遇，并成为贝尔的助手。后来道尔致力于创作大受欢迎的系列小说人物福尔摩斯，而福尔摩斯正是道尔大体以贝尔和贝尔的观察方式来创作的。贝尔知道他是福尔摩斯的创作灵感，并且深为此感到骄傲。根据欧文·华莱士（最初在他的一本名为《著名的原型》中的一篇文章，后来他的选集《阳光绅士》中进行再次更补）的描述，贝尔与法医学专家亨利·小约翰数次协助警方的侦测工作，多数是在苏格兰，例如1893年的Altamont神秘事件。
