Would Sherlock Holmes' methods work in real life ?

Massimo Piglucci, a philosopher who has long studied the Holmesian canon, describes Holmes’ method as a form of “eliminative induction,” because “deduction” is too limited to encompass it. Holmes, he says, actually works his way through inferences toward the best explanation by considering and discarding others. He uses whatever seems best for the occasion, picking “the right set of tools from a broad toolbox, depending on the characteristics of the problem at hand.” Holmes does use intuition, Piglucci observes, but he combines it with time-tested practices.

There’s nothing wrong with forming a guiding hypothesis, as long as one stays flexible and accepts that it could change with new facts. The real problem lies with the arrogance of believing that one is always right or superior to anyone else, as well as deciding that someone is guilty before the evidence proves it.

I agree that we should be careful about some of Holmes’ statements. One that I've found troubling is, “Any truth is better than indefinite doubt.” Really? Any truth? This pressures us to contrive an explanation that sounds right and achieves closure. That’s how many investigations mess up. Better to leave an investigation open than to tie it up prematurely with something that might seem true.

I agree the statement is wrong, but it does say something interesting about psychology. Hardly anyone is content to have no explanation at all. They must always have something, even if it comes with massive caveats. Rickety bridges are acceptable, gaps are not.

I also quake at this one: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” As if any given investigator can think of all possibilities and effectively eliminate all impossibilities. What if they don’t have all the facts or don't realize the limits of their own imaginations? They might erroneously decide they’ve done everything possible when they haven’t. I’ve seen this, too. It’s the fallacy of believing that all the facts you know are all the facts there are.

Which is a very important fallacy and nicely phrased. However, I read the original statement more to be about principle than method. Improbable things shouldn't necessarily be rejected, as the author explains :

To be fair, Holmes has some good advice, too, such as, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts,” and “We balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination.” He also claims that the “first rule of criminal investigation” is to “always look for a possible alternative and provide against it.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/shadow-boxing/201805/sherlocks-curse