In search of Sherlock Holmes

From The Seattle Times:

What's to be made of a bunch of grown-ups who want to believe that a made-up guy is real? Of all the mysteries that Sherlock Holmes ever investigated, this is the riddle that might have most baffled and amused him.

What does the reporter mean by "made-up guy?" I deduce this ink-stained scribe has has fallen to the myth that Holmes is a fictional character.