Discovering Sherlock Holmes' Methods

I am not particularly familiar with detective stories, the only detective stories I have read were Nancy Drew novels in elementary school. Of course, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” was very different. I really enjoyed the perspective of the story being told through Watson’s eyes instead of Sherlock Homes,’ and Watson’s language was very dry and systematic, which paralleled the fact that it was a detective story, because detectives, especially Sherlock Holmes, usually take a very systematic approach to their work. I thought it was interesting how Sherlock Holmes worked; he kept almost all of his deductions to himself until the very end of the story where he revealed his whole thought process. I had expected him to, at the very least; explain things to Watson as Holmes’ discovered the truth. I was also curious as to Watson’s whole purpose in the story. He is a doctor, after all and not a detective, so I do not understand why he follows Holmes’ around and why he trusts him so whole heartedly. I was also interested to find that there was no love aspect in the story, in the few detective stories I have read or watched, it is usually expected that the detective falls in love with the damsel in distress who is in need of his help, maybe that is just me, but I found that curious.