About The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By Arthur Conan Doyle · first published in 1892 · Mystery & Thriller

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes gathers the first twelve short stories Arthur Conan Doyle wrote for The Strand Magazine in 1891 and 1892. Holmes had already appeared in two novels, but it was these stories, each a complete case that could be read in one sitting, that made him the best-known detective in fiction.

The formula is simple and has been copied ever since. A visitor climbs the stairs at 221B Baker Street with a problem the police cannot solve or must not hear about. Holmes glances at a sleeve, a boot or a watch chain and tells the visitor things about themselves that they have not mentioned. Dr. Watson, who narrates, is as astonished as the reader, and then the two of them set off across London in a cab.

The collection includes several of the most famous cases: The Red-Headed League, The Speckled Band, The Man with the Twisted Lip and The Blue Carbuncle. It begins with A Scandal in Bohemia, in which the King of Bohemia hires Holmes to recover a photograph from the opera singer Irene Adler. This preview covers the opening of that story, including the scene where Holmes deduces Watson’s recent habits from his shoes.