Other editions of book Sherlock Holmes

At the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, the most famous detective in fiction, most stories were told in parts in magazines over many months. The problem with that, Doyle thought, was that if readers happened to miss the first part, they would not be interested in picking up the story later. So he decided to write stories that were complete in one issue and had main characters that reappeared in future adventures. Edgar Allen Poe wrote the first detective story, but Doyle reinvented it with the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.One reason people like to read detective stories is because in real life crimes can go unsolved and unpunished. A crime causes disorder. A detective's job is to solve the crime so our social relationships can be put back on order. The heroes of detective stories show how even very puzzling crimes can be explained. This helps us believe that justice is still possible.Sometimes Holmes solves mysteries that do not involve a crime. But in any case, his techniques are the same. First, he makes keen observations. He looks very closely at what the details of a person's appearance reveal. Second, he is strictly logical. He always finds as many facts about a case as he can before he starts thinking about a theory that would fit them together. Third, he is ready to use disguises and a little trickery to find clues. Furthermore, Holmes always tries to learn more general knowledge so that he can have a greater chance of solving new problems. He also studies the history of crime so that he can compare his cases with other instances of mysterious and wicked behavior.Just as vivid to us as Holmes, with his deerstalker cap, his caped overcoat, his pipe and his handy magnifying glass, is his companion, Dr. Watson, who narrates these adventures. A war veteran and a married man, Dr. Watson adds common sense and coolness in the fact of danger to Holmes's brilliant reasoning.Doyle's storytelling made this pair seem so real that his fans tend to speak of the sleuth and his sidekick as if they were actual historical people and not simply made-up figures. In Doyle's day, Sherlock Holmes became so hugely popular that Doyle decided he must write a story in which Holmes died in order to be free to write about a different subject. So he suggested that Holmes plunged to his death in a gorge while wrestling the evil genius Professor Moriarty. Readers howled in protest. Even Doyle's mother told him he was wrong. Doyle gave in and began writing more Holmes stories.

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh Medical School. A London-based "consulting detective" whose abilities border on the fantastic, Holmes is known for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise and his use of forensic science to solve difficult cases.Holmes, who first appeared in print in 1887, was featured in four novels and 56 short stories. The first novel, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 and the second, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character's popularity grew with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional short-story series and two novels (published in serial form) appeared from then to 1927. The events in the stories take place from about 1880 to 1914.All but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson. Two are narrated by Holmes himself ("The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" and "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane"), and two others are written in the third person ("The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" and "His Last Bow"). In two stories ("The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" and "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott"), Holmes tells Watson the story from his memory, with Watson narrating the frame story. The first and fourth novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear, include long passages of omniscient narrative of events unknown to either Holmes or Watson.

This work is the premier collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1893, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Known as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard. First appearing in print in 1887 (in A Study in Scarlet), the character's popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional tales appeared from then until 1927, eventually totalling four novels and 56 short stories. All but one are set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras, between about 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer Dr. Watson, who usually accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often shares quarters with him at the address of 221B Baker Street, London, where many of the stories begin. Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best known, with Guinness World Records listing him as the "most portrayed movie character" in history. Holmes's popularity and fame are such that many have believed him to be not a fictional character but a real individual; numerous literary and fan societies have been founded that pretend to operate on this principle. Widely considered a British cultural icon, the character and stories have had a profound and lasting effect on mystery writing and popular culture as a whole, with the original tales as well as thousands written by authors other than Conan Doyle being adapted into stage and radio plays, television, films, video games, and other media for over one hundred years.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Baker Street would have failed to recognize him. His face flushed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter.' Set against the foggy, mysterious backdrops of London and the English countryside, these are the first twelve stories ever published to feature the infamous Detective Sherlock Holmes and his side kick Doctor Watson. They first appeared as stories in the Strand Magazine and feature some of his most famous and enjoyable cases, including 'A Scandal in Bohemia', 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' and 'The Red-headed League'.