Classic Sherlock Holmes Books

This collection contains the complete original Sherlock Holmes book canon by Arthur Conan Doyle: four novels and fifty-six short stories gathered into five collections. Together the nine volumes account for all sixty canonical Holmes adventures. Publication order is the clearest route for a first reading, although the cases do not follow a single internal chronology. As historical works published between 1887 and 1927, some stories contain colonial attitudes, racial or ethnic stereotypes, and period language that modern readers may find offensive.

Where to start: Read in publication order: A Study in Scarlet; The Sign of Four; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes; The Hound of the Baskervilles; The Return of Sherlock Holmes; The Valley of Fear; His Last Bow; and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. The first novel introduces Holmes and Watson, while The Adventures is also an approachable starting point for readers who prefer short cases.