What do you think?
Rate this book
The Complete Sherlock Holmes [Leatherbound] by Doyle, Arthur Conan (2009) Leather Bound
Volume 1 & II packed with outer box
Leather Bound
22 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Conan Doyle
15.9k books24.5k followersSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 22, 2019
Yes, I've finally done it. It took me 100 plus day, (I have slowly read one story a day, one would be able to finish these two books in less time frame), but I've 'now' finished all 60 stories and 4 novels.🥳
I probably wouldn't recommend buying the complete set of Sherlock Holmes from this particular publisher, as one would find occasional spellings mistakes. Then fonts mismatches and afterwards the book themselves have rather small dimensions with 900 plus pages cramped in the first half. It can get a bit tiring to hold the book in your hands or to keep it opened when you reach to its middle. (I don't believe many people would found any issue with the dimensions of the books. If you would, please don't hesitate to express your opinion. You've spent your earnings on books whose most, if not all content is in the public domain now, and I don't believe publisher now has to pay any royalties to "Arthur Conan Doyle estate" for the book's sales. If they indeed are earning all the revenue, then I must say you deserve better quality books.)
I probably wouldn't recommend buying the complete set of Sherlock Holmes from this particular publisher, as one would find occasional spellings mistakes. Then fonts mismatches and afterwards the book themselves have rather small dimensions with 900 plus pages cramped in the first half. It can get a bit tiring to hold the book in your hands or to keep it opened when you reach to its middle. (I don't believe many people would found any issue with the dimensions of the books. If you would, please don't hesitate to express your opinion. You've spent your earnings on books whose most, if not all content is in the public domain now, and I don't believe publisher now has to pay any royalties to "Arthur Conan Doyle estate" for the book's sales. If they indeed are earning all the revenue, then I must say you deserve better quality books.)
June 14, 2024
How I became obsessed with mystery fiction.
February 16, 2025
I have wanted to read the complete works since a long time. Now that I have finished it, I can't wait to rediscover them again. Truly a masterpiece!
January 10, 2026
Unlike most detective and suspense type books, you really can't tell what could happen next.
January 30, 2026
One of my favorite authors after reading these stories!
December 12, 2024
Having these books together is a blessing and a curse. The book is wonderfully heavy in hand, and the collection is set up in a logical fashion that makes it useful for following Sherlock's career from start to end. The great setback is that reading the stories one after the other is challenging due to the details getting somewhat muddled together in the mind. If you do read it, it is best to not try and take on the whole book at the same time. Rather, best to sit down with an individual story from time to time- ideally with a preferred beverage, a crackling fire, and a Persian slipper of pipe tobacco nearby.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a wonderful and vivid writer, and his stories paint a detailed masterpiece of a place that's full of fog, tweed, cobblestone, and mystery. Even when one knows the ending, the story nonetheless entertains through wit and wonder. Are some of his stories a little outdated by the prejudices of the past? Perhaps, but even then they invite the reader to struggle with very real questions about what and why popular ideas in their own time are likely to be passé.
One cannot write about Sherlock Holmes without acknowledging the various depictions and derivatives in modern tv shows and movies- most notably in the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Are they worth watching? There is no easy answer, for the writers of such show tend to twist the central protagonist into a caricature of the original Holmes in order that the great detective might be a great man by the standards of the society that he is written into (the BBC series presents a version of Sherlock who appears to be the product of high-functioning autism and as such the character's sociopathy tendencies are endured, if not applauded- all despite the original character being depicted as kind, gentlemanly, and forbearing in the most extreme circumstances). The BBC series, which I enjoyed (until they got to the Abominable Bride), attempted to adapt the stories with a wonderful degree of faithfulness into the modern setting. Yet despite their great care, they could not help but get twisted around and a bit ham-handed in their stories. Bad writing? Perhaps a little, but the real cause was that the writers were engaged in the work of adapting- no quality of writing will make Sherlock Holmes more at home than the world that flowed from Doyle's pen. And that's the great beauty of it. All of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock books are in the public domain, and there are likely to be all kinds of versions of the famous detective that will pop up in the near future. But if you want a good detective story of two friends solving a complex mystery, then the original source material can never be replaced.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a wonderful and vivid writer, and his stories paint a detailed masterpiece of a place that's full of fog, tweed, cobblestone, and mystery. Even when one knows the ending, the story nonetheless entertains through wit and wonder. Are some of his stories a little outdated by the prejudices of the past? Perhaps, but even then they invite the reader to struggle with very real questions about what and why popular ideas in their own time are likely to be passé.
One cannot write about Sherlock Holmes without acknowledging the various depictions and derivatives in modern tv shows and movies- most notably in the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Are they worth watching? There is no easy answer, for the writers of such show tend to twist the central protagonist into a caricature of the original Holmes in order that the great detective might be a great man by the standards of the society that he is written into (the BBC series presents a version of Sherlock who appears to be the product of high-functioning autism and as such the character's sociopathy tendencies are endured, if not applauded- all despite the original character being depicted as kind, gentlemanly, and forbearing in the most extreme circumstances). The BBC series, which I enjoyed (until they got to the Abominable Bride), attempted to adapt the stories with a wonderful degree of faithfulness into the modern setting. Yet despite their great care, they could not help but get twisted around and a bit ham-handed in their stories. Bad writing? Perhaps a little, but the real cause was that the writers were engaged in the work of adapting- no quality of writing will make Sherlock Holmes more at home than the world that flowed from Doyle's pen. And that's the great beauty of it. All of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock books are in the public domain, and there are likely to be all kinds of versions of the famous detective that will pop up in the near future. But if you want a good detective story of two friends solving a complex mystery, then the original source material can never be replaced.
November 19, 2024
While ACD had a basic formula that he utilized for nearly all his stories, his genius never fails to enthrall!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews