Sir 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.
As histórias seguem todas a mesma estrutura em que há um caso mal resolvido e Holmes consegue de uma maneira surpreendente solucionar o caso. Na minha opinião o melhor dos 5 contos foi “Os Dançarinos” no entanto, todos os outros são muito bons também. O que eu menos gostei foi “A Casa Vazia”, apesar de muito conhecida, é bastante simples e difícil de perceber para quem não leu os contos anteriores.