Tales of Sherlock Holmes

by Arthur Conan Doyle

General Books publication 2009 Original publication 1906 Original A.L. Burt company Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character) Private investigators Detective and mystery stories, English Watson, John H. (Fictitious character) Lestrade, Inspector (Fictitious character) This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. THE SIGN OF THE FOUR. CHAPTER I. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION. Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. "With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist, all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sunk back into the velvet-lined armchair with a long sigh of satisfaction. Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. On the contrary, from day to day I had become more irritable at the sight, and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject, but there 189 was that in the cool, nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty. His great powers, his masterly manner, and the experience which I had had of his many extraordinary qualities, all made me diffident and backward in crossing him. Yet upon that afternoon, whether it was the claret which 1 had taken with my lunch, or the additional ex...

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Mystery

Library Binding

First published January 1, 1915

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining rendition of a classic Sherlock Holmes. I slowed the speech rate so I could understand dialogue of an older recording. Actors are fine and have “accents” — pronounced accents. 3-1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️🔅

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tales of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of several short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

1) A Study in Scarlet - just as the first superhero movie is usually the best, this introductory tale may be my favorite Holmes story. One unique and unexpected feature is that halfway through the novel, the author departs from the plot and goes off on what is seemingly a tangent to tell a story about the wild west. At first, I thought that Arthur Conan Doyle had ended the first story without explaining the conclusion of the case; I kept reading, however, and discovered that sometimes the author uses this device to give the reader more background on the circumstances preceding the mystery before returning to the plot. Overall, a fun case with an exciting conclusion.

2) The Sign of the Four - possibly one of the weaker stories, from my point of view. For some reason, I didn't connect with this mystery and put down the novel multiple times in favor of other books.

3) A Scandal in Bohemia - an entertaining story where if you're anything like me, you'll be groaning "no, DON'T do that, Holmes!" before the ending.

4) A Case of Identity - a very short case with a predictable and silly solution. Your eight year old child may be able to figure this one out.

Overall, Tales of Sherlock Holmes is a good introduction to the Sherlock Holmes novels.

[Lucydad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

[Jderdena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! The way it was written is simply amazing. It was written from Watson's point of view who mostly observed his fellow roommate Sherlock Holmes. He observed what he did many days and he even went with him on many of his adventures. He saw the way Sherlock Holmes brilliantly solved mysteries using the science of deduction. The author, Arthur Conan Doyle let you see how Sherlock Holmes' mind worked and let you see what Watson thought of him. This book let you go along with Watson and capture the true essence of Sherlock Holmes and what it would be like to go with him on his adventures. The way it was detailed makes the reader feel like they are truly there with Sherlock Holmes through his many adventures. It let you see every aspect of the mysteries and Sherlock Holmes' and Watson's thoughts toward them.The way Watson thoroughly observed Sherlock Holmes' actions to see how he gets to his conclusions truly let you see the simplicity yet complexity of Sherlock Holmes' thoughts. Throughout the mysteries whenever Sherlock Holmes' came to a conclusion and explained how he got there, I had this Oh! moment because he got to things so simply by common sense. What made his thoughts seem complex was that he thoroughly analyzed every single part of the mystery and he could somehow put all those parts together to get an answer. The way both these characters Watson and Sherlock Holmes were portrayed in great detail let the reader really see their relationship and see each of them individually. Overall, I this book is one of my favorite books because it really captured me and let me really understand the main characters and even the other character through its amazing detail and the way it was written.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good mystery and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes the best ones around! This book featured three novellas and seven short stories starring the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed every one of them!