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The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
For decades it has been generally accepted that the complete canon of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes adventures consists of fifty-six stories and four novels. But there have also been persistent rumors of a number of additional items that Conan Doyle wrote about his world-famous detective which, for one reason or another, have never been included in any collected edition.
Now, these missing items, including stories, plays, and poems, have been rescued from obscurity and published together in one volume, providing the last remaining authentic accounts of the great sleuth.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
11 people are currently reading
550 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Conan Doyle
15.7k books24.2k 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.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 27, 2019
: A collection of stories, plays and essays about Holmes that are not part of the Canon but certainly make nice supplementary reading. An excellent addition to any Holmes library... This book is similar to the out of print and often difficult to find Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha by Jack Tracy. Both books include the “almost Sherlock Holmes�? stories and plays that don’t fit in the Canon, but are certainly in the neighborhood.
The introduction discusses the pieces that make up the book and you will find some interesting tidbits (much of which was previously in Tracy’s book)... Peter Haining’s book is an outstanding collection that any Holmes fan should enjoy. If you already have Tracy’s Apocrypha, or vice versa, you will find they complement each other and you shouldn’t ignore one because you own the other.
The introduction discusses the pieces that make up the book and you will find some interesting tidbits (much of which was previously in Tracy’s book)... Peter Haining’s book is an outstanding collection that any Holmes fan should enjoy. If you already have Tracy’s Apocrypha, or vice versa, you will find they complement each other and you shouldn’t ignore one because you own the other.
May 17, 2012
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal was about Barnes & Noble’s in-house publishing imprint. They have been reproducing classic works for years and selling them at affordable prices. But they range father afield than that, and my Sherlockian bookshelf includes several of their titles, such as The Sherlock Holmes Companion, The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
This last book is similar to the out of print and often difficult to find Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha by Jack Tracy (also reviewed on this site). Both books include the “almost Sherlock Holmes” stories and plays that don’t fit in the Canon, but are certainly in the neighborhood.
The introduction discusses the pieces that make up the book and you will find some interesting tidbits (much of which was previously in Tracy’s book).
The book starts off nicely with The Truth About Sherlock Holmes, which is an essay by Doyle that appeared in Colliers in 1923. Much of this essay would find its way into Doyle’s own autobiography, Memories and Adventures. It is a very interesting essay and worth reading by all Sherlockians.
The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy’s Household appeared in Boy’s Own Journal in early 1887, after A Study in Scarlet was written, but before the first Holmes novel was published. I would suggest reading this story and amusing yourself by listing the Holmesian overtones. You will find more than one!
Next up is The Field Bazaar, one of Doyle’s two parodies that he wrote about Holmes. It recounts a breakfast conversation between Holmes and Watson and was written as a fundraiser for the student newspaper at Edinburgh University.
Two tales from 1898 follow. The Story of the Man With the Watches and The Story of the Lost Special both feature an unnamed detective and are quite Sherlock Holmes-like in their feel. Either of these books could easily have been written as Holmes adventures, or even transformed into Solar Pons tales. While not Doyle’s best detective stories, they are better than some of the official tales from the Canon. Since they were published after the detective’s supposed death and before his return, was Doyle just “getting some Holmes” out of his system?
Hesketh Pearson was researching a biography of Doyle when he found the outline of an unwritten Holmes story, and a completed Holmes tale, The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted (mentioned below). The outline is included here. It is immediately followed by a completed version of the tale, written by Robert A. Cutter, in 1947. It is titled The Adventure of the Tall Man.
I’m quite a fan of William Gillette’s marvelous play, Sherlock Holmes. However, his adventure into the parody world, the curtain raiser The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes, is not one of my favorites. The novelty of Holmes not uttering a single word is original, but I just don’t find the play very funny.
For The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted, I have included the contents of my review of Tracy’s Apocrypha:
Pearson also discovered an entire previously unknown Sherlock Holmes tale in 1942. The Doyle estate (always quick to try and make a buck) surprisingly enough resisted pressure to publish it. Finally, in 1948, they accepted an offer from Cosmopolitan and it was published.
Then the bad news: Arthur Whitaker said that he had written the tale and sent it to Doyle in 1910, hoping it would become a collaboration. Doyle declined and suggested Whitaker rewrite is as non-Holmes tale. Finally, Doyle purchased it for 10 pounds. Doyle set it aside, never using it. Whitaker produced the carbon copy of his typescript, as well as Doyle’s own hand-written letter in which the author had offered to buy the script.
The Doyle Estate refunded some of the money they received for selling the story and Whitaker was paid 150 pounds to be quiet about the affair. He died not long after and the matter was dropped by all parties. Cosmopolitan never admitted the story wasn’t by Doyle, and the Estate had no comments.
Haining’s explanation includes the following quote from Pearson’s description of the story. “The opening scene between Holmes and Watson betrays the hand of the master.” Haining also mentions a reference to the story made in John Dickson Carr’s biography of Sir Arthur. Haining speculates that Doyle himself may have contributed somewhat to the tale and that it was not all Whitaker’s work. Regardless, it is an enjoyable Holmes pastiche.
Some Personalia About Sherlock Holmes was written by Doyle and appeared in a 1917 edition of The Strand. Doyle discusses receiving letters written to Holmes and ruminates on true life crimes that the author had some involvement in investigating. One such, involving a man who disappeared, I wrote as a story involving Doyle and William Gillette. It was published as The Case of the Tired Captain in a collection entitled Curious Incidents.
American critic Arthur Guitterman wrote a poem critical of Doyle for having Holmes insult Edgar Allen Poe’s C. August Dupin and Emile Gaboriau’s Monsieur Lecoq, in A Study in Scarlet. It is included here, followed by Doyle’s own poem in response. People were taking the Canon far too seriously long before Sherlockians jumped into the act.
Doyle’s short Holmes play, The Crown Diamond, is next. It is a weak story and quite inferior to his play adaptation of The Speckled Band.
How Watson Learned the Trick is a charming parody written by Doyle for inclusion in the miniature library in a dollhouse made for Queen Anne. I find this to be a greatly underappreciated Holmes piece and is one of my favorites. You can find a parody of this parody, Watson’s Christmas Trick, on my own website, Sherlock Holmes on Oxford Lane (see Links)..
On December 15, 1900, A Gaudy Death: Conan Doyle Tells the True Story of Sherlock Holmes’ End appeared in Tit-Bits, a weekly magazine published by the same folks who owned The Strand. Holmes was in that unhappy (for the readers) period after his plunge at the Reichenbach Falls and before his temporary revival in The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is a fine interview in which Doyle discusses how he came up with the idea for Holmes, and why he switched from novels to serial adventures for the detective. He then moves on to explain why he killed off Holmes. “My lower work” (Holmes) “was obscuring my higher” (The White Company) “is as good a summary of his feelings as ever he uttered.
It’s hard for us to imagine a Canon that ended with The Memoirs. A paltry 26 Sherlock Holmes adventures! So imagine the thrill that the discerning reader of this essay experienced at the following sentence from Doyle: “That does not say, however, that because he is dead I should not write about him again if I wanted to.” I get a tingle myself!
The Mystery of Sasassa Valley was Doyle’s first published story and is a tale with a supernatural tinge.
The volume wraps up with My Favourite Sherlock Holmes Adventures, a short piece Doyle wrote for The Strand in 1927. It is a listing of Doyle’s own dozen favorite Holmes tales. He does not include any from The Case-Book, which was about to be published in book form and had not been readily available to most readers. I like to believe that his statement that he would have included The Lion’s Mane and The Illustrious Client on the list if they were eligible was a selling job. I can’t place those two anywhere near the top twelve. In case you haven’t seen the list, The Speckled Band was at number one.
Peter Haining’s book is an outstanding collection that any Holmes fan should enjoy. If you already have Tracy’s Apocrypha, or vice versa, you will find they complement each other and you shouldn’t ignore one because you own the other.
This last book is similar to the out of print and often difficult to find Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha by Jack Tracy (also reviewed on this site). Both books include the “almost Sherlock Holmes” stories and plays that don’t fit in the Canon, but are certainly in the neighborhood.
The introduction discusses the pieces that make up the book and you will find some interesting tidbits (much of which was previously in Tracy’s book).
The book starts off nicely with The Truth About Sherlock Holmes, which is an essay by Doyle that appeared in Colliers in 1923. Much of this essay would find its way into Doyle’s own autobiography, Memories and Adventures. It is a very interesting essay and worth reading by all Sherlockians.
The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy’s Household appeared in Boy’s Own Journal in early 1887, after A Study in Scarlet was written, but before the first Holmes novel was published. I would suggest reading this story and amusing yourself by listing the Holmesian overtones. You will find more than one!
Next up is The Field Bazaar, one of Doyle’s two parodies that he wrote about Holmes. It recounts a breakfast conversation between Holmes and Watson and was written as a fundraiser for the student newspaper at Edinburgh University.
Two tales from 1898 follow. The Story of the Man With the Watches and The Story of the Lost Special both feature an unnamed detective and are quite Sherlock Holmes-like in their feel. Either of these books could easily have been written as Holmes adventures, or even transformed into Solar Pons tales. While not Doyle’s best detective stories, they are better than some of the official tales from the Canon. Since they were published after the detective’s supposed death and before his return, was Doyle just “getting some Holmes” out of his system?
Hesketh Pearson was researching a biography of Doyle when he found the outline of an unwritten Holmes story, and a completed Holmes tale, The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted (mentioned below). The outline is included here. It is immediately followed by a completed version of the tale, written by Robert A. Cutter, in 1947. It is titled The Adventure of the Tall Man.
I’m quite a fan of William Gillette’s marvelous play, Sherlock Holmes. However, his adventure into the parody world, the curtain raiser The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes, is not one of my favorites. The novelty of Holmes not uttering a single word is original, but I just don’t find the play very funny.
For The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted, I have included the contents of my review of Tracy’s Apocrypha:
Pearson also discovered an entire previously unknown Sherlock Holmes tale in 1942. The Doyle estate (always quick to try and make a buck) surprisingly enough resisted pressure to publish it. Finally, in 1948, they accepted an offer from Cosmopolitan and it was published.
Then the bad news: Arthur Whitaker said that he had written the tale and sent it to Doyle in 1910, hoping it would become a collaboration. Doyle declined and suggested Whitaker rewrite is as non-Holmes tale. Finally, Doyle purchased it for 10 pounds. Doyle set it aside, never using it. Whitaker produced the carbon copy of his typescript, as well as Doyle’s own hand-written letter in which the author had offered to buy the script.
The Doyle Estate refunded some of the money they received for selling the story and Whitaker was paid 150 pounds to be quiet about the affair. He died not long after and the matter was dropped by all parties. Cosmopolitan never admitted the story wasn’t by Doyle, and the Estate had no comments.
Haining’s explanation includes the following quote from Pearson’s description of the story. “The opening scene between Holmes and Watson betrays the hand of the master.” Haining also mentions a reference to the story made in John Dickson Carr’s biography of Sir Arthur. Haining speculates that Doyle himself may have contributed somewhat to the tale and that it was not all Whitaker’s work. Regardless, it is an enjoyable Holmes pastiche.
Some Personalia About Sherlock Holmes was written by Doyle and appeared in a 1917 edition of The Strand. Doyle discusses receiving letters written to Holmes and ruminates on true life crimes that the author had some involvement in investigating. One such, involving a man who disappeared, I wrote as a story involving Doyle and William Gillette. It was published as The Case of the Tired Captain in a collection entitled Curious Incidents.
American critic Arthur Guitterman wrote a poem critical of Doyle for having Holmes insult Edgar Allen Poe’s C. August Dupin and Emile Gaboriau’s Monsieur Lecoq, in A Study in Scarlet. It is included here, followed by Doyle’s own poem in response. People were taking the Canon far too seriously long before Sherlockians jumped into the act.
Doyle’s short Holmes play, The Crown Diamond, is next. It is a weak story and quite inferior to his play adaptation of The Speckled Band.
How Watson Learned the Trick is a charming parody written by Doyle for inclusion in the miniature library in a dollhouse made for Queen Anne. I find this to be a greatly underappreciated Holmes piece and is one of my favorites. You can find a parody of this parody, Watson’s Christmas Trick, on my own website, Sherlock Holmes on Oxford Lane (see Links)..
On December 15, 1900, A Gaudy Death: Conan Doyle Tells the True Story of Sherlock Holmes’ End appeared in Tit-Bits, a weekly magazine published by the same folks who owned The Strand. Holmes was in that unhappy (for the readers) period after his plunge at the Reichenbach Falls and before his temporary revival in The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is a fine interview in which Doyle discusses how he came up with the idea for Holmes, and why he switched from novels to serial adventures for the detective. He then moves on to explain why he killed off Holmes. “My lower work” (Holmes) “was obscuring my higher” (The White Company) “is as good a summary of his feelings as ever he uttered.
It’s hard for us to imagine a Canon that ended with The Memoirs. A paltry 26 Sherlock Holmes adventures! So imagine the thrill that the discerning reader of this essay experienced at the following sentence from Doyle: “That does not say, however, that because he is dead I should not write about him again if I wanted to.” I get a tingle myself!
The Mystery of Sasassa Valley was Doyle’s first published story and is a tale with a supernatural tinge.
The volume wraps up with My Favourite Sherlock Holmes Adventures, a short piece Doyle wrote for The Strand in 1927. It is a listing of Doyle’s own dozen favorite Holmes tales. He does not include any from The Case-Book, which was about to be published in book form and had not been readily available to most readers. I like to believe that his statement that he would have included The Lion’s Mane and The Illustrious Client on the list if they were eligible was a selling job. I can’t place those two anywhere near the top twelve. In case you haven’t seen the list, The Speckled Band was at number one.
Peter Haining’s book is an outstanding collection that any Holmes fan should enjoy. If you already have Tracy’s Apocrypha, or vice versa, you will find they complement each other and you shouldn’t ignore one because you own the other.
August 13, 2025
Hey, I'd read anything by Arthur Conan Doyle or about Sherlock Holmes that I can put my hands on but claiming that these 12 pieces ought to be added to the Holmesian canon (as Peter Haining did) is straining credulity too much as those stories are either not featuring Holmes, are not written by Doyle or aren't all that good in the first place.
A book for the completist but not for anyone just vaguely interested in the great detective.
A book for the completist but not for anyone just vaguely interested in the great detective.
February 8, 2024
A satisfying collection of pieces mostly by Conan Doyle beyond the Canon yet related to Sherlock Holmes. While there is much overlap with Jack Tracy’s Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha, each contain a few unique pieces. The two short stories I’d never read, “The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy’s Household” and “The Mystery of Sasassa Valley” show ACD’s deft touch with character, description and plotting. The nonfiction writings by ACD about Holmes are also worth reading.
Missing from this are two plays found in Tracy’s book: “Sherlock Holmes: A Play in Four Acts” by William Gillette and ACD and “The Specked Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes” by ACD. These non-overlapping components make both titles worth inclusion in a Holmesians collection, though if someone only wanted one, I’d choose this one as more complete as the two plays are available in the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia website.
Missing from this are two plays found in Tracy’s book: “Sherlock Holmes: A Play in Four Acts” by William Gillette and ACD and “The Specked Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes” by ACD. These non-overlapping components make both titles worth inclusion in a Holmesians collection, though if someone only wanted one, I’d choose this one as more complete as the two plays are available in the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia website.
May 29, 2020
Excelente como siempre Sherlock y Watson!
October 21, 2012
When The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was first published, it had long been established that the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's celebrated sleuth Sherlock Holmes was made up of fifty-six short stories and four novels. There had also long been rumors of various other materials by Doyle that had never been collected and published in one volume. Peter Haining hunted down some of the most elusive items and brought them all together in this book. And what we have is a grand mish-mash of early stories, plays, poems, and essays about Holmes--all written by Doyle. Well, purportedly in some cases.
I am quite sure that I've read some of these pieces before....probably re-collected in other places once Haining had done the leg-work of hunting them down for first time. I can't say that any of the stories or other pieces are particularly earth-shatteringly great, but the pieces are interesting for anyone who has more than a passing interest in all things Holmes. We are given everything from "The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy's Household" which is a clear precursor to The Study in Scarlet to Doyle's own explanation of how he came to kill off his most famous literary offspring. There is also the list of Doyle's favorite stories--Holmes fans can see how their own favorites match up.
The dust jacket blurb says that this volume "will undoubtedly be welcomed by every Holmes enthusiast and find a place of honour in Sherlockian Libraries throughout the world...." Well, maybe there was great joy in Holmes-ville when this was first published, but coming to it now I would say that it's a decent collection of early and obscure material on Holmes.
This was first posted on my blogy My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
I am quite sure that I've read some of these pieces before....probably re-collected in other places once Haining had done the leg-work of hunting them down for first time. I can't say that any of the stories or other pieces are particularly earth-shatteringly great, but the pieces are interesting for anyone who has more than a passing interest in all things Holmes. We are given everything from "The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy's Household" which is a clear precursor to The Study in Scarlet to Doyle's own explanation of how he came to kill off his most famous literary offspring. There is also the list of Doyle's favorite stories--Holmes fans can see how their own favorites match up.
The dust jacket blurb says that this volume "will undoubtedly be welcomed by every Holmes enthusiast and find a place of honour in Sherlockian Libraries throughout the world...." Well, maybe there was great joy in Holmes-ville when this was first published, but coming to it now I would say that it's a decent collection of early and obscure material on Holmes.
This was first posted on my blogy My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
January 8, 2019
A fun little grouping! They're not all new Holmes tales, some of them are just Doyle writing about his character and the success he's enjoyed. Some are precursors of Holmes tales. There are are a few actual tales, though, two in the form of letters written by Holmes to suggest solutions from afar, two short little scenes that don't have much to do with anything besides astonishing Watson, and a couple more that take the shape of those stories we are more familiar with.
Haining gives his reasoning for including each piece, and I mostly agree with his choices. The only one I wasn't sure really had a place was Sasassa Valley, it was a pleasant read but I couldn't really find the thread that should have connected it to the other pieces in the book.
Still, a fun read and absolutely something to have on your shelf if you love Holmes!
Haining gives his reasoning for including each piece, and I mostly agree with his choices. The only one I wasn't sure really had a place was Sasassa Valley, it was a pleasant read but I couldn't really find the thread that should have connected it to the other pieces in the book.
Still, a fun read and absolutely something to have on your shelf if you love Holmes!
January 21, 2018
Haining collects a dozen or so Holmes-related pieces, the best being two Doyle short stories, "The Man With the Watches" and "The Lost Special," in which an unnamed famous investigator offers theories that turn out to be dead wrong. There are also Doyle parodies of his sleuth (pretty funny), Doyle's writings about Sherlock, an unused Holmes outline (wise call by Doyle not to finish it, it's pretty feeble) and a couple of stories Haining holds up (unconvincingly) as precursors to the Canon. Worth reading if you're a fan.
June 6, 2020
Having just finished “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes”, I was expecting more of the same. This book, however, is a collection of stories, poems, essays and even plays — many of which feature Mr. Holmes not at all. Very disappointing.
September 13, 2019
Worth owning only to really round out your library of pastiches and ephemera.
December 31, 2020
3 stars. Some of the stories in this collection I enjoyed, but I was meh about the others. Review to come.
February 13, 2022
Excellent book if you are an affionado of Sherlock Holmes because it has many of his lesser known adventures listed in chronological order and with background information on each one.
June 12, 2022
I really wanted to like this but I found the stories quite boring. The only thing that kept this frim being a 1-star was Doyle's essay on the creation and death of Holmes which I did enjoy.
October 5, 2023
Volume three of 3-volume set by George Macy’s Heritage Press.
January 6, 2024
Enjoyable, but some were a little lacking.
May 26, 2011
The book for those who just can't get enough Holmes.
This colletion doesn't really contain any new Sherlock Holmes stories but is rather made up of little Holmes related articles that Doyle wrote.
One on how he came to create Holmes and one on why he needed to kill him. There was an article where Doyle some of his real life adventures in crime solving as well as two short plays that he wrote featuring Holmes. The real gems though are two short mystery stories Not featuring Holmes but might very well be meant to insult the Great detective. There are two incomplete Holmes stories which are not very good and two short stories that predate Holmes but contain elements used in Later Holmes stories that may interest Sherlock enthusists.
This colletion doesn't really contain any new Sherlock Holmes stories but is rather made up of little Holmes related articles that Doyle wrote.
One on how he came to create Holmes and one on why he needed to kill him. There was an article where Doyle some of his real life adventures in crime solving as well as two short plays that he wrote featuring Holmes. The real gems though are two short mystery stories Not featuring Holmes but might very well be meant to insult the Great detective. There are two incomplete Holmes stories which are not very good and two short stories that predate Holmes but contain elements used in Later Holmes stories that may interest Sherlock enthusists.
August 10, 2025
Some might be a bit deceived by the title, as this is not entirely comprised of Sherlock Holmes tales. However it's a spectacular companion to a Sherlockian collection. You're able to become more deeply immersed in the partnership many know and love with context and direct views into the author's mind. It feels like being in the time where this literary icon rose to prominence. I also find the themes in these lesser known/unpublished stories illuminate his more popular tales. The Story of the Man with the Watches shows that a deep bond between two men is something Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was interested in beyond Holmes and Watson. And though he wasn't always consistent, A.C.D definitely cared about making his entries unique and intriguing instead of keeping up with demands.
September 10, 2009
Except for the died in the wool Holmes afficianado, who needs any more Sherlock Holmes stories? But, I do like them so o.k. I read them. The best part was Doyle's article on the inspiration for the detective in the first place. That was new, at least to me.
June 12, 2012
Satisfying.
February 14, 2013
A must read/have for devoted Sherlockians. I laughed my head off at The Adventure of the Two Collaborators (a small bit in the Doyle essay The Truth About Sherlock Holmes).
August 16, 2013
A must for Sherlock fans.
September 1, 2013
Maybe later...I have draft...maybe later.
November 21, 2014
More Sherlockiana than stories featuring him, but if you're having a hard time saying goodbye to the real Conan Doyle deal, then that's not a problem. I'm a completist, so it's not a problem.
Read
June 2, 2024read some time in 2001; two of the stories are "The Field Bazaar" and "How Watson Learned the Trick."
Read
August 1, 2016I enjoyed the book. These stories are fun to read.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews