This book included 12 adventures:
1. A Scandal in Bohemia
2. The Red-Headed League
3. A Case of Identity
4. The Boscombe Valley Mystery
5. The Five Orange Pips
6. The Man with the Twisted Lip
7. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
8. The Adventure of the Speckled Band
9. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
10. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
11. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
12. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
Great classic literature. I really enjoy reading Holmes and Watson's adventures, solving the mystery, and putting the puzzles together. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
This free Kindle download is the prelude to The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle's timeless tales are perfect for Kindle and, actually, the Kindle's electronic voice does an admirable job of reading them to you!
Special thanks to Eileen T for posting the list of stories contained within!
The only downside to this free Kindle download is that it doesn't have linked Table of Contents. So how do you quickly skip to a chapter later in the book?
Elementary my dear Watson! (-:
Pick a unique word from the story title. Click MENU > "Search this book"
Then type the most unique words from the title. Alas, this doesn't always work, and I can't figure out why. A new mystery! In the meantime, enjoy the classics....
English history is served up along with the amazing mystery stories. I enjoy the pictures of daily life...the maid bringing in lunch to Holmes on a pre-arranged schedule, passing the street vendors and beggars, imagining the opium den frequented by addicts, vivid descriptions of period clothing, transportation and commerce slipped seamlessly into the tales. I read this often to refresh the imagery in my mind.
Spending so much of my day plugged into the internet, peering at my iPhone, staring at Excel spreadsheets, it has been an absolute pleasure reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes(on my Kindle, I must admit). I am reminded, in adventure after adventure, that there is no substitute for a sharp mind and astute observation. As I watch the master investigator calmly solve the most "singular" of mysteries through the eyes of Dr. James Watson, I almost want to myself be transported back to 19th century London.
If you haven't read any of Conan Doyle's stories, they are worth perusing. I only read a dozen of Holmes' adventures. But in those stories, I grew intimately close with both the detective and his trusty sidekick and doctor-cum-biographer, Watson. I came to admire Holmes' heroic stoicism, encyclopedic memory, and sharp wit.
Each of the adventures follows a somewhat similar plot structure. The adventure opens with a shot into Watson's or Holmes' personal life. You might hear briefly about Watson's life as a doctor, or get a glimpse of Holmes' tobacco, alcohol, or cocaine habits (yes, the rumors are true--Holmes does cocaine). At some point, Watson ends up at Holmes' pad on Baker Street. Both men are then found lounging, Holmes in his "dressing gown," both men likely smoking, drinking, and enjoying a fine meal, usually arms' length from a cozy fire.
Watson, the narrator, will then tell us how, in all of his time with Holmes, the case he is about to elucidate is the most "singular" one yet. Then one of them will see or hear someone approaching their home base; inevitably, the bell will ring and in will enter yet another all-but-hopeless client. We'll get a detailed description of the client's physical appearance, from the clothes on his or her back to the flushness of the face. We'll also always get an idea of what class the client falls into; most regularly, the clients are from higher classes. The client will give us a detailed account of his or her problems as Holmes and Watson listen intently. It is here that the reader is supposed to do the detective work to piece together clues to solve the case. Of course, most of what the client tells us seems unrelated and inane; Holmes will remind us that the simplest cases are the hardest ones, and the smallest of details often the most important.
In most cases, the client has a suspicion that the police's conclusions on the case were flawed. In almost every case, the police were consulted and ended up being wrong indeed. Holmes generally requires a trip to the crime scene, sometimes in costume, and the readers have the privilege to join him with Watson. But most trips are simply chances for Holmes to confirm what he already suspected. Guns may be drawn, extreme danger is almost always encountered, and Holmes emerges the hero. Holmes has a penchant for withholding his conclusions from us until the very end of the story, however, so as the reader follows Holmes' movements at the crime scenes, the reader must do some sleuthing as well.
Holmes will finally tell us what actually happened, and the seemingly innocuous clues from earlier in the chapter prove to be essential to the weaving of the truth. Holmes prefers to strike a deal with the crimes' perpetrators rather than offering them to the police. The clients offer to give Holmes unlimited reward for a job well done, and Holmes calmly requests only that which will defer the cost of his work. He gets enough pleasure out of a job professionally well-done.
Because of the similarities between stories, I recommend taking Holmes in limited doses. But his is a very powerful medicine, one that rejuvenates the mind and strengthens the character. As an example of someone who betters the world by doing what he loves, Sherlock Holmes is a timeless hero.
Although he also wrote several novels featuring the world's greatest fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it was especially in his short stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle perfected the Holmes formula. And of the five collections of Holmes short stories (about a dozen in each collection), "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (published in 1892) was the first and is easily the most popular and best of the five. It contains all except one of the five all-time most popular short stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon (A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-headed League, The Blue Carbuncle, and The Speckled Band), as well as some other gems like The Five Orange Pips. For newcomers to Holmes, this there is no better place to start than with the dozen stories that comprise "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". And for long-time fans, these are old favorites worth reading again and again.
Here's a list of the stories in this collection (with the better stories marked with stars):
***A Scandal in Bohemia, 1891 - The very first and one of the top five Sherlock Holmes short stories. After some brilliant detective work involving disguises and acting, Holmes is outwitted by the woman Irene Adler in his quest to help the hereditary king of Bohemia regain a scandalous photograph from her.
***The Red-headed League, 1891 - Generally regarded as all-time second best Sherlock Holmes story, this bizarre tale features a pawnbroker who is paid money to join the mysterious Red-Headed League and copy out Encyclopedia Britannica, as part of an ingenious scheme to rob a bank.
A Case of Identity, 1891 - Holmes solves the mystery of Mary Sutherland's fiance who disappears on the morning of his wedding, unmasking it as scheme hatched by her greedy step-father.
The Boscombe Valley Mystery, 1891 - Charles McCarthy's son seems the obvious murderer of his father after a violent quarrel, so it is up to Holmes to show that the murder has its real roots in the Australian past of the dead man and his landlord.
**The Five Orange Pips, 1891 - One of Doyle's personal favorites, this tale recounts the death of two men, both preceded by the arrival of five mysterious orange pips. In one of his few failures, Holmes connects the events to the Ku Klux Klan, but not soon enough to prevent another death.
*The Man with the Twisted Lip, 1891 - A baffling mystery about Mr. Neville St. Clair who disappears from a room into thin air, and a professional beggar who is the suspected murderer.
***The Blue Carbuncle, 1892 - Another favorite all-time top 5 Holmes story, as Holmes unravels how a blue diamond ended up inside the goose intended for Mr. Henry Baker's Christmas dinner.
***The Speckled Band, 1892 - Universally regarded as the most popular short story in the Sherlock Holmes canon, and easily one of the more suspenseful and chilling. The engaged Helen Stoner is terrified when she hears the same strange whistling that preceded the death of her twin sister in a locked bedroom shortly before her wedding. Her step-father Dr. Grimesby Roylott, a evil and greedy man with a passion for exotic pets like his cheetah and baboon, is the suspected villain - but how could he do it? The only clue are the mysterious words of Helen's dying sister about "speckled band"...
The Engineer's Thumb, 1892 - Victor Hatherley, a hydraulic engineer, is offered a lucrative contract to go to a secret location at night to fix a fuller's earth press, but why does he lose his thumb and nearly his life in the process? As Holmes says to the engineer about the missing thumb: "Indirectly it may be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence."
The Noble Bachelor, 1892 - When Lord St. Simon's new American wife goes missing shortly after their wedding, it is up to Holmes to find both her and the reason for her disappearance,
The Beryl Coronet - Expensive jewels are mysteriously damaged in the home of a wealthy banker, his ill-reputed son the prime suspect.
The Copper Beeches, 1892 - Violet Hunter is paid an exorbitant sum to be a governness at a house called The Copper Beeches. Her employment includes some strange stipulations, such as cutting her hair short and wearing a particular blue dress - but why?
- GODLY GADFLY'
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