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4.18 of 5 stars
Complete in nine handsome volumes, each with an introduction by a Doyle scholar, a chronology, a selected bibliography, and explanatory notes, the ... read full description

reviews

Dec 09, 2008
Trevor rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve been listening to Sherlock Holmes stories in the car and think I’m going to go through and listen to all of them now. I’ve started with The Adventures and have enjoyed it immensely.

There must have been any number of psychological studies performed on Mr Holmes. There is, of course, that wonderful line by Borges in his lectures on Verse in which he says that he believes in the Character of Sherlock Holmes without actually believing in any of the stories in which that characte More...
5 comments like (27 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2009
russell rated it: 4 of 5 stars
It's the end of the world and Watson and Holmes, on the cusp of having their brilliant lives snuffed out by the impending doom decide their simmering sexual tension can go no further.
As they remove their clothes, Watson turns around to see Holmes brandishing a tub of Lemon Curd.
"Holmes!" Watson exclaims, "I know what we're about to do goes against God's nature, but what in the name of all that is Holy are you doing with that breakfast condiment?"
To which Hol More...
2 comments like (9 people liked it)
Dec 30, 2009
Kelly rated it: 4 of 5 stars
So, I volunteer at a library, in what the librarians call the "Popular Library," which consists of the area with the DVDs, music CDs and of course, the audiobooks. The majority of the titles in the audiobook section are romance novels. It struck me as a hilarious idea, and indeed, each of the audiobooks I've stuck in the CD player they have there to listen to for a few minutes has borne that out. Romance novel dialogue is barely okay on the page- can you imagine all that "Oh, FABI More...
10 comments like (11 people liked it)
Sep 26, 2011
Dante rated it: 3 of 5 stars
The stories were very interesting, and I enjoyed most of them. But, I don't know, I didn't find them very satisfying. Maybe I am not really a fan of short stories? Perhaps I'll enjoy the Sherlock Holmes novels more.

There are twelve short stories in this collection. They are a selection of some of the interesting cases recorded by Dr. Watson which he and his friend Sherlock Holmes handled in the latter's career.

A rough sketch of the stories (Spoiler alert!)

A Scandal More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Apr 11, 2009
Erik rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I read an old edition of the collected Sherlock Holmes stories sometime around the end of junior and the beginning of high school, starting it one afternoon when home sick from school and finishing it gradually over a space of weeks. The copy was Dad's probably, picked out of his library with some sense of what to expect as I'd at least seen The Hound of the Baskervilles movie with Rathbone by this time.

I wasn't terribly impressed by Doyle's stories. They passed the time, but left More...
2 comments like (1 person liked it)
Nov 29, 2011
Ken rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Nach Buch eins und Buch zwei, hier also das dritte Buch aus meiner Penguin Sherlock Holmes Sammelbox. Statt eines Falles gilt es für die Londoner Spürnase dieses Mal gleich ein dutzend Rätsel zu lösen. Dabei sind die Fälle mal mehr und mal weniger spannend.
Wieder einmal musste ich feststellen, dass ich kein Fan von Kurzgeschichten bin und es auch niemals sein werde. Gerade, wenn man sich in das jeweilige Abenteuer eingelesen hat, ist es schon wieder zu Ende. Da bleibt wenig Platz für Chara More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jan 03, 2012
Aidan rated it: 2 of 5 stars
"Very few literary characters attain iconic status". It's true. Everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is. But who has read a book about him?
In the book The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes he solves many different mysteries. Anything from a scandal involving a king to stopping a bank robbery, Sherlock Holmes is who you see if you need something solved.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did a good job of describing how Sherlock Holmes solves each mystery. I wish he had put more action into the More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
Mona rated it: 3 of 5 stars
3.5 stars.

I read this book in Vol. 1 of the Complete Sherlock Holmes collection, but I'm adding this book separately so my books/pages totals for 2011 will be sort of right at least.

My "quest" to read all of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories continues in 2011. I started this journey back in 2008 with the first two novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. Needless to say, it is a very slow-moving project and will likely take many years to finish.

More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Dec 06, 2007
Amy rated it: 5 of 5 stars
So far this collection of short stories has been marvelous.

"Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" was a gruesome little gem illustrating the strange comic stoicism of British gentlemen.

"A case of identity" was a cruel little plot and I guessed this one! I was so proud of myself. I figured out who the ne'er-do-well was when the client first presented the facts.

"Noble Bachelor" was another one that I had an inkling about from the beg More...
2 comments like (4 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
Arianne is currently reading it
So far, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is quite intriguing. I like the old-fashioned talk of Sherlock Holmes, and his humor is quite funny as well. What I also like about the book is that it isn't narrated by Sherlock Holmes himself. It is narrated by an outsider, Dr. Watson, who is Sherlock Holmes' closest friend.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is interesting because it is a set of 12 different mysteries that are all creative and captivating by themselves.

My personal fav More...
Jan 27, 2012
Ileana rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I loved it! I will have to read more of Arthur Conan Doyle. He is so quotable...

Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by t More...
Jan 22, 2012
Arthur rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I chose Sherlock Holmes because I had been wanting to read a good mystery book for a while and had heard great things about this story. Sherlock Holmes is a British, self-taught, scientist who works on mystery cases with his assistant Dr. Watson. Sherlock Holmes is independent from the police and has a very complex mind that sees things with his naked eye that the average human wouldn't realize even if it was in plain sight. Throughout the book, Holmes and his assistant unwrap great mysteries li More...
Jan 22, 2012
Laura rated it: 3 of 5 stars
My first Bookmooch acquisition and a very pleasant surprise. I cannot easily locate my edition, a collection of short stories for a Book Club publisher, by the look of it.
What is there not to love in a man who says, "it is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London"? Although I have only seen the recent Sherlock Holmes movie, and I have not been following the modernized BBC series, I had an idea of this detective that doesn't correspond with what I find in the book. Cli More...
Jan 17, 2012
Andrei added it
When I was choosing a book last week, I found out that the last book of the Pendragon series is not in this school. I was thinking of which book that I could choose that it just hit me. I thought to dig into my past and read one of the best mystery books written: the series of Sherlock Holmes. That led me to write the review for Sherlock Holmes: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes written by the unforgettable author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The book contains a series of stories, ranging fro More...
Jan 11, 2012
Juan rated it: 4 of 5 stars
“The Engineer’s Thumb” is one of the short stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. “The Engineer’s Thumb” is set in 1880’s where it starts with an Engineer with his thumb cut off and he does not remember how he got injured so he goes to Sherlock Holmes for help in order to find how he got his thumb cut off and Holmes tells him that it was a accident and there was no mystery behind it. Sherlock Holmes knows that it wasn’t an accident but he does not want to tell th More...
Nov 23, 2011
Mohamed rated it: 5 of 5 stars
The book is about the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr Watson in one of their adventures of mystery solving in Victorian England. It starts with a young woman called Helen Stoner seeking the help of Mr. Holmes to unwrap the mystery behind her sister’s death two years ago in Stoke. Moran Surrey suspects that her stepfather wants to kill her to get her money before she gets married, because the will of her dad says that she and her sister should get the money from the stepfather More...
Nov 15, 2011
Shayla rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I’ve always had a fascination with mystery stories, and I can honestly say that no one does it better than Doyle. His short stories are adventurous and fun, and incredibly modern for the time period – especially the character of Sherlock Holmes and his skills of deduction. I think it’s impossible to truly get inside the head of such a genius character (it would spoil the illusion) and the stories would most likely take on a different tone, but the narrator, John Watson, serves as an ordinary man More...
Oct 26, 2011
02mitchh rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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 careful 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 reading. More...
Oct 17, 2011
Christopher rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Arthur Conan Doyle certainly shows his skills as a great short story and mystery writer in this collection of THE definitive detective of literature: Sherlock Holmes. The stories are engaging and it is both fun and challenging to try to solve the case at the same time Holmes does, even if you fail. But if you start reading this book looking for the same action as was in the recent movie, you will be very disappointed. Most of the pages are consumed by the concerned individual telling the story w More...
Oct 02, 2011
Erik rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This book was so much fun to read. I think the last Sherlock Holmes I read was The Hound of the Baskervilles, and that it was just as enjoyable. During the first few stories, it's exciting to watch Doyle set up complex situations and have Holmes logic them out. They remind me of the riddles my teachers would give us during rainy-day recess. There are never cases with some surprise twist that the audience was given no knowledge of. He always lays out the facts, and then demonstrates just how much More...
Sep 25, 2011
Tac rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I'm sad to say that I had never really read any Sherlock Holmes ( I think I read one or two in school but that doesn't really count). And while this is really a collection of short stories it doesn't seem like it because it's just one adventure after another. It's a great read. Perfect for reading while taking the tube to and from work.

The biggest revelation in reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was just how accurate the current movies with Robert Downey Jr are. The real Sherlo More...
Sep 22, 2011
Jake rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Sherlock Holmes is such classic mystery storytelling, you can almost hear the creaking doors and the creeping footsteps as you move from tale to tale. I read Sherlock Holmes as a kid and, now as a twenty-something, the stories strike something deeper in me. Before, I appreciate the stories for the suspense. Now, I feel as though I appreciate the stories for what they gave the world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave the world the classic setups, the classic twists, the classic surprises. You read the More...
Sep 12, 2011
Harmonybites rated it: 5 of 5 stars
These are the first Sherlock Holmes short stories--twelve of them--that first appeared in the magazine The Strand from 1891 to 1892. This presents Doyle at the top of his game with Holmes, and it was one of the short stories in this volume, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" that was my introduction to Holmes when it was assigned in school. I'd definitely name that story as a standout, although I think my favorite might very well be the first story, "A Scandal in Bohemia" w More...
Jul 11, 2011
Jipson.L.J rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I used to read the Sherlock Holmes stories a lot when I was a kid. I read all of them several times, which shows even now when most stories in this book sounded at least vaguely familiar (and I managed to recall the solution to the mystery right from the start in most of them).

I always wanted to come back and re-read Conan Doyle in English (as a kid I read in Russian), and now I found a good opportunity – combining it with a first experience of hearing an audiobook.

Indeed, as More...
Jun 22, 2011
Normacarpenter rated it: 4 of 5 stars


Leerme a Sherlock Holmes ha sido toda una experiencia. Me di cuenta de muchas cosas de este personaje y no pude evitar compararlo con el de Agatha, Poirot. Y pues claro, no se parecen en casi nada.
Sherlock Holmes es humilde, no es modesto -Creo que eso es lo único que tienen en común Poirot y él- es demasiado brillante para serlo y por supuesto es divertidísimo, cada frase cada argumento era sumamente divertido de leer, un humor inteligente, claro. Y además, entre la capacidad More...
Jun 11, 2011
Rosa rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I don't know that My younger self would have been able to appreciate the stories as much as I did now. Sure I would have like them, but I guess being an adult gives u a different perspectives on people and right or wrong. Yes, Shelock helps people and charges no fee. Yes, he is intelligent and brilliant and a hero to those he helps. But at the same time, he is a rich snob with a cocaine problem and if he decides to help someone out it's only because he needs something interesting to starve off t More...
Apr 08, 2011
Lois rated it: 5 of 5 stars
It is what it is - which is somewhat forumlaic and shallow. Reading this particular book which is a compilation of 12 short stories, oddly reminded me of books I read when I was younger, such as The Babysitter's club, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys - I put it down to the similar forumla style that these modern writers have adopted. I find all of these books, including Sherlock Holmes, to be sheer entertainment but with little depth.

Having said that, I still felt that this book deserve More...
7 comments like (1 person liked it)
Mar 19, 2011
Nicholas rated it: 3 of 5 stars
This is the first volume of Sherlock Holmes stories, and includes several rather brilliant tales of detection - my favourite is "The Red-Headed League", but it also includes "The Speckled Band" and "The Blue Carbuncle". "The Engineer's Thumb" is another good one - even though Holmes' only deduction is the location of the crime, and even that turns out to be too late, it is an effective piece of horror.

However, the collection also includes severa More...
Jan 22, 2011
Anthony rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Overall, the collection really brings out certain facets of Holmes' personality. Some of them are repeated in story after story: the penchant for closing his eyes and ducking his head when he's trying to think in public; the habit of having reached a conclusion from the barest set of clues even before the parties involved give him more details. That last part, of course, is what makes him The Great Detective. It's also a bit infuriating for someone brought up on "fair play mysteries." More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Aug 30, 2010
Samantha rated it: 2 of 5 stars
This book is a simplified adaptation of three of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, rewritten by Malvina G. Vogel and intended for younger children who may not understand the stories as well in their original context. This book was purchased for me when I was young, and while I enjoyed it very much then, I find myself disliking it quite a bit as an adult.

My main issue with this adaptation is that the perspective of the stories has been changed completely to third-person. There is More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)