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 in Bohemia

The King of Bohemia is threatened with a scandal. He is about to be married to a royal personality, but the scandal may prevent that. The scandal is in the form of a... no, not a video recording, of course, but a picture. He is seen with a woman in the picture. The woman is Irene Adler, and she is very pretty and intelligent. The King apparently still has affections for her (He sometimes is heard saying, "What a woman! What a woman!"), but they cannot be married. Fortunately, Irene is in love with another man. They got married, and off they went to a secret place to escape from the King and get away from Sherlock Holmes. The photograph is a piece of insurance. No scandal will erupt as long as the King leaves her alone.

The Red-Headed League

A bizarre case involving a fictitious company recruiting red-headed men. It is a ploy to draw one businessman from his shop, which is located near a bank. The villains are planning to rob it. Holmes discovers them just in time.

A Case of Identity

A man disguises himself to trick his own stepdaughter into ensuring that she doesn't marry any other man. Holmes uncovers his real identity.

The Boscombe Valley Mystery

A man is murdered. Evidences point strongly to his son as the suspect. But upon closer inspection by Holmes, the real culprit happens to be the victim's neighbor and life-long enemy. It was discovered that the victim has actually been manipulating the culprit and exploiting them and their wealth. The culprit's last straw broke when the victim took an interest at the former's daughter.

The Five Orange Pips

Two men are murdered. The crime has something to do with the K.K.K, but the perpetrators are not accosted. Holmes discovers their identity, but their ship, which was bound for America, mystery disappeared into the sea, never to be seen and heard from again.

The Man With the Twisted Lip

A woman seeks Holmes's help in finding his missing husband. She last saw him in a very unlikely place -- in a building near an opium den. The only witness seems to be a beggar. Her husband is nowhere to be found. What remains is his clothes, and a blood stain inside the room where she last saw him. It turns out that the beggar and the husband are one. He has been pretending to be a mendicant because the earning was bigger than his regular job as a journalist.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

A man discovers a precious gem stone inside a geese. It turns out to be the blue carbuncle that was stolen from a royal personality. Holmes and Dr. Watson traces the events that led to the discovery of the geese in the hope of finding the person responsible for the theft.

The Adventure of the Speckled Band

A woman dies on the eve of her wedding. She saw something terrible inside her room in the middle of the night. Holmes's discovers the perpetrator as her stepfather. The Speckled Band is a large poisonous snake.

The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

An engineer discovers a machine that reproduces fake coins. He is almost caught by the perpetrators and got nearly killed. He seeks Holmes's help in discovering the identity of the culprits. They were never caught, but their precious machinery got destroyed.

The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

A Duke asks Holmes's help after his new bride suddenly disappeared on the morning following their wedding. Holmes discovers that the woman actually took off with the man whom she swore her love to in the past.

The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

The Beryl Coronet is a National Treasure. It is stolen, and the man in charge of keeping and protecting it initially accused his son. But the real culprit is his neice. His son is actually the hero.

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

The Copper Beeches is the name of a large and unusual mansion. A lady is offered a job as a governess. The pay is too good to be true, but the terms are strange. The mansion has a secret in one of its wings. The owners' daughter is beeing kept there. She has a kind of fever, and the governess is being hired to unwittingly impersonate the daughter so that the latter's fiance may be driven away.

Personal thoughts

Sherlock Holmes is a very intelligent detective. His methods may be a bit unusual, but they are very effective. That is to say, they almost always work. He is very systematic in the way he investigates each of the cases that he encounters. He often starts by asking his clients to tell him their whole story. He observes them very carefully as they speak, taking mental notes about their appearance, clothing, and attitude. He gathers all the data from their narrative. Then, he forms hypotheses. Almost always, he gets it right, and the case is usually solved even before the client leaves Holmes's room! But he always tests his hypotheses physically, and the perpetrators are often caught and the mystery usually solved.

But there's something funny about his reasoning sometimes. I sometimes think that he is making hasty generalizations. For example, in the Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, how is it possible to know so much about a person by merely analyzing his hat? How can he deduce that the man's wife doesn't love him anymore just because the hat appears dirty or unwashed? There could be many reasons for that. It could be that his wife is usually tired when he gets home, or that the man doesn't want her to touch his hat, and so on. If Holmes is wrong about that, or if he's prone to commit similar errors in reasoning, could that have affected his other cases?

I liked most of the stories, but I found a couple to be a bit boring. It has something to do with Arthur Conan Doyle spending too much time describing details in the stories.

I liked A Scandal in Bohemia best.