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The Complete Sherlock Holmes

(Sherlock Holmes #1-9)

Arthur Conan Doyle

4.49 · Rating details · 190,692 ratings · 4,522 reviews

A study in scarlet --
The sign of four --
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : A scandal in Bohemia ; The red-headed league ; A case of identity ; The Boscombe Valley mystery ; The five orange pips ; The man with the twisted lip ; The adventure of the blue carbuncle ; The adventure of the speckled band ; The adventure of the engineer's thumb ; The adventure of the noble bachelor A study in scarlet --
The sign of four --
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : A scandal in Bohemia ; The red-headed league ; A case of identity ; The Boscombe Valley mystery ; The five orange pips ; The man with the twisted lip ; The adventure of the blue carbuncle ; The adventure of the speckled band ; The adventure of the engineer's thumb ; The adventure of the noble bachelor ; The adventure of the beryl coronet ; The adventure of the copper beeches --

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes : Silver blaze ; The yellow face ; The stock-broker's clerk ; The "Gloria Scott" ; The Musgrave ritual ; The Reigate puzzle ; The crooked man ; The resident patient ; The Greek interpreter ; The naval treaty ; The final problem --

The return of Sherlock Holmes : The adventure of the empty house ; The adventure of the Norwood builder ; The adventure of the dancing men ; The adventure of the solitary cyclist ; The adventure of the priory school ; The adventure of Black Peter ; The adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton ; The adventure of the six Napoleons ; The adventure of the three students ; The adventure of the golden pince-nez ; The adventure of the missing three-quarter ; The adventure of the abbey grange ; The adventure of the second stain.

Volume 2. Introduction / by Loren D. Estleman --
The hound of the Baskervilles --

The valley of fear --

His last bow : The adventure of Wisteria Lodge : The singular experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles ; The tiger of San Pedro ; The adventure of the cardboard box ; The adventure of the red circle ; The adventure of the Bruce-Partington plans ; The adventure of the dying detective ; The disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax ; The adventure of the devil's foot ; His last bow --

The case-book of Sherlock Holmes : The adventure of the illustrious client ; The adventure of the blanched soldier ; The adventure of the Mazarin stone ; The adventure of the three gables ; The adventure of the Sussex vampire ; The adventure of the three Garridebs ; The problem of Thor Bridge ; The adventure of the creeping man ; The adventure of the lion's mane ; The adventure of the veiled lodger ; The adventure of Shoscombe old place ; The adventure of the retired colourman. ...more

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Paperback, 1796 pages

Published October 1st 1986 by Bantam Classics (first published 1894)

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· 190,692 ratings · 4,522 reviews

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Oct 31, 2007 adam bradford rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: researchers

A few of the things I learned:

Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth

Never theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.

Also, I now sometimes try to analyze people based on their shoes and pants when sitting on the subway. I have yet to ask anyone if I was accurate about my predictions.

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Oct 20, 2016 Rowan Wiese rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Time does not change great literature This was completely entertaining and no matter how old you are it's still great to read over the ones you enjoyed the first time. Several I had not remembered reading. I bought this book at special price from here:
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sherl... ...more

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Oct 31, 2007 Meave rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone

My copy of this book is a wreck, I have read it so often. My dad gave it to me, I can't remember if it was a birthday or Christmas gift, but regardless it's one of the best books I've ever been given. You just have to read a couple of pages and you fall right into Holmes and Watson's world; it's wonderful. ...more

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Mar 25, 2020 Luffy rated it it was ok

Shelves: chunkster, classic, popular, roman-policier

It's great that we got Hound of the Baskervilles right before Return of Sherlock Holmes, because, after that, the knighted author would prove to be on autopilot.

I'm afraid that the test of time has not been overly kind to the canon Sherlock lore. It was a chore sometimes, to read through these short stories that have outstayed their welcome.

Maybe the detective ought to have stayed dead. But vox populi, vox Dei. Now that the work of Doyle is in Public Domain, many more new stories keep popping up ...more

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Oct 25, 2017 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, leatherbound-editions

Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. Holmes was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues and clearing up those mysteries which had been aba ...more

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Nov 03, 2018 Beata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ten stars would be too few for A C Doyle in the interpretation of Stephen Fry ... two Masters meet ..... and give delight to readers ......

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Apr 11, 2018 Caz (littlebookowl) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

Rating: 3.5-3.75 stars?

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Oct 07, 2016 Arah-Lynda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: paperwhite, top, i-said, lod

I have no idea how I let myself get so long in the tooth before finally settling down and reading this collection. Suffice to say I am glad I finally came to my senses.

It is all here, every Sherlock Holmes story ever penned by Arthur Conan Doyle. There are four complete novels and five books of case studies. Relax I am not going to even attempt to review every one of these. That would be tedious for me as well as you.

There is no doubt that my hands down favourite of the entire collection was ...more

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Nov 14, 2020 Rebina Tess rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classic, legendary-characters, mystery

I'm a fantasy girl. I never liked detective stories. Until I got Sherlocked. ...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Manny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pooh-dante, parody-homage, celebrity-death-match, life-is-le-petit-prince

For the Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament, Le Petit Prince (14) versus The Complete Sherlock Holmes (19)

It was some time during the summer of 19__ that I received an urgent telegram from Holmes. Arriving at 221B, Baker Street, I was struck by how little he had changed. He was older, to be sure; but his eye was as keen as ever, and his enthusiasm not one whit abated by the passage of the years.

"I trust you have brought your passport, Watson?" he said, in lieu of greeting. "We depart for Alg ...more

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Aug 28, 2011 K.D. Absolutely rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, challenging, 501, long-read, 1001-core, canon

So, I'm now done with reading this whole 2-volume 1,796-page Sherlock Holmes canon. I spent 10 months reading all the 4 novels and 56 short stories contained herein.

I really liked the experience and I am proud of this accomplishment. My first time to read a canon. Before reading this, I thought that the word canon only applied to biblical works. Well, that was the first thing I learned upon adding this book in my currently-reading folder.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in a classy classic manner a So, I'm now done with reading this whole 2-volume 1,796-page Sherlock Holmes canon. I spent 10 months reading all the 4 novels and 56 short stories contained herein.

I really liked the experience and I am proud of this accomplishment. My first time to read a canon. Before reading this, I thought that the word canon only applied to biblical works. Well, that was the first thing I learned upon adding this book in my currently-reading folder.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in a classy classic manner and even if his settings were not familiar to me as a Filipino, I appreciated his stories because of the universal messages in them: love of a husband to a wife, a son to a father, a father to his child, etc; the evil in greed especially when it comes to riches and money; that men can be truly friends without homosexuality getting in-between; that we have to respect the people we work with; always be wary of the people around you; and that, if used in moderation, cocaine and morphine can actually make you sharper. I cringed while typing the last one.

So, what are my takeaways from Sherlock Holmes? There are three:

1. Logical reasoning. He is a keen observer. In almost every company I joined with, there is a safety program and one of the things they teach in the training is to stop and closely look up, down, left, right, front, back for every thing that we see that can cause an accident. I think that if all of us in the company will have that power of keen observation, all factories will have zero unsafe incidents. Not only that, because Holmes has that keen observation, he uses those things that he sees to link them to his hypotheses and when he applies his knowledge in forensics (having a background on medicine), to the things he observes, it results to his power of deduction.

2. Ability to disguise. I am still to see any Sherlock Holmes television episodes or movies but this one makes the story unbelievable for a middle age man like me but interesting enough to engage me while reading. Sherlock Holmes can be anybody: a pheasant, a woman, an old man, a soldier, a dead person, etc. Not only that, some of his characters put disguises too. This fantasy element in the story is entertaining in my mind but it is the least in terms of the practical application of what I learned from Sherlock Holmes. For one, I could not freaking imagine myself dressed like a woman.

3. Forensic skills. From the first few pages of the A Study in Scarlet when the very young Sherlock Holmes told Dr. Watson how to detect blood from the scene, I was mesmerized. Oh, I thought I knew it from my medical technology readings way back 3 decades ago. However, I am not practicing that profession so at times I already forget what I learned before. Sir Conan Doyle really puts his passion into each novel and short story because he incorporated what he learned from medical books but even history, travel and other sciences such as anthropology, handwriting analysis, weaponry, zoology and botany (I still remember the giant jellyfish). He must have been a very well-read gentlemen.

My favorite novel of course is The Hound of the Baskervilles followed by The Sign of Four. My top 10 favorite stories are below. Interestingly, while typing this, I checked a website and all, except #1, of my choices are not among the Top 12 Sherlockians' choices haha.

1.The Final Problem (Memoirs) - 5 stars
2. His Last Bow (Last Bow) - 5 stars
3. The Adventure of the Retired Colourman (Case Book) - 5 stars
4. The Five Orange Pips (Adventures) - 4 stars
5. The Copper Beeches (Adventures) - 4 stars
6. The Naval Treaty (Memoirs) - 4 stars
7. The Adventure of the Empty House (Return) - 4 stars
8. The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (Return) - 4 stars
9. The Adventure of the Three Students (Return) - 4 stars
10. The Adventure of the Devil's Foot (Last Bow) - 4 stars

Maybe I am just strange but I always enjoy stories that either "speak" to me or at least "surprise" me.

Anyway, I will definitely miss Sherlock Holmes. But I have to move on to Samuel Beckett. ...more

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Oct 01, 2019 Michael Perkins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Having been a fan of these stories and the main characters for years, I'd like to make two observations:

1) I guess it's based on expectations, but I think some adult readers over-react when they read these stories for the first time. I think if these stories were published as something new today, they'd be classified as YA. Which is fine. I've read my share of YA and enjoyed it. We know these books are not supposed to be on the same level as Dickens, Shakespeare, or Infinite Jest in their sophis ...more

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Apr 28, 2011 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, mysteries-potboilers-thrillers, favorites

I can't remember how often I've read and reread this book collection. More than 20 times since elementary school. Literally the only book that never quit on me, and it was a used book I picked up for 10 cents. Sherlock was my first crush I guess. Even now I simply cannot be objective on any level in regards to this character. It's probably a good thing I moved on to the Man From U.N.C.L.E. Well, maybe not. ...more

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Feb 24, 2008 Diana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own-the-book

I was so sad when I finished this book. Nothing new to read ever again about Sherlock Holmes ... hmmmm *sigh*

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Jun 08, 2017 Gio Listmaker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Gio by: Andrea

Stephen Fry Narrates Sherlock Holmes

The Characters Come To Life

Image result for Stephen fry gif sherlock

The Different Voices Are Amazing

Highly Recommend
...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Martha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: those in varying states of wakefullness

I don't know if anyone else does this, but in times of stress or when I have exceptional trouble falling asleep, I find myself re-reading a favorite book. One of these used to be my complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series but alas, it *is* in fact possible to read those books too many times. Lately this book has been the Complete Sherlock Holmes.

What amazes me the most about these stories is that, despite having read through the entire collection a number of times, I seem to find someth ...more

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Apr 03, 2017 Archit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-we-own

One sentence until I turn up with a more powerful review :

...more

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Jan 03, 2018 Marissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: beautiful-cover, books-i-own, adult, classics, mystery

*My overall rating is 4.5 stars for the entire bind up. I do list each story and my rating individually, as well as my average rating for each collection.*

A Study in Scarlet : 4 stars

The Sign of the Four : 4.5 stars

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 3.9 stars
-"A Scandal in Bohemia": 4 stars
-"The Red-Headed League": 3.5 stars
-"A Case of Identity": 4.5 stars
-"The Boscombe Valley Mystery": 5 stars
-"The Five Orange Pips": 4 stars
-"The Man with the Twisted Lip": 3.75 stars
-"The Blue Carbunc ...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Alexis Hall added it · review of another edition

Shelves: srs-fiction

My impression of what a Sherlock Holmes' story is actually like.

I came down to breakfast one morning to find my dear friend, Sherlock Holmes disembowelling a gerbil with a teaspoon.

"My dear Holmes," said I, "is that really necessary?"

Barely glancing up from his gruesome task, he told me that it was. "You see, Watson," he continued, "there is matter that I believe may soon become illuminated not only to you but the whole of London society."

"Good God, Holmes!" I cried. "Whatever is this?"

"Have pat ...more

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Aug 16, 2018 Aishu Rehman rated it liked it

Shelves: ar-conan-doyle

Most of the stories are similar to one another, but it was nice to read about old England. In my opinion the novels are better than the shorts since Doyle had the opportunity to expand the story into other areas which gave depth and breadth to the stories.

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Jun 27, 2019 Adrienne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, all-time-favourites

I love, LOVE the sherlock Holmes books. Re-read several times. Including characters like Mycroft, Dr Watson, inpector Mr Lestrad and Moriarty.

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Aug 02, 2020 Michael Perkins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've read these stories many times over the years. My first versions, which I bought in the 70's, were a set of paperbacks as a boxed set. Often I would take one of the paperbacks along to keep me company and entertain while in waiting rooms or at a hotel for a night. Eventually the paperback pages grew yellow and began to crumble, but I still have them.

I do not usually read mysteries or thrillers, I prefer film or TV depictions, but Holmes has always been an exception. Stephen Fry is the perfe ...more

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Nov 01, 2021 Citlalli rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Before anything else, I'd like to make a couple of clarifications:

First of all this is an audiobook, although for reasons unknown to me it appears as a Kindle ebook and I can't change the format. Secondly, the ninth book in the Sherlock Holmes Series (The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes) is not included in this collection. Still, the first eight books are part of this collection and it all amounts to about 68 hours of audio.

Now, I won't even try to review so much material, as the stories are many an ...more

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Aug 01, 2020 Elle (ellexamines) marked it as tbr · review of another edition

Shelves: anticipated-sequels

oh my god but this thing is so thick. and I’ve only read one part of it. help.

A Study in Scarlet - TBR

The Sign of the Four - TBR

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (collection) - ★★★★★
Review to come here.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (collection) - TBR

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (collection) - TBR

The Hound of the Baskerville - TBR

The Valley of Fear - TBR

His Last Bow (collection) - TBR

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (collection) - TBR

Blog | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | About | ...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Michael O'Brien rated it it was amazing

This was one of the longest books I've ever read, but well worth the read. Enjoyed it thoroughly. After reading this, it is clear that Sherlock Holmes is very well the inspiration behind most of the detective/ mystery genre we have today. I remember reading a while back, for example, that the TV show "House" was intended to be a medical version of Sherlock Holmes. I especially enjoyed reading such tales as "The Hound of the Baskervilles". One of the things that stands out about Sherlock Holmes i ...more

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Sep 05, 2021 Bhavya marked it as on-hold · review of another edition

~currently reading~

(Click on the links for my thoughts on each story)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
1. A Scandal in Bohemia ★★★.5
I liked this story, but my expectations weren’t exactly met. I was hoping for something better.
2. The Red-Headed League ★★★
This one was slightly disappointing, but the overal reveal was amusing. ...more

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Mar 24, 2021 Craig rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Sherlock Holmes may quite arguably and deservedly be the most famous and beloved literary character ever created. I've been a fan for years, of most of the films, the radio dramatizations, some of the pastiches, and, of course, the originals, but I'd never read the complete canon straight through. I've read one of the stories or a chapter or two of one of the novels with my coffee every morning this year, and, 1408 pages later, finished this morning. I recommend them wholeheartedly without reser ...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Gene rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, crime-and-mystery

It is a classic and very entertaining read to boot. What else can I say? Sherlock Holmes outlived many generations of its readers and will outlive yet more generations while still remaining hugely popular.

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Nov 15, 2017 Katerina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017_read, audio, classroom_material, crime-stories

Amazing narration of (mostly) amazing stories.

This is a great listen and a splendid investment of one 15-dollar Audible credit:) It's wonderful to get to reread Sherlock Holmes mysteries for the first time since secondary school and to find them still gripping and cool. Also, Fry's prefaces to each volume is a delight. ...more

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Jun 05, 2008 Jordan Bailey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

What first got me hooked on reading.
[That sounds corny, like 'Hooked on Phonics' or something...]
Either way, I found a seriously abridged and illustrated version of a few stories when I was in 3rd grade. And I've never looked back. Hands down my favorite reads ever. ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: Adding separate entries for combined audiobook	5	19	May 18, 2022 11:49AM
A Book & a Relate...: The Complete Sherlock Holmes	1	2	Feb 01, 2022 08:26AM
Baker Street Irre...: Sherlock and "toxic masculinity" ??	10	32	Jan 24, 2022 10:00AM
Building a case for the eBooks, eMagazines and Audiobooks	1	1	Apr 06, 2021 03:04AM
Goodreads Librari...: Sherlock Holmes - issue with combined editions	4	271	Jul 15, 2020 09:37AM
Sherlock Holmes: Who has beat Sherlock?	56	230	Feb 03, 2020 12:39PM
Fanatieke Nederla...: Maandboek augustus: The Complete Sherlock Holmes	22	81	Dec 07, 2019 02:41AM

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About Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

20,580 followers

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born the third of ten siblings on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, a talented illustrator, was born in England of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, was Irish. They were married in 1855.

Although he is now referred to as "Conan Doyle", the origin of this compound surname (if that is how he meant it to be understood) is u ...more