The Greatest Cases of Sherlock Holmes

by Arthur Conan Doyle

Part of a special set of 10 hardcover classics, designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, that innovatively use foil and a special new binding material to create a highly collectible set.

Sherlock Holmes, scourge of criminals everywhere, whether they be lurking in London's foggy backstreets or plotting behind the walls of an idyllic country mansion, and his faithful colleague Dr Watson solve these breathtaking and perplexing mysteries. In The Greatest Cases of Sherlock Holmes we encounter some of his most famous and devilishly difficult problems

Genres: Classics, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Short Stories, Detective, Adult

335 pages, Leather Bound

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British 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.

Reviews

[Jenvile · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most beautiful and accessible edition of the cases of Sherlock Holmes, and I’m so grateful to have been gifted it from my best friend. The only qualms I have about this is the greatest cases should include A Study in Scarlet, the Sign of Four and the Hounds of the Baskervilles right?

Though, of course, the end note mentioned that these cases were handpicked my Doyle himself (quite literally with the last case), so I’ll let it pass. I highly recommend this particular edition if you want to get into Sherlock Holmes but the Complete Collection looks too daunting for you! The cover, the feel of the paper, the binding, the text and the illustrations are perfect.

[Alexandra Darivaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautiful edition, faux leather hardcover binding and thick, good quality paper! I would have rated higher, because I really enjoyed all the stories (kept hearing Jeremy Brett every time Sherlock Holmes said anything), but you can’t put a title like “the greatest cases of Sherlock Holmes” and not include stories like “the sign of four”, “the hound of the Baskerville”, or “ a study in scarlet”!

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ciarán · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having never read any Sherlock Holmes, I really enjoyed the stories and found them very easy reading

[Jente Langhout · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did, but I loved it so much!

I had never read any Sherlock Holmes book before and did not know what to expect. I’ll be honest, I mostly picked up this book for the beautiful cover. I hadn’t really given the classics a chance before and I saw this as an opportunity to try one out.

I loved the build up of stories. They start out quite strange, and I had no idea where the hell the plotline was going. You read from Dr. Watson’s perspective, who also did not understand much of Holmes’ investigations. But at the end Sherlock cleverly explains his motives and thoughts.

The stories are all around 30 pages in length, which to me is a good amount of pages a day. The build up of the stories are mostly the same, so to keep it interesting i did read a different book half way trough.

This is a great book to pick up to start reading Sherlock Holmes and would definitely recommend!

[Finlay Chedd · Rating 3 out of 5]

So because this is a collection of short stories, I find myself facing a tricky conundrum, for some of the stories encompasses in this bundle are amazing and truely Fantastic, others are in my opinion boring or otherwise far fetched and rushed. Some stories I would without a shadow of a doubt give a 5/5, however others deserve a poor 2/5.
On a higher note, I absolutely love the language of the Sherlock Holmes novel!! So formal, academic and educated. It makes me wish I could speak like that aswell!!
Worth the read, but some storjes were just not my cuppa tea, imho.

[Tina Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seriously got into the Sherlock Holmes series through the BBC and did not expect to be this mindblown by the actual book! Arthur Conan Doyle has such magic and mystery it's hard to imagine he wrote these over a century ago and no wonder other writers have worked so hard to emulate him.
This collection of series is simply un-put-downable... He'll have you gripped with your mind running in a million different directions on who dunnit and how.

[Rabspur · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed all the Sherlock Holmes films, Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Robert Downey Jnr, plus the TV series, so I bought Conan Doyle's selected 12 best novels, read them all and once you adapt to the Conan Doyle style of writing it becomes an easy read, thoroughly enjoyed the book, and will read more of Holmes in the future, surely he is the greatest detective of all time, which includes Poirot and Columbo, highly recommended read.

[So · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of the whole book, I found interesting a handful of cases.
The narrative is set in a typical Sherlock Holmes style - like merged Jules Verne and Agatha Christie.
Sometimes I got bored of the same style and I also started to see the solutions towards the end of the book. So, I had to mix the short stories with other books.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.0) I struggled with the writing style at the start of the book but really got into it around the 3rd story. I loved how to me these stories were never predictable and I loved the indepth explanations at the end of each story.

[Tim Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read enough modern authors whose books are based in the Victorian period, but it's interesting to read a book that was actually written at the time. The writing style takes a little getting used to. Twelve excellent short stories. Almost an education in detective fiction.

[Gordon Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 12 Greatest Cases as chosen By ACD. A most enjoyable read. I decided during Lockdown to revisit some old favourites. Reading this selection will result in my reading the rest of his Sherlock Holmes stories, and why not.
I love Sherlock Holmes.

[Morgan Johnstone ❤︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories were enjoyable- I wouldn’t say it’s extraordinary like it’s made out to be but I did like it. I liked how it was written by Watson, looking in on how truly bizarre Sherlock’s work was. This particular collection was very good too.

[Yvette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst the writing was amazing and i wouldn't have it any other way it was also so hard making it difficult to pick up, read for a few minutes and still follow the story every once in a while. Also, some stories had a bit of a abrupt ending which was a shame.

[Will Marler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to a canon that I’m very excited to explore further.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book with short stories.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice edition of this book. Great short stories, each one giving something new to give so they aren't all the same.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good selection of Sherlock Holmes. It was the first I read and I am excited to read more of Doyle's work

[Andrew Rigby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first taste of Sherlock Holmes, and I found the collection to be silly and fun, and they have aged surprisingly well. They also feature a quite singular use of the word 'singular'!

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent selection of Holmes & Watson’s adventures hand picked by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself

[Eamonn O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why did I not embark upon this adventure sooner ?

[Maisie Hobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

damn the short stories are so much better then full novels, they suit the snappy style of the mystery solving also love seeing how the tv show adapted and modernised the stories

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a few of these stories before in other collections, but have never gotten into Sherlock Holmes stories as much before. Perhaps I'm more in the mood for them.

[Robin C · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 ☆

[Lovro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Osvrt:
Sherlock Holmes je neosporivo najbolje napisani književni detektiv svih vremena. Svaka od ovih 10 priča mi se jako svidjela, spektar zločina je šaren i ne postoje dvije priče koje su slične. Knjiga posjeduje obilje rjeđe korištenih engleskih pojmova i zato je odlična za sve napredne čitatelje, ali ne bih je preporučio ako niste stvarno sigurni u svoj engleski. Jedina zamjerka je što zbirka ne sadrži legendarnu avanturu Hound of The Baskervilles. Sve su priče odlično napisane i pravi su primjer kako bi trebali izgledati vrhunski krimići. Holmes u svakoj avanturi odlično otkida sloj po sloj zločina i na kraju uvijek dolazi do rješenja koje onda izgleda sasvim logično, a to zadovoljavanje znatiželje na kraju je samo po sebi dovoljno za odlično čitateljsko iskustvo. Uz to, priče su pune osebujnih likova, prostora i krajolika koji čine sve skupa puno zanimljivijim.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meine ersten Geschichten über Sherlock Holmes und nachdem ich erst einmal reinkommen musste, hat mir der Stil dann sehr gut gefallen.

[Lotte Jansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most stories were fun and cute but some of the stories were really odd and difficult to read. I still really loved the book but some stories were a bit weird...