The complete stories on Sherlock Holmes

 

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is the creator of the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes, protagonist of the famous serie of histories that began with ‘A Study in Scarlet’ (1887). But  the Scottish writer was also the author of scientific fiction stories and  historic romances as well as a master in short stories.

 

Cover of the first edition 1887

 

The stories on Sherlock Holmes began with a novel, ‘A Study in Scarlet’. He wrote other three novels, ‘The Sign of the Four, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and ‘The Valley of Fear’. Among them ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is considered a masterpiece of the detectives stories and one of my fovourites. However,  most of the Doyle’s production on Sherlock Holmes adventures are short stories.  Frequently, “The Adventure of …” is dropped from some story titles in current-day anthologies. However, in their original appearance in The Strand, this is how the titles were given in many cases.

Don’t think Doyle published his writing as a books. He serialised them and published on magazines, like ‘The Strand’.

 

 

Here it is a list of the Conan Doyle’s stories on Sherlock Holmes. Have a look, it is not necessary to read the complete list! , but when you read a story it is useful to know the period in which was written. The character of Holmes changed along the time, was killed by his author (fed up with his celebrity) and rose from the death by him, and so on, as it ussually happens with a great literary  creation.

 

Novels

A Study in Scarlet (serialised 1887)
The Sign of the Four (published 1890)
The Hound of the Baskervilles(serialised 1901–1902 in The Strand; original illustrations by Sidney Paget)
The Valley of Fear (serialised 1914–1915).

 

Short stories

The short stories were originally published in periodicals; they were later gathered into five anthologies:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.It contains twelve stories published 1891–1892 in The Strand with original illustrations by Sidney Paget. They are the followings:

“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”and “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.  It contains twelve stories published 1892–1893 in The Strand with original illustrations by Sidney Paget as further episodes of the Adventures. These are:

“The Adventure of Silver Blaze”, “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box” (this story is included as part of His Last Bow in American editions of the canon),”The Adventure of the Yellow Face”,”The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk”, “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott” (Holmes’s first case, described to Watson), “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual” (another early case, told by Holmes to Watson), “The Adventure of the Reigate Squire”,”The Adventure of the Crooked Man”,”The Adventure of the Resident Patient”, “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter” (Mycroft, Sherlock’s brother,  appears for the first time), “The Adventure of the Naval Treaty”and “The Adventure of the Final Problem” (Watson reports the death of Holmes)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes.It contains twelve stories published 1903–1904 in The Strand with original illustrations by Sidney Paget,

“The Adventure of the Empty House” (the return of Holmes), “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” 

His Last Bow. It contains nine stories published 1908–1913 and 1917. They are: 

“The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles”, “The Tiger of San Pedro”(the above make up a two-part story usually listed in anthologies as “The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge”, but originally published simply as “A Reminiscence of Mr Sherlock Holmes”), “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box” (this story is in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in British editions of the canon), “The Adventure of the Red Circle”, “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans” (Mycroft appears), “The Adventure of the Dying Detective”, “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax”, “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot”and “His Last Bow” (told in third-person)
 

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.  It contains twelve stories published 1921–1927.

“The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone” (told in third-person), “The Problem of Thor Bridge”, “The Adventure of the Creeping Man”, “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire”, “The Adventure of the Three Garridebs”, “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client”, “The Adventure of the Three Gables”, “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier” (narrated by Holmes), “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” (narrated by Holmes), “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman”, “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger” and “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”

Implided Sherlock Holmes Story

“The Lost Special” published 1908 in which several parts are unusual:

• The main Criminal’s 1898 confession is the solution to 1890 mystery.

• Although not named, it is implied that Professor James Moriarty is the mastermind behind the mystery, and that Sherlock Holmes is the detective who tries to solve the case-and comes up with the wrong solution!

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