The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

The second short story collection came out in 1894, and Doyle ended it by trying to kill his creation. The eleven stories collected here include some of the most beloved in the canon: Silver Blaze, with its famous dog that did nothing in the nighttime. The Musgrave Ritual, where a coded family ceremony leads Holmes to a hidden royal artifact. The Greek Interpreter, where Holmes’s older brother Mycroft makes his first appearance and immediately becomes one of the most interesting characters in the series. The Naval Treaty, a long espionage case.

Then comes The Final Problem. Holmes confronts Professor Moriarty, the Napoleon of crime, and the two of them grapple at the edge of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. They both go over. Doyle was tired of the character and meant the ending to stick. It did not. Readers wore black armbands. The Strand lost twenty thousand subscribers in a month. Doyle held firm for a decade before bringing Holmes back. Read this collection knowing the death is coming. It changes how the earlier stories feel.