Sherlock Holmes

The Sherlock Holmes canon as Conan Doyle wrote it consists of four novels and fifty-six short stories, written between 1887 and 1927. The series follows Holmes, a consulting detective with a near-supernatural gift for inference, and his friend and biographer Dr. John Watson, a former army doctor who narrates almost every case. They share rooms at 221B Baker Street in London, and their adversaries range from blackmailers and forgers up to the late-Victorian criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty. The novels are A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Valley of Fear. The short story collections are The Adventures, The Memoirs, The Return, His Last Bow, and The Case-Book. There is no single right reading order. Many readers start with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for the pure short story experience, then read the novels and remaining collections as interest dictates. Reading in publication order shows Doyle's voice change across forty years, from confident Victorian invention to weary post-war reflection.