![\"Book](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/holmes_head.jpg\")
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Over the course of 40 years during the late 19th and early 20th century, Arthur Conan Doyle published 60 Sherlock Holmes tales in the form of four short novels and 56 short stories (which are generally published in five separate collections). The adventures of Doyle\u2019s iconic detective proved a craze from the start, and since then, no character has been as reproduced and adapted in film, television, stage, and the printed word. <\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019d long been intrigued by the idea of Sherlock, but wasn\u2019t really spurred into reading the stories until we had Michael Sims on the podcast to talk about Arthur Conan Doyle and the creation of his archetypal sleuth<\/a>. I started with the first published novel, <\/span>A Study in Scarlet<\/span><\/i>, and quickly enough got through the other 59 stories too. I was immediately entranced by not only the mysteries, but also the characters. Watson\u2019s devotion to and trust in Sherlock is admirable; Sherlock\u2019s reluctant reliance on Watson\u2019s companionship is heart-warming. Though Doyle peppers in just a couple new personal details with each tale, over the course of the stories the personalities of these protagonists are rounded out more than you\u2019d perhaps expect.<\/span><\/p>\n Some of the entries in the series are definitely better than others; for one thing, the final two published collections, His Last Bow<\/em><\/a> and The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes<\/em><\/a>, are universally regarded as lesser material. So while it\u2019s certainly not a waste of time to read the entire canon \u2014 you may get so attached to the characters that you can\u2019t help but do otherwise! \u2014 if you\u2019d like to jump into a more curated set of suggestions, below you\u2019ll find my favorite 10 tales: two novels and eight stories pulled from the first three short story collections. <\/span><\/p>\n Most every story (outside of those in <\/em>The Case Book) is in the public domain; click the title of each to read them for free online! <\/em><\/p>\n For any new reader of Sherlock, <\/span>A Study in Scarlet<\/span><\/i> is undoubtedly the place to start. There could be no better introduction than the blind meeting of Mr. Holmes, amateur sleuth, and his new roommate, Dr. John Watson. They quickly learn about each other: Watson is neat, curious, good at his work, but generally unremarkable. (Though he provides Holmes his much-needed flattery.) Sherlock is utterly brilliant when it comes to detective work, but ignorant of most other subjects. He can be cold, aloof, and spectacularly arrogant, though very rarely in a vindictive way. Watson, perhaps surprisingly to the new Sherlockian, is pretty quickly revealed as the more likable fellow. <\/span><\/p>\n The first case that Watson records involves a murder in an abandoned house with \u201cRACHE\u201d written on the wall. Scotland Yard investigator Lestrade (we never learn his first name) invites Holmes to consult on the case; though the budding detective initially feigns reluctance, his intellect won\u2019t let him turn down the chance to solve a mystery. <\/span><\/p>\n Contained within the tale are numerous examples of Holmes\u2019 classic methodology, which relies less on the mistakes of the criminals \u2014 as had largely been the case in earlier detective fiction \u2014 than on the investigator\u2019s supreme wits and inductive reasoning skills. Across the entire canon, it\u2019s not that the criminals are dumb; it\u2019s that Holmes is smarter. <\/span><\/p>\n From the numerous twists and turns, to a fun trip to America\u2019s Western frontier, to the delightful construction of the characters\u2019 charms and personalities, and finally to the unforgettable conclusion, I can\u2019t think of a better introduction to a detective series than <\/span>A Study in Scarlet<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n While <\/span>A Study in Scarlet<\/span><\/i> serves as a great introduction to Holmes and Watson, no story itself is as well done as <\/span>The Hound of Baskervilles<\/span><\/i>. Using the length of a novel rather than just a short story, and without the need for much expository ramp-up, Conan Doyle is able to fully explore the depths of the most head-scratching case in the series. <\/span><\/p>\n Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead near his manor in the craggy moors of southern England. There\u2019s no outward evidence of murder, but there are suspicious signs, including the frozen look of horror on Baskerville\u2019s face. There aren\u2019t many clues to work from, except for an old legend about a monstrous hound that has attacked Baskerville heirs for generations. <\/span><\/p>\n Part of the fun of this story are the various writing devices \u2014 between firsthand accounts, journal entries, and Watson\u2019s dispatches to Holmes, the reader slowly begins to piece together what\u2019s going on. But, of course, only Holmes himself can place the <\/span>final<\/span><\/i> piece of the puzzle. <\/span><\/p>\n Could the solution really lie in the supernatural? You\u2019ll have to read the tale. <\/span><\/p>\n Now we enter the realm of the short story. Jabez Wilson, a man with flaming red hair, consults with Holmes about a mysterious job he took in reply to a want ad in the newspaper. Placed by \u201cTHE RED-HEADED LEAGUE,\u201d it announced that \u201cAll red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years\u201d were eligible for a well-paying but non-descript job. <\/span><\/p>\n Wilson showed up for the interview, was declared to have just the right hue of red in his locks, and was set to work copying the encyclopedia. After getting through the \u201cA\u2019s,\u201d he returned to the office only to see a sign on the door which read \u201cTHE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s going on? Surely there\u2019s more to these strange circumstances than meets the eye. Only Holmes can solve such a riddle. With this story, Doyle shows the fun, playful side of his mystery-writing chops. <\/span><\/p>\n Though he takes a central role in only this one story (he\u2019s reminisced about in others), no Sherlockian villain is as nefarious as Professor James Moriarty; \u201cHe is the Napoleon of crime,\u201d Sherlock tells Watson. \u201cHe is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Holmes has been tracking him and his gang for some time and is on the verge of putting all of them away. But when Moriarty discovers who\u2019s on his tail, the tables are turned and Holmes and Watson end up on the run themselves. Can they escape the grips of this heartless monster? <\/span><\/p>\n The end of this story nearly caused riots in London when it was published. <\/span><\/p>\n Bonus: You should definitely read \u201cThe Adventure of the Empty House\u201d<\/a> right after finishing this one. <\/span><\/p>\n On the eve of an important horse race, a prized thoroughbred, Silver Blaze, has gone missing, his trainer has been murdered, and some sheep in a nearby pasture have been found lame. Will the horse be found in time for the race? Will the trainer\u2019s murderer be found? What about those dang sheep? <\/span><\/p>\n There are a couple different threads here which feature some of Doyle\u2019s finest and most memorable writing and reasoning. The famous exchange about \u201cthe curious incident of the dog in the night-time\u201d in fact inspired an excellent novel<\/a> which used that line as the title. <\/span><\/p>\n Some of the better-written Holmes stories are somewhat predictable, and some of the better plot lines aren\u2019t as well written or structured; \u201cThe Silver Blaze\u201d is one of those that combines all the best elements of Doyle\u2019s work. <\/span><\/p>\n The beauty of the Sherlock Holmes stories is that you\u2019re sure to find one with a tone that appeals to you; there\u2019s quite a range on a scale that runs from fun and playful to dark and twisted. This story falls on that latter end of things and offers a darker glimpse into Doyle\u2019s mind than we get in most of the other stories. That said, it\u2019s not so twisted as to be off-putting, and, spoiler alert, there\u2019s ultimately a happy ending. <\/span><\/p>\n The charming Miss Violet Hunter visits Holmes and asks his opinion on taking a job as a nanny which, though it pays well, also comes with a number of peculiar conditions, including cutting her hair short and wearing particular clothes. She takes the job, but as things in the house get stranger and stranger, she calls on Holmes to come help her out. The riddle turns out to be more far-reaching and twisted than either Holmes or Watson thought possible. <\/span><\/p>\n This is another of Doyle\u2019s more playful stories and involves the most memorable female character of the entire series; in Sherlock\u2019s eyes, \u201cshe eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n On the eve of his marriage, the King of Bohemia needs help not with solving a crime, but in simply keeping an old affair on the hush-hush. In his youth, the king had a romp with an American opera singer named Irene Adler. During their relationship, the king sent her a large photograph of them together, which is still in her possession. Should Irene turn sour towards him, it could come out and embarrass the king\u2019s pious fiancee. <\/span><\/p>\n Holmes takes the case, thinking it\u2019ll be a piece of cake to trick the woman and retrieve the photograph. Turns out, Irene is quite a bit more cunning than Holmes initially suspects. With a number of disguises used on both sides, one of them finally and permanently gains the upper hand. But is it Adler or Holmes who wins the day? <\/span><\/p>\n This story has as memorable a start as you\u2019ll find in the canon: a young lawyer, John McFarlane, comes into Holmes\u2019 office knowing full well he\u2019s going to be arrested and charged with murder. The day before, McFarlane had been made the beneficiary in the will of one of his clients; later that evening, the client was violently bludgeoned to death and his body lit in flames to hide the evidence. Of course, all signs point to the guilt of McFarlane. <\/span><\/p>\n Inspector Lestrade holds McFarlane in custody for the time being, giving Holmes some time to prove his innocence before the young lawyer is charged. Can he do it? <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s fun seeing Holmes have to work backwards from his usual methodology. We also see a fuller picture of Lestrade in this story; rather than just begrudging competition, the relationship between him and Holmes seems to flourish into real comradeship. <\/span><\/p>\n While Holmes always has justice in the eyes of the law as his primary pursuit, every once in a while a case comes up that challenges his ideas about right and wrong. The most memorable of those is the story of Charles Augustus Milverton. He\u2019s a wealthy loner whose primary income comes from the business of blackmailing. He buys seedy letters and photographs and then sells them to whoever the highest bidder is, regardless of whose lives are destroyed in the process. <\/span><\/p>\n Holmes is enlisted in the fight against Milverton by Lady Eva Blackwell, who\u2019s keen on retrieving some compromising documents. Milverton is as dastardly a fellow as London has ever seen, and though Holmes is aware of him, he hasn\u2019t had the chance to nail down evidence of his breaking the law; this is his opportunity and he leaps at it. The reader gets the gift of clever disguises, a false engagement, breaking and entering, safe-cracking, and as surprising an ending as you\u2019ll come across in these stories. It\u2019s a delight. <\/span><\/p>\n Often considered the finest of Conan Doyle\u2019s short Sherlock Holmes stories, \u201cThe Speckled Band\u201d is a masterclass in atmosphere and tension. When a terrified young woman seeks Holmes\u2019 help after her sister\u2019s mysterious death, the case leads to a decaying country estate, a violent stepfather, and a locked bedroom filled with subtle but sinister clues. As Holmes methodically pieces together the puzzle, the story builds toward one of the most memorable and chilling conclusions in the canon.<\/p>\n What makes \u201cThe Speckled Band\u201d stand out is its tight construction and genuine suspense. There are no sprawling subplots or diversions \u2014 just a clear problem, sharp deduction, and rising danger. Holmes is at his best here: observant, calm under pressure, and willing to put himself at personal risk to uncover the truth. If you want a story that captures both the intellectual brilliance and the dark edge of Sherlock Holmes, this is it.<\/p>\n Keep up with all my reading by subscribing to my bookish newsletter, \u201cWhat to Read Next.\u201d<\/a> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Check out our podcast with Michael Sims about the origins of Sherlock Holmes:<\/strong> <\/p>\n![\"Sketch](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/holmes.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA Study in Scarlet<\/i><\/a> <\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"Sketch](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/scarlet.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Hound of Baskervilles<\/i><\/a> <\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/dog2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThe Red-Headed League\u201d<\/a> <\/span><\/h3>\n
\u201cThe Final Problem\u201d<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Sketch](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/final.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThe Adventure of Silver Blaze\u201d<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/horse.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThe Adventure of the Copper Beeches\u201d<\/a> <\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/copper.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cA Scandal in Bohemia\u201d<\/a><\/h3>\n
\u201cThe Adventure of the Norwood Builder\u201d<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/05\/nor.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThe Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton\u201d<\/a><\/h3>\n
“The Speckled Band”<\/a><\/h3>\n