What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done."

When I tell you that finishing this book has taken a weight off my shoulders, I am not lying. This book has been hanging over my head since I started it in January, and finally having it done and being able to 100% devote myself to more enjoyable books is a great feeling. I'm also shorting myself by counting this as one book because it was actually 8, but all well.

I quite enjoyed the first couple of books. A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four were actually intriguing, and I loved the short chapters (newspaper serials must have been a blast), as it helped my short attention span when reading classics. However, as the books progressed, I got bored. The stories were no longer continuation chapters, but short stories within a book, and that annoyed me. 10 pages of a story is not enough for me to be invested in the plot or the characters. Then you notice that Conan Doyle also becomes disinterested in Sherlock and the writing becomes repetitive and incredibly dry (and we all know Conan Doyle believed that too). The effort wasn't there anymore and I felt it. Hence why this took me the entire year to read. Why didn't I put it down, you might ask? I do not know. It wasn't all bad, but it certainly wasn't good. I'll stick to BBC's Sherlock.

Brilliant stuff. This collection contains almost the entire canon, missing only The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (an anthology of twelve more stories composed near the end of Doyle's life). I recommend checking out the stories in that collection as well, particularly "The Illustrious Client" and "The Lion's Mane," both of which were favorites of Doyle himself. But on to the actual stories contained in this collection.

This is quite the collection. If you're looking for a complete review of all four novels and 44 short stories, this isn't it. But if you're looking to discover the best of the best of Holmes stories, then you've come to the right place.

Of the novels, The Hound of the Baskervilles is far and away my favorite. If you read one and only one Holmes story, let it be this one. Sign of the Four is also quite good, and A Study in Scarlet is iconic for its introduction of the main characters, but The Hound of the Baskervilles surpasses them all. I'll keep details to a minimum and just say that its atmosphere is tense, its characters intriguing and suspicious, and its ending surprising.

In the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the best stories are: (1) "The Red-Headed League" (really love this one), (2) "The Man with the Twisted Lip," (3) "The Speckled Band," and (4) "The Copper Beeches." As the first anthology of short stories, they make a pretty good place to get started with Holmes.

In the collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes the best stories are: (1) "Silver Blaze," (2) "The Gloria Scott," (3) "The Reigate Squire," (4) "The Greek Interpreter," (5) "The Naval Treaty," and (6) "The Final Problem." As the title suggests, these stories follow Holmes' perspective in the mysteries a little more closely than the previous anthology, in some cases being told entirely from his perspective as he recounts the mysteries to Watson. If you're fresh off of watching the BBC series, I think you'll find this collection the most interesting. It includes Holmes' first ever mystery ("The Gloria Scott") and it introduces Mycroft's character ("The Greek Interpreter").

In the collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes the best stories are: (1) The Dancing Men , (2) Charles Augustus Milverton, (3) The Six Napoleons, (4) The Golden Pince-Nez, (5) The Abbey Grange, and (6) The Second Stain. These stories are at the very top of my list of favorite short stories, because these stories are Doyle at his most unpredictable and brilliant.

In the collection His Last Bow the best stories are: (1) Wisteria Lodge, (2) The Bruce-Partington Plans, (3) The Dying Detective, (4) The Devil's Foot, and (5) His Last Bow. This collection is also interesting if you're fresh off the BBC series.

We owe a great debt to Doyle for popularizing and solidifying the mystery genre. Other mystery writers have moved on from the base that Doyle helped create in order to come up with new, brilliantly innovative stories of their own. And there are some inconsistencies, especially with Holmes and Watson's characters. Still, there is something ingenious about Doyle's stories and characters that keeps people coming back for more.

I mean, this is all the Holmes stories besides the (for sure inferior) ones in the Case-Book. Obviously a wide range of tales from the classics to some stinkers, but overall, the Holmes stories are a delight.

[b: The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes|482060|Sherlock Holmes|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1175135295s/482060.jpg|8462586]
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
*5 STARS

“My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people do not know.”

[b: The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes|482060|Sherlock Holmes|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1175135295s/482060.jpg|8462586] was a very entertaining and unexpected read. Although I don’t read mystery often, I feel that this was a good venture into that genre. Sherlock Holmes was a memorable and unforgettable character, I was delighted to find, and I also enjoyed the commentary of his sidekick, Watson. This collection of stories about Holmes, the famous violin-playing, experimenting detective independent of the Scotland Yard in London whose cases are documented by Watson, was intriguing and indelible.

I actually prefer Doyle’s particular style of writing. It was a nice contrast to average YA writing, and was detailed, and most importantly, Doyle wrote with a sense of his story’s plot. The mysteries were often engaging, and I liked the puzzles and the fact that the story revolved around them. They took place in many different places, and some were exotic, while others ended up to be simpler than they seemed. Lacking in monotony, focused, and immersive is how I'd describe them in short-terms.

Not only that, but I liked the characterization of Holmes. He’s a developed character and is sometimes prideful and unlikable, but at the end of the day, I still admired his intellectual skill when I read about his adventures.

Overall, this collection was eye-opening. It’s a classic, and Holmes is such a popular and well-known character. I would recommend mystery fans, or those who are interested in mystery, to read this. It really is a must-read classic.

Of course some stories are better than others, but it's Sherlock Holmes. Classic and so fun. Here are my favorites:

The Speckled Band
The Copper Beeches
The Musgrave Ritual
The Greek Interpreter
The Dancing Men
The Solitary Cyclist
The Priory School
The Abbey Grange
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Dying Detective
The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
The Devil's Foot