Four of the novels and 44 short stories. A blush of late 1800s racial stereotypes. (The Sign of Four is the worst culprit.) Come for the puzzles and the mystery. Creepiest stories include The Speckled Band, The Devil's Foot, and The Copper Beeches. The Six Napoleons was absurd and delightful.

Will absolutely reread whenever I need to ground and settle my nerves. Holmes is a classic character. Doyle's writing style is "often imitated, rarely duplicated" -- really, you can pretty immediately tell when someone just does not understand the timbre, the vocabulary, the cadence of a Holmes story.