100 Best Sherlock Holmes Books of All Time
We've researched and ranked the best sherlock holmes books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more
Michael DirdaIf you’ve never read any Sherlock Holmes books you really need to start with that one because it introduces this rather mysterious and romantic character. At the beginning, Doctor Watson tries to puzzle out the profession of his strange roommate at 221b Baker Street. He makes lists of what Holmes seems to know a lot about and what he doesn’t seem to know about at all – including the Copernican... (Source)
The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Illustrated) from Top Five Classics is the only fully illustrated, single-volume edition of the entire Sherlock Holmes Canon available, and features:
• All 4 novels and 56 short stories, including Arthur Conan Doyle's final 1927 collection, "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes"
• More than 480 captioned illustrations, including all 357 Holmes illustrations... more
Michael DirdaIt really has a superbly eerie atmosphere. Most Sherlockians, if they had to pick just one story to represent the canon, would choose this one. (Source)
Douglas StarrIn a world beset by uncertainty and chaos and fear, it’s comforting to imagine there is someone out there who, with keen intelligence and a scientific method, can put things back in order, and make the world safe again. I think that’s part of Holmes’s enduring appeal. (Source)
Andrew LeesIt is often claimed that Holmes is the epitome of the rational, cold-blooded scientist but, in fact, most of his crimes are solved by backing his hunches and a fair amount of guesswork. (Source)
was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the
detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major
innovation in the field of crime fiction, and the adventures of
Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works
include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and
romances, poetry, and non-fiction. Conan was originally a given
name, but Doyle used it as part of his surname in his later years. less
Michael DirdaHolmes turns to Mortimer and says, A man’s or a woman’s? and Mortimer delivers the greatest reply in 20th century literature, Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound! I shivered with pleasure and realised that life didn’t get much better than that. (Source)
Peter JamesIt actually scared me the first time I read it as a kid. And I have always liked it. It is my favourite of all his books and it has a very clever ending. (Source)
The Adventure of the Yellow Face
The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk
The Adventure of the "Gloria Scott"
The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual
The Adventure of the Reigate Squires
The Adventure of the Crooked Man
The Adventure of the Resident Patient
The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
The Adventure of the Navel Treaty
The Final Problem less
Missing, presumed dead, for three years, Sherlock Holmes returns triumphantly to his dear companion Dr Watson. And not before time! London has never been in more need of his extraordinary services: a murderous individual with an air gun stalks the city.
Among thirteen further brilliant tales of mystery, detection and deduction, Sherlock Holmes investigates the problem of the Norwood Builder, deciphers the message of the... more
Duration: 6 hr., 25 min. less
In this, the final collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures, the intrepid detective and his faithful companion Dr Watson examine and solve twelve cases that puzzle clients, baffle the police and provide readers with the thrill of the chase.
These mysteries - involving an illustrious client and a Sussex vampire; the problems of Thor Bridge and of the Lions Mane; a creeping man and the three-gabled house - all test the bravery of Dr Watson and the... more
Once again, THE GAME’S AFOOT…
London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap – a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place.
Almost unwillingly,... more
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Sherlock Holmes's fearless chronicler Dr Watson once again opens his notebooks to bring to light eight further tales of some of the strangest and most fascinating cases to come before the enquiring mind of London's most famous detective.
These mysteries involve the disappearance of secret plans as well as of a lady of noble standing; the curious circumstances of Wisteria Lodge and of the Devil's Foot; as well as the story His Last... more
Volume I includes the early novel A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the eccentric genius of Sherlock Holmes to the world. This baffling murder mystery, with the cryptic word Rache written in blood, first brought... more
Sherlock's desire to stop the killer who is terrifying the East End of London is unwavering from the start, and in an effort to do so he hires an "unfortuate" known as Mary Ann Monk, the friend of a... more
General introduction / by Kyle Freeman --
Introduction to Volume II / by Kyle Freeman --
Note on conveyances --
Return of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure of the empty house ; Adventure of the Norwood builder ; Adventure of the dancing men ; Adventure of the solitary cyclist ; Adventure of the priory school ; Adventure of Black Peter ; Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton ; Adventure of the six Napoleons ; Adventure of the three students ; Adventure of the golden ponce-nez ; Adventure of the missing three-quarter ;... more
Days after Holmes and Moriarty disappear into the waterfall's churning depths, Frederick Chase, a senior investigator at New York's infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency, arrives in Switzerland. Chase brings with him a dire warning: Moriarty's death has left a convenient vacancy in London's criminal... more
It's a mystery that begins during the Great War of 1918, when young Gabriel... more
At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee... more
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The doctor's case / Stephen King --
The horror of the many faces / Tim Lebbon --
The case of the bloodless sock / Anne Perry --
The adventure of the other detective / Bradley H. Sinor --
A scandal in Montreal / Edward D. Hoch --
The adventure of the field theorems / Vonda N. McIntyre --
The adventure of the death-fetch / Darrell Schweitzer --
The shocking affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland / Mary Robinette Kowal --
The adventure of the mummy's curse / H. Paul Jeffers --
The things that shall... more
After departing Bombay by ship, Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes are en route to the bustling modern city of San Francisco. There, Mary will settle some legal affairs surrounding the inheritance of her family's old estate. But the closer they get to port, the more Mary finds... more
Although millions know of Sherlock Holmes through the chronicles of his exploits written by Dr. Watson, it is only now that, owing to his recent death, the full biography and facts of his life can be brought before the public. This volume brings together for the first time every known fact that can be fully authenticated about the life of one of the world's most extraordinary men, and reveals much more about him that has not been heretofore generally known. From twenty years' research into every possible source, the author has written as definitive an...more
The Adventure of the Seven Clocks
The Adventure of the Gold Hunter
The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers
The Adventure of the... more
When Russell discovers Holmes’s own secret friendship with the spy, she knows the die is cast: she will accompany... more
Mlle La Victoire, a beautiful French cabaret star writes that her young son has vanished, and she has been attacked in the streets of Montmartre.
Racing to Paris with Watson at his side, Holmes discovers the missing child is only the tip of the iceberg of a much larger problem. The most valuable statue since the Winged Victory has been... more
For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was especially sweet. There was even a mystery to solve--the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes's beloved hives.
But the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a galling... more
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Fans of Sherlock Holmes will already be familiar with The Great Game -- in which all characters and events in the novels are assumed real and discussed accordingly. BBC hit Sherlock has brought Conan Doyle's legendary detective to a whole new audience and Sherlock: The Casebook is The Great Game for the next generation. This is no ordinary guide.
Each case is brought to life on the page and re-examined through Dr Watson's blog, Inspector Lestrade's police reports,... more
It began as a problem in one of Holmes’ beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and ended—or so they’d hoped—with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. Instead, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those they’ve thwarted. Now they are... more
Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had "murdered" Holmes in "The Final Problem," he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After... more
Now, in two paperback volumes, Bantam presents all fifty-six short stories and four novels featuring Conan Doyle’s classic hero—a truly complete collection of Sherlock Holmes’s adventures in crime!
Volume II begins with The Hound of the Baskervilles, a haunting novel of murder on eerie Grimpen Moor, which has rightly earned its reputation as the finest murder mystery ever written. more
Fresh out of Cambridge University, the young Mycroft Holmes is already making a name for himself in government, working for the Secretary of State for War. Yet this most British of civil servants has strong ties to the faraway island of Trinidad, the birthplace of his best friend, Cyrus Douglas, a man of African descent, and where his fiancée Georgiana Sutton was raised.
Mycroft’s comfortable existence is overturned when Douglas receives troubling reports from home. There are rumors of mysterious... more
The result is a life of Sherlock Holmes, with a continuous narrative alongside the stories which identities the gaps in the canon and places the new and hitherto unrecorded cases in their... more
From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when... more
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Laurie R. King's "New York Times" bestselling novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, comprise one of today's most acclaimed mystery series. Now, in their newest and most thrilling adventure, the couple is separated by a shocking circumstance in a perilous part of the world, each racing against time to prevent an explosive catastrophe that could clothe them both in shrouds.
In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: "Who am I?" She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on... more
A spin-off from Titan's highly successful Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, The Hound of the D'Urbervilles sees acclaimed novelist Kim Newman (Anno Dracula) take on the fiendish Professor Moriarty. less
We can, says psychologist and journalist Maria Konnikova, and in Mastermind she shows us how. Beginning with the "brain attic"--Holmes's metaphor for how we store information and organize knowledge--Konnikova unpacks the mental strategies that lead to clearer thinking and deeper insights. Drawing on twenty-first-century... more
Kirk BorneTo Change the Way You Think, Change the Way You See: “To observe, you must learn to separate situation from interpretation, yourself from what you are seeing.” https://t.co/jYH02Yh8u1 Also see this book: https://t.co/uKXYEPDHOM #Cognitive https://t.co/43hHzNb55A (Source)
It was not until the Queen herself requested it, however, that Holmes was officially on the case of the savage murder of Sir Danvers Carew—the blackest mystery of his career! Although Robert Louis Stevenson published his tale of Jekyll and Hyde as fiction, the hideous facts were true, insofar as Stevenson knew them.
Here, then, is the entire firsthand account of that devilish...
moreIt is 1925, and Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes arrive home to find a familiar decorative stone installed in their garden. A stone with a name, which they last saw in the Tokyo garden of the future Emperor of Japan. It is the first indication that the investigation they did for him in 1924 might not be as... more
When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her.
But in... more
In 1886, an unsuccessful ophthalmologist on the southern coast of England decided to try his hand at writing a detective story. Unlike his historical romances, which required the utmost care, this could be dashed off quickly. The first draft, featuring a Mr. Sherrinford Holmes, was a bit rough around the edges, but with a little revision, something astonishing emerged: Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and A Study in Scarlet. As if with no... more
And what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart: the couple’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson’s son.
What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him—as surely as she believes the... more
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Volume I of The Complete Sherlock Holmes begins with Holmes's first appearance, A Study in Scarlet, a chilling murder... more
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless creation returns in a new series of handsomely designed detective stories. The Further Adventures series encapsulates the most varied and thrilling cases of the worlds’ greatest detective. less
New Tales of Terror!
What would happen if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's peerless detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his allies were to find themselves faced with Lovecraftian mysteries whose solutions lay not only beyond the grasp of logic, but beyond sanity itself. In this collection of original tales, twenty of today's cutting-edge writers provide answers to that burning question.
Contributors include Neil Gaiman, Brian Stableford, Poppy Z. Bright, Barbara Hambly, Steve Perry,... more
It’s a case that requires all of their skills — both mental and physical. Can the daring duo solve what people are calling “The Crime of the Century”?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless creation returns in a new series of handsomely designed detective stories. From the earliest days of Holmes’ career to his astonishing encounters with Martian invaders, the Further Adventures series... more
The world’s greatest detective and his loyal sidekick Dr. Watson are on their first trip across the Atlantic—to nineteenth-century America! From the bustling neighborhoods of New York City and Boston to sinister locales like Salt Lake City and fog-shrouded cities like San Francisco, the beloved British sleuth faces the most cunning criminals America has to offer, while meeting some of her most famous figures along the way, such as Teddy... more
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A Study in Emerald draws listeners in through carefully revealed details as a consulting detective and his narrator friend solve the mystery of a murdered German noble. But with its subtle allusions and surprise ending, this mystery hints that the real fun in solving this case lies in imagining all the details that Gaiman doesn't reveal, and challenges listeners to be... more
This unique book uses the legendary adventures of Sherlock Holmes as a jumping-off point to discuss the growth of forensic science during the Victorian era. The book explores the emergence of science from superstition, how forensic autopsies evolved from anatomical dissection, the huge advances in blood chemistry and poison detection, and the early use of fingerprints, photography and trace evidence. It also provides new insights into landmark criminal cases that influenced the forensic world, such as Jack the Ripper and... more
Sherlock Holmes is fending off a particularly dark mood as he roams the Sussex Downs, in search of wild bees. The Great War may be raging across the Channel, but on the Downs, the great detective nears terminal melancholia—only to be saved by an encounter with headstrong, yellow-haired young Mary Russell, who soon becomes the Master’s apprentice... more
Interesting sidelight of the Sherlock Holmes stories. This is a basic book for all afficionados of the great detective. illus.
THIS TITLE IS CITED AND RECOMMENDED BY: Books for College Libraries; Catalogue of the Lamont Library, Harvard College.
less‘My name is Sherlock Holmes. it is my business to know what other people don't know.’
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes first introduced Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant detective the readers of The Strand Magazine. In these twenty three tales, collected here in one volume, you have some of the best detective yarns ever penned. In his consulting room at 221B Baker Street, the master sleuth receives a stream of clients all presenting him with baffling and bizarre mysteries to unravel. There is, for example, the man who is... more
Don't have time to read the top Sherlock Holmes books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
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'I loved to read the newspaper, hoping to find some news of an interesting crime for me to investigate or a dangerous criminal for me to catch. Where are all those clever criminals these days?'
Then, suddenly, a wild, excited young man runs up the stairs to Holmes' room. He has a story to tell about a strange crime that took place in Norwood. But who is the criminal? And is he dangerous? Life, for Holmes, suddenly starts to get interesting. less
The second tale, The Sign of Four, is an incredible story of greed and revenge in which Holmes and Watson accompany a beautiful young woman on a mission that... more
The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, MD is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Nicholas Meyer, published in '76. It takes place after his other two Holmes pastiches, The Seven-Percent Solution & The Canary Trainer, tho it was published twixt the two.
... more
Miss Irene Adler, the beautiful American opera singer who once outwitted Sherlock Holmes, is here given an unexpected talent: she is a superb detective, as Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker can attest. Even Holmes himself must admit--albeit grudgingly--that she acquits herself competently.
But in matters of the heart she encounters difficulty. The Crown Prince of Bohemia--tall, blonde, and handsome--proves to be a cad. Will dashing... more
In this fast-paced adventure, the action moves from London to the picturesque Lake District as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson once more battle with the forces of evil.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless creation returns in a new series of handsomely designed detective stories. From the earliest days of Holmes’ career to his astonishing... more
Packed with exclusive unseen material, including all-new interviews with the cast and crew, this is Sherlock from the ground up: from story and script development to casting, sets, costumes, props, music and more. Each episode of the spectacular three series is remembered by those who made it, from the show's dazzling debut in A Study in Pink to this year's breathtaking finale, His Last Vow.
more
Don't have time to read the top Sherlock Holmes books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
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This reader’s companion to the casework of Sherlock Holmes explores the methodology of the world’s most famous consulting detective. From analyzing fingerprints and decoding ciphers to creating disguises and faking one’s own death, readers will learn how Holmes solved his most celebrated cases—plus an arsenal of modern techniques available to today’s armchair sleuths. Along the way, readers will discover a host of trivia about the master detective and his universe: Why did Holmes never marry?... more
Don't have time to read the top Sherlock Holmes books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
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There are some who are determined to see that never happens. A body is found crushed to death in the London snow. There are no footprints anywhere near it. It is almost as if the man was killed by the air itself. This is the first in a series of attacks that sees a handful of London’s most prominent occultists murdered. While pursuing the case, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find... more
L'aristocrate célibataire est une nouvelle extraite du recueil Les Aventures de Sherlock Holmes, paru dans le Tome 1 des Aventures de Sherlock Holmes chez Omnibus, en 2005.
This ten book set includes A Study In Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Blue Carbuncle, The Speckled Band, The Naval Treaty, The Sussex Vampire, The Red Headed League and The Three Students. less
When she discovers a hidden cache of brilliant charcoal drawings, she feels as if she's a soul mate to the girl who drew them - but that girl, young Lady Cecily, has disappeared without a trace. Braving midnight streets where murderers roam, Enola must unravel the clues - a leaning ladder, a... more
Contents include:
The Watch Night Bell by Anne Perry
The Sleuth of Christmas Past by Barbara Paul
A Scandal in Winter by Gillian Linscott
The Adventure in Border Country by Gwen Moffat
The Adventure of the Three Ghosts by Loren D.... more
But when a bizarre bouquet shows up at the Watson residence, full of convolvulus, hawthorn, and white poppies, Enola must act. She dons her most discerning disguise yet to find the sender - and quickly, for Enola knows the blossoms symbolize death!
Hold your breath, because Enola's... more
Don't have time to read the top Sherlock Holmes books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
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- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.