Sherlock Holmes Volumes I and II

Sherlock Holmes
The Complete Novels and Stories

Volume I

Since his first appearance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has been one of the most beloved fictional characters ever created. 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 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 Holmes together with Dr. John Watson. Next, The Sign of Four presents Holmes’s famous “seven percent solution” and the strange puzzle of Mary Morstan in the quintessential locked-room mystery.

Also included are Holmes’s feats of extraordinary detection in such famous cases as the chilling “ The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” the baffling riddle of “The Musgrave Ritual,” and the ingeniously plotted “The Five Orange Pips,” tales that bring to life a Victorian England of horse-drawn cabs, fogs, and the famous lodgings at 221B Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes earned his undisputed reputation as the greatest fictional detective of all time.

Customer Reviews:

One of my favorite writers!

By K. Huff - August 19, 2007

There's not much left to say about this literary classic. It's great to have all of the stories and novels put together, in the order that they were published--there are references here and there to things that happened in previous stories. Of course, you don't have to read everything in order, but its worth it all the same.

Some of my all-time favorite stories in this volume of the collection are "The Red-Headed League," and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." Also worth a read are the short novels A Study In Scarlet, The Sign of Four, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. They illustrate Doyle's (and Holmes's) mastery of the art of observation. As Holmes says in a story in the second volume, "I see as much as you, but I notice what I see." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of my all-time favorite authors; this collection is highly recommended.

My Review of MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

By Craig Childs - July 9, 2000

If you are a mystery fan, this is a can't-miss collection of the early Sherlock Holmes stories. While most of the stories are not as clever as the ones in the original Sherlock collection ("The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"), this book introduces two pivotal figures in the series - Sherlock's eccentric brother Mycroft and the evil mastermind Professor Moriarity. Most fans agree that the stories in ADVENTURES and MEMOIRS set the standard to which all other Sherlock stories are compared.

WAT-SON! . . . This place is a mess.

By Steffan Piper - March 28, 2000

Of the two volumes, this happens to be my favourite. Matter of fact, this is my favourite piece of fiction to date. There's some great stories in this volume, particularly, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot. The Bruce Partington Plans, Shoscombe Old Place etc.

The Case Book Stories found in this volume, the last twelve are probably the most romantic (not to be confused with romance, although there is some of that), on the part of Holmes' biographer Dr. John Watson (Doyle) and not as deeply scientific as some of the earlier works found in the first volume, like the Five Orange Pips.

The beauty of this volume though, works upon your imagination using your fascination with Holmes's outlandishness and quirky behavior and Watson's down-home bed-side manner.

A classic volume, indeed.