Sherlock Holmes is the most famous detective in literature. He lives at 221B Baker Street in London and solves cases the police cannot, by noticing what everyone else overlooks.

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes. Here are the twelve stories of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The stories suit readers from about twelve and up. Each one stands on its own and can be read in one sitting.

Where to start?

If this is your first time with Holmes, start with "A Scandal in Bohemia", the first story in the book. For a full-length case, read The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)

The twelve stories, in the order they appeared in the original book.

A Scandal in BohemiaPublished in 1891 A masked visitor calls at Baker Street: the King of Bohemia, about to be married, and in danger of a scandal. A photograph of him with the singer Irene Adler could ruin everything, and he wants Sherlock Holmes to get it back. The first of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1891, and the story of 'the woman' Holmes never forgot. About 35 min read The Red-Headed LeaguePublished in 1891 Jabez Wilson, a pawnbroker with flaming red hair, was paid four pounds a week by a strange League of red-headed men to copy out an encyclopaedia, until one morning he found its door locked and the League dissolved. Sherlock Holmes finds the case delightfully absurd, and suspects something far more serious behind it. One of Arthur Conan Doyle's cleverest stories, from 1891. About 40 min read A Case of IdentityPublished in 1891 Miss Mary Sutherland comes to Sherlock Holmes in distress: her fiancé, Mr. Hosmer Angel, vanished on the very morning of their wedding. Holmes notices her boots, her gloves and her typewriter, and soon understands much more than she has told him. A short, sharp Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1891. About 30 min read The Boscombe Valley MysteryPublished in 1891 A landowner is found dead beside a lonely pool in the Boscombe Valley, and his son, who was heard quarrelling with him minutes before, is arrested for murder. Everyone is sure he is guilty. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson take the train to Herefordshire, where the ground around the pool tells Holmes a very different story. A Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1891. About 40 min read The Five Orange PipsPublished in 1891 A young man comes to Sherlock Holmes on a stormy night. His uncle and then his father each received an envelope holding five dried orange pips, and each died soon after. Now an envelope has come for him. One of the darkest Sherlock Holmes stories, by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1891. About 30 min read The Man with the Twisted LipPublished in 1891 Late one night Dr. Watson goes into an opium den in the East End of London to fetch a friend, and finds Sherlock Holmes there in disguise. Holmes is hunting for a respectable gentleman who vanished from an upstairs room, where the only man found was a beggar with a twisted lip. A Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1891. About 40 min read The Adventure of the Blue CarbunclePublished in 1892 Two days after Christmas, Sherlock Holmes is studying a battered old hat and the Christmas goose that came with it, when the goose turns out to hold a precious blue stone stolen from a countess. Holmes follows the goose back through London to find the thief. A festive Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1892. About 35 min read The Adventure of the Speckled BandPublished in 1892 Helen Stoner comes to Sherlock Holmes trembling with fear. Two years ago her twin sister died in terror in the night, crying out 'the speckled band!', and now Helen has been moved into her sister's room. Her stepfather keeps a cheetah and a baboon on the grounds. The most famous of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1892. About 45 min read The Adventure of the Engineer's ThumbPublished in 1892 A young engineer arrives at Dr. Watson's door at dawn with his thumb cut clean off. He was hired for a large fee to look at a hydraulic press in a lonely country house, with the promise to tell no one, and barely escaped with his life. Sherlock Holmes sets out to find the house. A Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1892. About 35 min read The Adventure of the Noble BachelorPublished in 1892 Lord Robert St. Simon married a rich young American, and within hours of the wedding his bride vanished from the breakfast party. The police drag the Serpentine for her body. Sherlock Holmes solves the case before his noble client has finished telling it. A Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1892. About 35 min read The Adventure of the Beryl CoronetPublished in 1892 A London banker accepts one of the treasures of the Empire, a coronet set with beryls, as security for a loan. That night he finds his own son in his dressing-room holding it, with three of the stones gone. The son will say nothing. Sherlock Holmes takes up the case. A Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1892. About 40 min read The Adventure of the Copper BeechesPublished in 1892 Violet Hunter is offered a governess's post at three times the usual salary, on strange conditions: she must cut off her hair, wear a blue dress, and sit where she is told. She asks Sherlock Holmes whether she should go to the house of the Copper Beeches. The last of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, from 1892. About 45 min read

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)

Holmes's most famous case, a novel set on the moors of Devon.

The Hound of the BaskervillesPublished in 1902 A country doctor brings Sherlock Holmes an old family legend: a spectral hound that has haunted the Baskervilles for generations. Now Sir Charles Baskerville lies dead on the edge of the moor, with the footprints of a gigantic hound beside him, and the young heir is on his way to the lonely family hall. Holmes sends Dr. Watson ahead into the fog of Dartmoor. Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel is the most famous Holmes mystery of all. About 4 hours read

About the text

The stories are the original text, as first published, from the public-domain editions on Project Gutenberg. More about the texts and copyright.