If you love to read before you go to bed you will enjoy delving into this book. Arguably the most infamous and recognizable fictional character, Sherlock Holmes shines in this page turning anthology. Narrated through the words of Dr. Watson, he accounts the more adventurous cases of his well-esteemed colleague. Sherlock Holmes transcends these pages and into our consciousness. When reading this you cannot help but admire his amazing deductive reasoning and his flare for solving the most impossible cases. He appears larger than life. Cleverly and meticulously written, Doyle leaves no stone unturned in writing great bedtime stories. Another aspect that I enjoyed about this book is the introduction. Here we learn the beginnings of Doyle's career in writing, his unsuccessful medical practice and the sudden and profound effect that Sherlock Holmes has had on his time. Over a hundred years later time has not made him obsolete. Probably the best aspect of the book is that it only takes an hour to read and you can pick it up later and never miss a beat. I started this book over a year ago and casually read it. I decided to pick it up again and now I couldn't put it down....

This book is good with select mysteries about the great case-solver of all times. When you read any Holmes case, you must keep in mind that these were the times when technoloy was so much behind what it is now; there was no way to even type fingerprints... only Holmes and his arch rival knew the art! This makes for good reading when you want to a refreshing break. Young kids can also follow the language, in fact I bought this one for my niece but ended up reading it myself... took me back a good 15 years. There's nothing like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. A good buy, worth every cent it costs.

A fabulous treasure dogged by murder. A trans-racial oath of loyalty. A greedy major, a cannibal pigmy, and a peg-legged convict. Mix in a pig-headed police investigator and a brilliant-but-flawed amateur detective, and you have the makings of a first-class mystery.

Miss Mary Morstan, the recipient of yearly gifts of pearls from an anonymous benefactor, receives a summons declaring her a wronged woman and promising riches if she replies. She enlists the aid of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, and finds herself in the middle of a locked-room murder mystery. If the mystery can only be solved, she will become the richest woman in England.

Holmes, in a virtuoso performance, solves the murder, finds the missing treasure, brings the killer to justice, and learns the strange tale of "The Four." Did I mention that Dr. Watson winds up married to Miss Morstan?

The format of this sequel to "A Study in Scarlet" follows basically the same pattern as the original Sherlock Holmes story. Holmes visits the scene of a baffling murder, draws amazing conclusions from his inspection of the scene, and relentlessly tracks down the villian, who then tells his story and turns out to be not such a bad guy after all.

I first read "Scarlet" and "Sign" as a pre-teenager, and they made an indelible impression on me. In my job I frequently visit murder scenes, and I believe that these two books are what have influenced me to perform inspections outside the crimescene tape.

Merrison once again gives an admirable rendition of Holmes, and Michael Williams turns in a creditable Watson. Brian Blessed is a treat as Jonathan Small. The radio play is enhanced by the fact that it gives greater attention to the Morstan-Watson romance than Conan Doyle did in the book. The BBC productions of the Holmes stories always seem to pay more attention to Watson's romances, and it works quite well to make the stories more enjoyable.

This is a very faithful rendering of this story! Right up on par with the movie starring Jeremy Brett.

Clive Merrison, as usual, gives us a lively interpretation of Holmes, and yet he captures some of his darker passions, too, running more of the spectrum of Holmes' emotional life than many of the actors who have portrayed him onscreen.

Williams gives us a warm Watson - the Everyman we can relate to - and shows us how he was frequently the calm eye in the center of the Holmes hurricane.

The story maturely explores Holmes' drug addiction, his misogyny, and something of his neurotic nature as revealed in the excruciating amount of importance he placed on solving his "little puzzles."

One unexpected gem was Brian Blessed's performance as Jonathan Small. His engaging read added much life to what can be a somewhat tedious part of the story: Jonathan Small's narrative of the history of the crimes being investigated and his revelation of who The Four are.

But best of all, this production gives us access to scenes of the budding romance between Watson and Mary Morstan which in the novel take place "off stage." These scenes are rather touching, actually, and add just the right flavor to counter-balance what is really a horrible little story of greed, murder, and the ease with which humans can be corrupted.

In detective literature Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with his Sherlock Holmes series is undoubtedly one of the best authors ever. His character Sherlock Holmes has a remarkable power of observation and his deductions from minutest details are plainly stunning. I feel there never is a dull moment in his stories; which are concise to the point. This compilation of six stories is no exception. My favorite from this list is "The Adventure of the Empty House"; in which Holmes busts the remaining group of Prof Moriati's gang. I will not divulge further for fear of giving up the plot.

For less then the price of a cup of coffee, you can own a copy of what I consider to be Sir A Conan Doyle's best Sherlock Holmes stories.

This book contains 6 stores. A Scandal in Bohemia. In this story you see Holmes pitted against a female that may just be his equal.

Next is The Red Headed League. This is the weak story in this collection. Still worth a read, but not a very thoughtful one.

Next is The Adventure of the Speckled Band. Holmes and Watson visit the countryside to examine a death most foul.

The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb is a short tale of a young mans missing digit.

Next is the final problem and closes with The adventure in the Empty house. I will give no plot away on these since they are my favourite Holmes stories.

Overall for under a buck, a GREAT value!

Baring-Gould has taken it upon himself to explain what the childhood of Sherlock Holmes was like, as well as what really happened during the Great Hiatus, Holmes vs. the Ripper, and even Dr. Watson's first wife. (ACD wrote but never published a play in which Watson traveled to San Francisco and met Constance Adams in 1884.) A nice touch is the timeline at the end of the book, starting from the meeting of Holmes' parents, and an index of books and magazines from 1920-1960. Basically, a necessity for true Sherlockians.

I read the Adventure of the Speckled Band in 8th grade in English class, and I was plesently surprised to see how good it is. The stories I usually read in class are boring but this was very intresting. Holems is once again faced with a confusing mystery. This time a young woman's sister has just been murdered, and Holmes and Watson must find the killer before he kills again. This was the first Sherlock Holmes mystery I've ever read but it most definatly won't be my last!

Though not necessarily the best Sherlock Holmes stories, David Timson does a wonderful job bringing flavor and color to stories of our favorite Victorian "consulting detective." Picturing the flat at 221B Baker Street and 19th century London is easy through Watson's naratives and Timson's excellent voice characterizations. David Timson does the best readings among all the Sherlock Holmes audio books I own. I highly recommend any Holmes story read by David Timson.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. This outstanding biography by Hesketh Pearson (and wonderfully narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith) reveals Doyle's many other accomplishments, including how he came to the profession of medicine, his activities as a war correspondent, his eventual interest in spiritualism, as well as his many other writings. Ironically, Doyle felt his Sherlock Holmes stories to be the least of his literary works while prizing his now largely forgotten major historical novels. Here too is the story of Doyle as a husband, including the death of his first wife and the enduring affection of his second marriage. A true "rags to riches" tale, Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life is a technically flawless production with musical interludes and cues that is a "must" for anyone who has ever thrilled at one of his immortal stories.

Very informative, and a lot of fun to read. For new readers, a great introduction to Holmes and his world; for old-timers like me, a fun refresher course! Highly Recommended!

In this story, it's fairly obvious WHO done it right from the beginning, but HOW is the mystery. Two sisters, heiresses, are living with their stepfather. One dies tragically and mysteriously, with only enough time to tell her sister that it was the speckled band that caused her death. Now the other sisters life is in danger. Sherlock has to discover what the speckled band is in time to save her life. Soon he and Watson find their own lives in danger. The story is a fascinating mystery/adventure, with just a touch of the exotic, well-written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

This is an excellent selection of classic BSI (Baker Street Irregulars) and other criticism on the Sherlock Holmes stories, with entries by such famous Sherlockians as Rex Stout, Vincent Starrett, Christopher Morley, etc. Most of the individual articles are available elsewhere, but as a compiliation of essential writings about Holmes this is hard to beat. Mr. Shreffler does a fine job of sorting the wheat from the chaff -- I have dozens of books on this subject, and if you are only going to purchase one Sherlockian book in your life (but who in their right mind would ever do that?), this book would be a fair choice.

Two potential caveats for newcomers: 1) I am not sure why this book is so expensive; perhaps the number of remaining copies is limited. When I acquired my copy a few years ago, it was substantially cheaper. If you're on a tight budget, you can probably get more Sherlockian bang for your buck elsewhere. 2) Keep in mind that this is almost entirely a compilation of SHERLOCKIAN criticism, as opposed to the more conventional brand. In other words, the articles proceed under the tongue-in-cheek assumption that Holmes & Watson were real people -- thus, this book will probably not help you very much if you are looking for sources for an academic, literary study of Doyle's work. If you are reading for personal enjoyment, though, and have the cash, it's great fun, and **highly** recommended.

A fine addition to this volume would be Shreffler's "Sherlock Holmes by Gas-Lamp", which includes highlights of the first 40 years of the Baker Street Journal.