11 h 47 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 47 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A missing bridegroom, a stolen jewel, a whistle in the night: what does Sherlock Holmes see that everyone else misses?
At 221B Baker Street, ordinary people bring extraordinary troubles to Sherlock Holmes. A strange offer of work or a frightening sound becomes a puzzle that demands close attention. His friend Doctor John Watson follows the cases and tells each story, sharing his uncertainty as Holmes begins to reason.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s twelve detective stories each stand alone. Meet Irene Adler in A Scandal in Bohemia, follow Mary Sutherland into A Case of Identity, and enter a dark London opium den in The Man with the Twisted Lip. Beneath disguises and deception, Holmes searches for what others overlook.
What you’ll discover
- Clues in plain sight Watch Holmes turn close observation into clear reasoning when the obvious explanation falls short.
- Watson at your side Share a loyal friend’s puzzlement, then his delight as Holmes explains what he sees.
- A worthy match Meet Irene Adler, the singer whose photograph frightens a king and whose resourcefulness challenges Holmes.
- Trouble behind ordinary doors Follow clients whose missing loved ones and peculiar job offers bring them to Baker Street.
- Reason against fear Explore cases where careful looking challenges fear, exposes fraud, and brings hidden facts into view.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy puzzles solved by careful observation will love these cases, as will those drawn to clever friendships, foggy Victorian London, disguises and hidden motives.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A masked king asks Holmes to recover a photograph
- Two odd puzzles that look too harmless to matter
- An accused son and a family marked by pips
- A missing husband and a goose with a secret
- A frightened woman fears her sister's fate
- A well-paid night job costs an engineer his thumb
- A vanished bride and a coronet that breaks
- A governess takes an odd job with odd rules
- Sharp eyes and hidden motives drive every case
- Watson tells each case in a warm voice
Who’s who
- Sherlock HolmesA consulting detective at 221B Baker Street who solves puzzles by close observation and plain reasoning, and who seeks the truth in every case.
- Dr. John WatsonA former army surgeon and Holmes's loyal friend, he follows the cases, helps in danger and writes them down.
- Irene AdlerAn American opera singer who holds a damaging photograph of a king and wants to protect herself and her future.
- Inspector LestradeA Scotland Yard detective who trusts plain facts over theories and often meets Holmes at the scene of a case.
- Jabez WilsonA red-haired pawnbroker who takes a strange copying job and wants to know why the League that hired him has vanished.
- Helen StonerA frightened young woman who lives with a violent stepfather and wants to learn what killed her twin sister.
- Violet HunterA brave, sensible governess who takes a well-paid post in a country house and soon needs help to understand its rules.
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1892
A masked king, a red-headed pawnbroker, a vanished bride: Sherlock Holmes takes on twelve cases in London and beyond.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
How many steps lead up to your front door? You have climbed them hundreds of times, and still you cannot say.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 35 min5 h 15 min fast, 7 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 94,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1892by Arthur Conan Doyle
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A masked king asks Holmes to recover a photograph
On a March night in 1888, Watson climbs the stairs at Baker Street to visit his old friend. Holmes guesses at once that Watson has gone back to medical work. He reads it from the smell of iodoform, a stained finger and the bulge of a hidden stethoscope.
Then Holmes makes his central point. Watson sees but does not observe. He has climbed those stairs a few hundred times and cannot say how many steps there are. Holmes knows there are seventeen. That difference is the method behind every case in the book.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1892
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 40 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes.
Doyle, A. C. (2026). The adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes (Original work published 1892)
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes.
@book{doyle2026adventures,
author = {Doyle, Arthur Conan},
title = {The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes},
note = {First published 1892}
}
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What is The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes about?
It collects twelve cases investigated by the detective Sherlock Holmes and told by his friend Dr. Watson. Many cases bring a client with a strange problem to Baker Street, and Holmes follows small clues toward an explanation.
Who is Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories?
Watson is a doctor and former army surgeon who shares Holmes's adventures and writes them down. He is loyal, honest and often puzzled, so readers follow each case through his eyes and learn the method step by step.
Is Sherlock Holmes a true story and when was it written?
The cases are fiction, invented by Arthur Conan Doyle. They first appeared in a magazine and were gathered into a book in 1892. The setting is real London in the 1880s and early 1890s, which gives the tales a lifelike feel.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
More by Arthur Conan Doyle
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