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Rating: 
Summary: Great edition of classic hero....
Review: This newest edition of Sherlock Holmes comes as a first rate book set with a commentery by a leading English scholar that writes of the appeal of the great detective that has lasted from the 1890's until today.Read and learn what great litterature is all about.
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Summary: The best of the Holmes short stories
Review: Although he also wrote several novels featuring the world's greatest fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it was especially in his short stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle perfected the Holmes formula. And of the five collections of Holmes short stories (about a dozen in each collection), "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (published in 1892) was the first and is easily the most popular and best of the five. It contains all except one of the five all-time most popular short stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon (A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-headed League, The Blue Carbuncle, and The Speckled Band), as well as some other gems like The Five Orange Pips. For newcomers to Holmes, this there is no better place to start than with the dozen stories that comprise "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". And for long-time fans, these are old favorites worth reading again and again.
Here's a list of the stories in this collection (with the better stories marked with stars):
***A Scandal in Bohemia, 1891 - The very first and one of the top five Sherlock Holmes short stories. After some brilliant detective work involving disguises and acting, Holmes is outwitted by the woman Irene Adler in his quest to help the hereditary king of Bohemia regain a scandalous photograph from her.
***The Red-headed League, 1891 - Generally regarded as all-time second best Sherlock Holmes story, this bizarre tale features a pawnbroker who is paid money to join the mysterious Red-Headed League and copy out Encyclopedia Britannica, as part of an ingenious scheme to rob a bank.
A Case of Identity, 1891 - Holmes solves the mystery of Mary Sutherland's fiance who disappears on the morning of his wedding, unmasking it as scheme hatched by her greedy step-father.
The Boscombe Valley Mystery, 1891 - Charles McCarthy's son seems the obvious murderer of his father after a violent quarrel, so it is up to Holmes to show that the murder has its real roots in the Australian past of the dead man and his landlord.
**The Five Orange Pips, 1891 - One of Doyle's personal favorites, this tale recounts the death of two men, both preceded by the arrival of five mysterious orange pips. In one of his few failures, Holmes connects the events to the Ku Klux Klan, but not soon enough to prevent another death.
*The Man with the Twisted Lip, 1891 - A baffling mystery about Mr. Neville St. Clair who disappears from a room into thin air, and a professional beggar who is the suspected murderer.
***The Blue Carbuncle, 1892 - Another favorite all-time top 5 Holmes story, as Holmes unravels how a blue diamond ended up inside the goose intended for Mr. Henry Baker's Christmas dinner.
***The Speckled Band, 1892 - Universally regarded as the most popular short story in the Sherlock Holmes canon, and easily one of the more suspenseful and chilling. The engaged Helen Stoner is terrified when she hears the same strange whistling that preceded the death of her twin sister in a locked bedroom shortly before her wedding. Her step-father Dr. Grimesby Roylott, a evil and greedy man with a passion for exotic pets like his cheetah and baboon, is the suspected villain - but how could he do it? The only clue are the mysterious words of Helen's dying sister about "speckled band"...
The Engineer's Thumb, 1892 - Victor Hatherley, a hydraulic engineer, is offered a lucrative contract to go to a secret location at night to fix a fuller's earth press, but why does he lose his thumb and nearly his life in the process? As Holmes says to the engineer about the missing thumb: "Indirectly it may be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence."
The Noble Bachelor, 1892 - When Lord St. Simon's new American wife goes missing shortly after their wedding, it is up to Holmes to find both her and the reason for her disappearance,
The Beryl Coronet - Expensive jewels are mysteriously damaged in the home of a wealthy banker, his ill-reputed son the prime suspect.
The Copper Beeches, 1892 - Violet Hunter is paid an exorbitant sum to be a governness at a house called The Copper Beeches. Her employment includes some strange stipulations, such as cutting her hair short and wearing a particular blue dress - but why?
- GODLY GADFLY
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Stories! Perfect Adventures!
Review: For those who love mystery stories this combined anthology of all of Sherlock Holmes Adventures and short stories is a desert island book for sure. Conan Doyle was THE author who developed the mystery genre as we know it today! His works are pure classics and each one is a masterpiece. Individual reviews could be done on all of the short stories and each of the novelettes, but it is so much nicer to have the works all in one reference volume. Conan Doyle has reached that enviable position where most authors want to be - his hero has been immortalized and there is probably no one in any of the literate countries that has not heard of Sherlock Holmes. Not too bad for an author that started these stories in penny newsprint editions! I could go on and on and write highlights from each of the stories, but that would spoil your fun when you delve in and begin to read or reread them again.
Rating: 
Summary: WORST BOOK EVER
Review: I had a hard time putting this book down! I really enjoyed these stories starring Holmes and Watson. I would strongly recommend this book to others.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever put together!
Review: I had a hard time putting this book down! I really enjoyed these stories starring Holmes and Watson. I would strongly recommend this book to others.
Rating:
Summary: The only book to take on a desert isle
Review: Never get tired of reading this book. I have read it at least 4 times a year, since I was 10 or 12. Each time I read the book, I discover more subtleties. Watson's view, more so than Holmes, is that of an interested onlooker. Family man, husband, surgeon, an educated commentator - he lures us with his tales. Life, death, passion, revenge, murder, incest, and greed... all still in today's headlines, the writing never gets old or stale, even after one hundred years! Favorite line: To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman
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Summary: Early Holmes - Before His Life Fell Apart
Review: This fine collection of mystery stories showcases Sherlock Holmes' early career, when he was in his prime, before the trauma of The Hound of the Baskervilles drove him into the pit of cocaine use. In these adventures we have a robust, healthy detective champing at the bit to solve crimes; after the cocaine demon began its filthy deeds, Holmes became a mere ravaged shell of his former self, tall and emaciated, dependent upon the drug that eventually exhausted his savings and ruined his life, as happened to many Young Urban Professionals in the 1980s.The real problem is Dr. Watson's enablement in the case, he a medical doctor who did nothing to stem his friend's recreational use and subsequent addiction to this insidious drug. (Was Dr. Watson perhaps SELLING cocaine? Was he Holmes' pusher?) Enjoy this book -- and try your best to not think of the coming storm, the drug-induced disaster on the horizon.
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Summary: The Oxford Sherlock Holmes
Review: This is a superb critical and literary project. Not only have thy produced an excellent redaction of the various editions, but the notes are thorough and useful, the volumes are the perfect size for reading at home or while commuting to the office.And its all Sherock Holmes! Stu Shiffman
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Summary: This is an adventure filled mysterious book that takes you non stop into the life of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
Review: You meet ordinary and strange characters in this book. Every adventure is different, and a spectacular story.
They are first class mysteries. Sir A.C.Doyle is
a very talented author. You try and break the case
before Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes- quite a hard
chore. Sherlock Holmes adventures are always fun filled
and very, very, very exciting
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