The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford World's Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Creator: Richard Lancelyn Green
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy Used: $1.97
You Save: $10.98 (85%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 30726
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.8
ISBN: 0192835084
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780192835086
ASIN: 0192835084
Publication Date: October 22, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New and unused with no highlighting or notes. May have light-moderate edge wear and a remainder mark.
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Product Description
Complete in nine handsome volumes, each with an introduction by a Doyle scholar, a chronology, a selected bibliography, and explanatory notes, the Oxford Sherlock Holmes series offers a definitive collection of the famous detective's adventures. No home library is complete without it.
Comprising the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand, the magazine in which they were first published, this volume won even more popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Holmes is at the height of his powers in many of his most famous cases, including "The Red-Headed League," "The Speckled Band," and "The Blue Carbuncle."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Brilliant masterpiece of mystery February 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
After having read "The Hound of the Baskervilles" children's version at the age of 10, for some reason I believed that I knew all there was to know about Mr. Holmes. When the whim struck me I started reading "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and discovered that there is far more to these stories than I had originally given credit for. This is a series of short stories, told from the voice of Holmes' famous confidant Dr. Watson.
This is a series of mysteries that Sherlock Holmes encounters that are told at a swift pace with very little spare verbiage to wade through. Doyle has an excellent mind for the mysteries, keeping them fresh, new, and interesting. Though often I was able to figure out from the very beginning what was going one, I assume it is due to these tales having been used as the basis for so many other mysteries that they may have become familiar. None the less it is always entertaining to follow Sherlock's mind through the twists and turns of the clues to piece together the truth of what is laid out before you.
I have to admit as a parent, that I am glad I elected to read this before handing it over to my son, a 10 year old who read the children's version of the "Hound of the Baskervilles" and has since become a Sherlock Holmes fanatic in the way that only a 10 year old can achieve. Anyway, I purchased this book for him to read and ended up sitting down and skimming it when leaping out of the page at me was the word "cocaine." It immediately dawned on me that this book was written in the times of the opium dens when cocaine was the height of fashion. I decided I'd best read the book and sure enough much to my dismay, Sherlock Holmes mentioned vices include smoking tobacco (no biggie) and shooting cocaine (a REAL biggie for a 10 year old).
Now I personally enjoyed reading this book, never growing weary of the style or the topics. But I have to admit that I elected not to share it with my son for a few more years. My only complaint with this book is that even though it is technically a short story book, it does not read like one. So when you get to the end of the final story, you are left feeling as though someone ripped the last few pages out of your book. There is little to no closure to the series of tales. For some reason I had been expecting there to have been some sort of closure, or a summation from Dr. Watson as to why he chose to include the cases he did, or something about his dear friend Holmes, but as with all short story books, when the final mystery is solved, there is no point turning the page because you are done.
5 of 5 stars.
 The Classic Detective January 2, 2008
Detective novels can get irritating, as coming to the final solution is just being strung out too long. Sometimes it is ok to wonder why-and-whodunit for 200 pages, but sometimes I just like to know, don't you?
Therefore I like detective short stories, especially the cleverly crafted format of the Holmes stories. They are all cleverly crafted, but also predictably structured:
From Watson's point of view, someone comes to Holmes with a problem, he listens and just has to clear up some points, to which end he does some investigating, Watson can't figure the case out and wonders what he has missed, Holmes tells him the solution, we and Watson wonder how he came to that. Finally Holmes gives the explanation of how he has come to his conclusions.
At the end of each story the reader, identifying with Watson, feels amused as well as satisfied, that the facts are so blatantly simple and obvious when working backwards, yet not perceived at the time.
The stories were enjoyable and relaxing to read, easy to dip into and out of and fairly timeless. On several occasions it occurred to me that had Holmes had the option of using modern forensic science he may not have benefited by this, as the logic he applies seems generally infallible. It may be said that such an infallible hero is unrealistic, but I, like many people I am sure, found this comforting, a bit like the superhero effect and their popularity, and God. It is a nice feeling to think there are people and powers out there who have the ability to take care of things and ensure everything will be all right, or at least solved and brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
This selection is also useful as it provides a model for many detective stories written since.
Classic mystery stories March 10, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were hugely popular in their day. Readers would sometimes line up outside the offices of the Strand magazine, which originally published these stories, eager to get their hands on the latest adventure. Doyle is a master at constructing a mystery. I've read the novels "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Sign of Four" and find that the short story is a more suitable form for Doyle's formula. In the novels, Holmes and Watson disappear for long stretches while the narrative flashes back to the events surrounding the mystery in question. In these stories, the famous duo are never gone for long, if at all. I also enjoyed the humor in these tales, which I had not expected when I began reading.
Thoroughly enjoyable November 22, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
You can see why this detective model has been copied so many times: these short stories are the hour episodes of today's ubiquitous crime shows. Doyle manages a wonderful balance between intellectually entertaining crime solving, character development of Holmes and Watson, action, and turnover of each tale's novel guests and events.
... whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth October 20, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
In college I went through a phase where I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories. Once I got started reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, I didn't want to stop. It was sad when I read the last story.
Now years later it was fun to read them again. I enjoy the Sherlock Holmes short stories more than one of the novels. For me one of the most enjoyable parts of a Sherlock Holmes story is reading about what happened, and then reading how Sherlock Holmes solved the problem. A collection of short stories provides this experience many times.
This collection has many classics. It has the famous line "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." (The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet.)
It is also interesting to see what life was like in England 100 years ago. They had the underground, but use carriages, there was lots of travel by train, and life in general was a bit rougher than today.
If you haven't read any Sherlock Holmes stories, this is a good place to start.
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