The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I (Barnes & Noble Signature Editions)

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Christopher Roden and Barbara Roden

With a knock on the door, a stranger enters Sherlock Holmes’s Baker Street rooms, begging Holmes to solve a ghastly and perplexing mystery. The legendary detective and his longtime friend Dr. Watson set out to explore the scene of the crime, making headway where the literally clueless police have failed. Combining an acute eye for the telling detail with an encyclopedic knowledge of the most esoteric subjects, Holmes follows the clues on a circuitous and perilous path until he solves the case in dramatic fashion. Back at Baker Street, he readily explains to Watson any point in the chain of reasoning that might have escaped the old boy’s understanding.

     From his first outing, the novel A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle found the winning formula on display in The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I, which also includes another masterful Holmes novel, The Sign of Four. In addition, the incomparable sleuth resolves conundrums and captures villains in the twenty-three short stories contained in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, including “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Red-Headed League,” “The Speckled Band,” and “The Final Problem.”  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Nov 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781435141032

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He is the creator of the Sherlock Holmes character, writing his debut appearance in A Study in Scarlet. Doyle wrote notable books in the fantasy and science fiction genres, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.

Reviews for The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I (Barnes & Noble Signature Editions)

[catherine_gv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's SOO GOOD. I had read two Sherlock Holmes stories while a kid and recently, I decided to read them ALL.. I love Sherlock Holmes SO MUCH :D! It just draws me in! :D

[liivin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved every story. A very addictive read.

[jmeisen_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While it is handy to have the entire Canon in one volume, this edition contains a plethora of errors, as well as failing to correct the awkwardness that ensued when Doyle moved "The Cardboard Box." If you can manage it, spring for the 12-volume Oxford edition -- also unlike this volume, the Oxford books are a convenient size for carrying and reading.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

my dad is obsessed with Sherlock! it was his shizzle when he was younger. So of course, he got me an entire set of a book series I don't even like. im not a huge mystery person. its not my scene. sorry dad...thanks anyway. I tried and read a good amount.

[elliots89 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Whilst reading these stories you can see why they became such classics. Arthur Conan Doyle really sets the scene wonderfully, with each story making the reader speculate as to how the crime was committed. In Sherlock, Doyle created a fascinating character which is why he has stood the test of time with many an adaptation.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I purchased a gorgeous copy of the Complete Sherlock Holmes which included some nicely done vintage illustrations along with the most AMAZING narration performed by Simon Vance. I didn't read the entire book all at once, but savored the stories, interspersing them with other books. What a joy! I can see why Sherlock Holmes has become part of our culture with movies, TV shows, and the dozens of newly released mystery books that include him as a character. My biggest surprise was reading some of the novellas and seeing Arthur Conan Doyle's skill in describing a scene, or characters outside of the typical London mysteries. Great experience!

[knsievert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had a hard time figuring out a rating for this first volume, because I really disliked the first two novels (weird Mormon tangent, anyone?), felt indifferent about a few more, and loved some others (especially Hound of the Baskervilles). On average, my rating probably falls between 3.5 and 4.

[tarklovishki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am one of the many that decided to take on this mammoth of a book after watching the BBC series Sherlock.

Sherlock Holmes is Arthur Conan Doyle's famous creation - a creation we all know the author would later come to despise.

Sherlock Holmes is blunt, crass and just plain rude, but because is a genius the people who come to him for help really just have to put up with it. He's an addict; several times in the book, in different stories, we see him taking cocaine much to the chagrin of his friend John Watson.

One of my main gripes about this book though is Mary. She just disappears without warning halfway through! Only when I finished the book and researched what happened to Mary Morstan did I realise she had an off-screen death that prompted John to move back in with Sherlock. And then we don't even see John upset by this. His wife just died and he's all "Meh" about it.

Ah, true love in the Victorian Era. How quaint.

[othemts · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh yeah, I read every single work about the master detective Sherlock Holmes. They're not all great, but they never fail to intrigue. It's especially interesting to see how the personal relationship of Holmes and Watson strengthens over the course of these works. I think everyone should read Sherlock Holmes, at least The Sign of Four and a selection of short stories.

[heptonj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One cannot get away from the fact that Holmes is a true classic which captivates the attention every time it is read (one never tires of these stories). I can't help but feel that if I lived in the right era I would have been right alongside those who objected to the detectives 'death' and insisted he be re-animated! I have seen many different film/TV adaptations and read untold books on Sherlock Holmes and his very appropriate down-to-earth side-kick Dr. Watson and hope to continue for many years. These stories will never enter obscurity.

[lightparade · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful, wonderful. But only two stars, because the teeny-tiny typeface and the vast number of pages render it practically unreadable. Time to start preparing for my retirement and buying up some Folio editions.

[ladyblakney · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Why do I like Sherlock Holmes? Let me quote Dr. Watson: These stories "give the prefrence to those cases which derive their interest not so much from the brutality of the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic quality of the solution." This make a welcome change from the many blood thirsty books and movies out there. Yet many of the Holmes stories are thrillers. Perfect reading for a dark and stormy night.

[lmichet_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All children should read Sherlock Holmes.I know it's not children's literature per se, but in my experience, in my own life, it had such a formative effect upon me and the way I read that I am not sure I would be the same kind of person today had I never read these books.1) Sherlock Holmes is a great introduction to classic literature. It's easy to read and has stable characters who, although they are in very few ways dynamic, are usually not caricatures of themselves: the kind of characters anyone can enjoy, and the kind of characters children can easily understand. Furthermore, though the language is out of date, it is not difficult to read. These books bridged the gap between pulp fiction and literature, and they can have the same effect upon modern readers. If you want a kid to start reading old classics, then get them to read something like this first. It will get them comfortable with the idea of reading 'old books' and 'old language' while never overstretching their abilities. There are no 'difficult' characters here, but there is still certainly a lot to think about.2) These books are simply excellently written. If you want a kid to know what solid, solid writing is, hand them some Holmes. These are perfect little short stories. They're not short short stories in the sense we may think of them today-- most are a bit longer than some popular modern ones-- but they're perfect for what they are. They certainly expanded my vocabulary when I first read them.3) They're exciting. Children should be reading exciting, compelling things that make them think and wonder.4) A child who enjoys a good Sherlock Holmes book is going to want to read them all. Now, this particular edition, the omnibus, took me about two weeks to get through when I recently decided to plow through all of them again-- and that was reading for quite a long time every day, and I was familiar with all the stories already. Get a kid hooked on these and they'll be reading for months.5) Cultural literacy. If a kid speaks English, they need to know who Sherlock Holmes is just as much as they're going to need to know who Darth Vader, Julius Ceasar and Brutus, and Romeo and Juliet are. All of these characters have become part of our cultural lexicon. People certainly say "No shit, Sherlock!" as often as they say "Luke, I am your father!", "Et tu, Brute?", or "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?". In fact, I'd bet that Sherlock references, conscious or not, verbal or symbolic (the deerstalker, pipe, etc.), are all in all probably more common in our society than any of these others I've mentioned.Everyone who speaks English should at least TRY to read these. I know you can't always get adults hooked on these stories-- a lot of the joy I get from reading them comes from remembering what it was like to read them for the first time when I was eight or nine. You've got to inculcate these things early. Part of the reason for this would be my final point:6) The whole message of these stories is that, in the end, the smartest and bravest one wins. Look at Sherlock. He's like a genius scholar boxer swordsman adventurer extraordinaire. How did he get this way? By staying in school, kids. Yup. I'd guess that at least subconsciously I was effected by these stories-- it's not every tale where the hero manages to win the praise of all despite being rude, socially backward, and romantically uninvolved. Kids need to know that effort trumps all-- and that's certainly what these stories teach.I don't know why I made the education/indoctrination of children the main point of this review. But I believe everything I've written. If you have a kid, quick, go grab them the first collection of short stories! You haven't much time to lose!

[tadad_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The novels and short stories are of somewhat uneven quality but, come on, there's a reason why Doyle was forced by the reading public to resurrect Holmes from death...it's a lot of fun!

[rosenstern · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Conan Doyle's intellect never ceases to amaze me. Every time I pick up a Holmes' story, I am shocked. It's like watching Criminal Minds play out in the nineteenth century. Detective/ Crime novella fans these books are for you guys. Doyle knows his stuff.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My introduction to Sherlock Holmes. I fell in love. So nice to have most of the stories all to hand, no waiting to find the next book. The illustrations in this are great too.

[caffeinated_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Catchy. Good, solid writing. Humorous, entertaining characters. Only quip is the second half to the first novel; the first half is wonderful (you can wonder in awe, with Watson, about who Sherlock is); however, the second half is displaced from the immediate story line, and worse, the girl (when young) was irrecoverably annoying. For that, I am tempted to say that AC Doyle was better at the short story form than the novel, but the other novels make up for the first. (4)

[reading_fox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

All the short stories and the novels together in one book. Reading the short stories its quickly apparent that Holmes is not that clever in most of them. He often intreprets on or two "facts" and the remainder of the story is a long and often dull narrative from the other person involved. It is of course all told from Watson's POV, but even he can't add much levity to the situation. The novels are better, and some of the short stories much better than others.

[felius_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's Sherlock Holmes! How can you go wrong. For some reason I've always preferred the short stories, and with this book you have them all at easy reach. The novels are included as well though, of course.

[dgbnumber1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Engrossing. I like the fact that these are short and they're engrossing.

[razinha-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There are a two reasons this took me 2.5 years to read. One is that it is nine books bundled - four novels and five collections, though I only get "credit" for one.The other is that Doyle waned tedious so much! Oh My Flying Spaghetti Monster! The repetition was aggravating; the hat/rabbit pulling of unknown to the reader "clues" maddening; the plodding narratives numbing.For me, Holmes is the rare case (accidental pun not intended) of interpretations being orders of magnitude better than the book(s). Even Guy Ritchie's pugilistic Homes in lieu of intellect is better than Doyle's.This is my assessment. Fans can and will cry foul all they want.I'll sum this complete collection in one word: soporific.

[bookandsword · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read every story at least 5 times. Forever and ever a diehard Sherlock Holmes fan.

[kalessinastarno · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

More like a 4.5 stars.
I really like the stories, but in some points I'm too modern for them. The conviction that the looks of people and their features say something about their character is foreign to me and somehow weird.

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes, with a sympathetic introduction by Christopher Morley and without some of the sillier notes in some other editions. It is Holmes, all Homes, and nothing but Holmes. When I was young, my mother won a mystery quiz competition run by the Toledo (Ohio) Blade newspaper for which the prize was one mystery book. My brother and I asked her to request this, and she did. Before this, I had had a book with a selection of Holmes stories, and I may have seen a few others elsewhere,but I had not had access to the entire set. For many years, this was the Holmes volume for our family.

[lauraodom-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I just spent the last three weeks reading the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle relating to his famous character, Sherlock Holmes. Three. Weeks. It occurred to me that non-readers or not-very-fast readers may feel as I did when they read a regular novel… am I ever going to be finished with this book? But it was definitely worth the three weeks of my time to have read the 4 novels and 56 short stories contained within. In fact, it made me kind of sad to finish the last story… to know that there is no more of the original tales of Sherlock and Dr. Watson out there for me to read.

It was so refreshing to be back in my element of classic literature, not worrying about coming across f-bombs and other forms of vulgarity in the pages. The writing is witty and smart, the characters fascinating, and the stories engaging. They make you think. Toward the end of the 56 short stories, I must admit that the beginnings of the stories all seemed the same, but I suppose that must be forgiven, since some of them at least were originally released as part of a regular magazine publication, and were in need of supplying a slight background for the new reader. Overall, I would characterize the stories as creatively brilliant.

I must admit, I love all things Sherlock Holmes, and it’s surprising to me that I hadn’t read more of the original stories before now. I think I remember reading a short story or two in middle school, but other than that, I had read none of these original works. My husband and I enjoy watching deductive reasoning shows. We watched and enjoyed both recent Sherlock Holmes movies starring Robert Downey Jr. We loved the first two seasons of the BBC series “Sherlock” and are anxiously awaiting the third series. I must admit, as I was reading the book, the actors from this series were who I pictured most, even though we’ve also began watching the newest spin on the Sherlock stories, the CBS series “Elementary” (Also good – I love Watson as a woman).

As usual, however, the old standby of the book being better than the movie still applies. Nothing engages the mind quite like a book, and this one (or ones, as it’s a compilation) is definitely mind-engaging and well worth the read. 5 of 5 stars.

[kanwal_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The all-time-favorite, highly intelligent, socially incapable, and overly smart detective is a brilliant character who can solve any mysterious event / case. These stories not only have lots of information on variouse subjects to offer (e.g. science, chemistry, physics) but are also entertaining. The main characters are: Holmes' friend and colleague Dr. Watson, their landlady Mrs. Hudson, the always lost and confused Inspector Lestrade, and the arch enemy Professor Moriarty.

[carceneaux_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Greatest book ever! The entire collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in chronological order in one volume. What more is there to say. Everyone should read about the greatest detective.

[renz0808 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These stories are such classics. This is the first time I have ever read all of the stories myself. I knew most of the basic details and had seen some of the mini-series but the books are much better. I love trying to solve the case along with Holmes and Watson and I am always amazed by the ability of Holmes to take a minute detail and shape it into a character development. Not only are the mysteries spectacular but the adventures are exciting and the period details descriptions of clothing, modes of transportation and a simple thing like lunch make the book a true classic. It is easy to see why Sherlock Holmes is considered the greatest detective of all time.

[little_girl_blue · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent stories. If you enjoy mystery, then Doyle's Holmes is a must. Be transported back to London in the days of horse and buggy. Superior style and prose, plus masterful characterization, and plots that will have you up reading past your bedtime!

[lycomayflower · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Sign of Four: I'm afraid that this entry in the Holmes canon left me fairly cold, apart from the moments between Watson and Mary Morstan, which were rather nice (if a bit twee), and Holmes's deduction regarding Watson's pocket watch, which is brilliant (and the origin of the scene in Sherlock with John's cell phone, obviously). 26 Jan 2012A Study in Scarlet: The first Sherlock Holmes story, which I was inspired to read by my recent rewatch of the brilliant first series of the BBC show Sherlock. I think I may have read the first part of ASiS before but never finished, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I had, as the story veers off into a flashback which sets up the conclusion of the mystery but takes us away from England, Watson, and Sherlock. Even though I figured out why we were flashing back pretty quick and the flashback works reasonably well, I found it fairly off-putting. It seems an odd move, to set up one's main characters, to lay out the mystery, to have the detective declare the case solved and himself open to questions, and then move into a completely different time, a completely different setting, a completely different cast of characters (at least at first). It rather steals the thing from Sherlock, too. I'm conscious of this being an after-the-fact, not-entirely-fair-to-the-story-itself complaint; because I know who Sherlock Holmes is, because I've seen film versions, because he's entered the public consciousness, and particularly because I've come to the story directly from a retelling I really liked, I'm waiting to see magic--and I don't want to spend twenty-five of seventy pages of the story without Sherlock on the page. But even acknowledging that, I still wonder what Doyle's thinking was here.But ASiS does quite successfully make me want to read more Sherlock stories (I've read shockingly few--The Hound of the Baskervilles for sure at some point in the teenagerish years and a few of the shorter stories, perhaps right after Sherlock first aired here last year). And reading this story so soon after watching the Sherlock episode "A Study in Pink" illustrates how masterfully that show has adapted and updated the original material. I mean, I could tell that just watching it, but obviously actually looking at the original material shines a slightly different light on the thing. There were a few moments where I was tempted to watch the episode again with the book in my lap and make notes. It's that good. I haven't felt like that about an adaptation since The Lord of the Rings. (If you've been paying goodly attention over the years, you know that cleverly-done retellings button-smash the nerd-scholar bits of my brain but hard.) So while I don't think I'll be tearing through all 1122 pages of my copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes immediately, I don't think I'll be putting it back on the shelf just yet either. I may need to dip in again soon. 27 Dec 2011