Rent: Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (scholastic Classics) (Scholastic Classics)

Here is the fist collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. 'A Scandal in Bohemia', 'The Red-Headed League' and 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' stand out to me. 'The Boscombe Valley Mystery' is also of note, for secondary characters. Most excellent mystery and adventure to be found.

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 01 A Scandal in Bohemia - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 02 The Red-headed League - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 03 A Case of Identity - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 04 The Boscombe Valley Mystery - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 05 The Five Orange Pips - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 06 The Man with the Twisted Lip - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 07 The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 08 The Adventure of the Speckled Band - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 09 The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 10 The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 11 The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet - Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : 12 The Adventure of the Copper Beeches - Arthur Conan Doyle



A woman? Smart as me? Crap.

5 out of 5


Bloodnut scammer bonanza.

4.5 out of 5


Cruel disguise.

3.5 out of 5


Bad blood between aussies turns violent.

4 out of 5


KKK's fruity message of terror leaves them with a really sinking feeling, in the washup.

4 out of 5


Undercover artist's opium den adventures lead to anxious wife.

4.5 out of 5


A bird that does jewellery, not gold, as Holmes puts the frighteners on.

3.5 out of 5


Sneaky snakey stuff.

5 out of 5


Secret commerce leads to deathtrap digit detachment.

4 out of 5


Marriage shenanigans keep Holmes occupied.

3.5 out of 5


Crown mishap.

4 out of 5


A governess has a hairy experience with a bizarre family.

5 out of 5

This book is a mystery book with twelve individual stories. This book was written a while ago and it was not aimed for young children. Because of this, the book is very dry and reading it will take a while. The stories themselves are good, but it is not a book you will just sit down and read all at once. The story's plot lines are quite original and this book includes some of Arthur Conan Doyle's best stories, "The Red-Headed League", "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band". Each story is in the eyes of Holmes' good friend, Dr. John Watson. This makes the book a bit more interesting for the reader. Each story is about 25 pages long. This makes nice breaks for the reader. I liked how this book had each mystery explained to the reader at the end how Holmes figured it all out. By the end of the book, the reader starts to pick out important information used to solve the mystery. I didn't like this book, however, because Arthur Conan Doyle did not give the reader all the information to solve the mystery by yourself. Overall, I would say this is a good book that I would recommend.
~Rebecca

Following are brief reviews of each of the excellent collection of twelve original Sherlock Holmes short stories that Arthur Conan Doyle published in a newspaper serial in the 1890's:

Scandal in Bohemia **** - Fun story. Holmes makes use of his disguises and acting talents to almost reel in a smart and tricky woman, who has acquired means to blackmail the future King of Bohemia.

The Red-Headed League **** - Another Fun story. But the crooks could have gotten away with their plan by simply continuing to operate The Red-Headed League until after they finished their criminal activities.

A Case of Identity **** - A woman is jilted at the altar, and a mystery ensues. Nobody ends up murdered or physically hurt in this story - just a serious case of a broken heart, with money as the motive.

Boscombe Valley Mystery ***** - Top-notch Holmes mystery involving blackmail, murder, secrets, and romance. This story does not seem dated at all; and, if you replaced the carriages with automobiles, could have taken place last week in any small rural town in England or America.

The Five Orange Pips **** - Skullduggery involving an ex-Confederate Colonel, and the KKK. Somewhat spooky, but the motive for the murders is a bit shaky, and the ending a bit loose.

The Man with the Twisted Lip ***** - Holmes disguises himself as an opium smoker to help get to the bottom of the disappearance of an affluent father. The story involves all sorts of unsavory characters and situations - Victorian London's East Side was not so different from the inner city of any large modern Metropolis.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle **** - A short Christmas story of thievery and intrigue, involving a goose and a jewel.

The Adventure of the Speckled Band *** - Good mystery, but not accurate on details... after reading on the Internet how many technical errors this story has, it hard to give it too high a rating. This case involves murders, for the express goal of monetary gain.

The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb **** - One of the shorter adventures and spookier than normal; Holmes solves the mystery and thwarts the criminals' continuing their counterfeiting, but the good-hearted bad guy sidekicks and their murderous leader end up fleeing the scene of the crime before they can be apprehended.

The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor **** - A little too far-fartched, this story does have a lot of interesting situations... one is that there are a lot of Americans in it, and another is that Holmes says that he believes England and America will eventually form a "world-wide country".

The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet **** - Decent story. First time that Holmes seems to use the phrase "when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches ***** - More rural skulduggery. This very believable tale rivals THE ENGINEER'S THUMB for spookiness.

These stories are all now in the public domain; hence the multiple versions distributed by various publishers. These stories are also available from various sources on the Internet.

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.

Dr. Watson, newly married and returned to his medical practice, hasn't seen his old friend Holmes in a while. So, he pops by the old rooms at Baker-street. . .and gets caught up in a series of adventures involving a king in disguise, a priceless blue carbuncle, and the only woman to ever have gotten the best out of old Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

Read this book and get caught up in the so-real-you-can-touch-it world of Holmes and Watson; it's Doyle's best work.