The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Collins Classics

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 25, 1859 in Edinburgh Scotland, the son of Irish Catholics. At the age of 9 he was sent to a Jesuit boarding school in England, where he found a penchant and liking for telling stories. After graduation he attended medical school. While in medical school he met authors James Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson. He received his degree in 1880 and his medical career involved stints in private practice, ship's surgeon on a ship voyaging to the Arctic Circle, a combat surgeon during the Boer's Wars, and one private practice where he ended up not seeing any patients. While he continued writing during this time it was 1887 before he published his first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, which appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual. The character was heavily influenced by his favorite professor from medical school who was a master at observation, logic, deduction, and diagnosis. The great success of Sherlock Holmes led to a dichotomy for the author in which his detective stories became great commercial successes while the novels he loved to write did not have the same commercial success. He also was more well-known initially in America than he was in his home country. The Sign of Four, his most ambitious Sherlock novel to date led him to acquire a representative which resulted in a deal with Strand Magazine to publish his stories on a regular basis. In 1891, after a severe case of influenza, he decided to write full time and he discontinued his medical practice. The Final Problem, published in December 1893, had been Doyle's effort to rid himself of the task of writing about his most famous character and Holmes, along with his nemesis Moriarty, plunged to their deaths at The Reichenbach Falls. Doyle wasn't able to completely escape from writing additional Holme's stories after this, but he did eventually find the time to create another larger than life character, Professor George Edward Challenger. The Lost World, published in 1912, brought this character to life and met with great commercial success as well. The boy's story-there was no sci-fi genre at the time-spawned three more novels as well as similar stories in what became known as the Lost World genre where dinosaurs, lost tribes, and lost lands became the setting for many adventures. Books, movies and TV shows for the next 100 years used this as fertile ground for creating exciting stories and wonderful adventures.

Venture back in time to Victorian London to join literature's greatest detective team the brilliant Sherlock Holmes and his devoted assistant, Dr. Watson as they investigate a dozen of their best-known cases. Originally published in 1892, this is the first and best collection of stories about the legendary sleuth. It's also the least expensive edition available.Featured tales include several of the author's personal favorites: "A Scandal in Bohemia" in which a king is blackmailed by a former lover and Holmes matches wits with the only woman to attract his open admiration plus "The Speckled Band," "The Red-Headed League," and "The Five Orange Pips." Additional mysteries include "The Blue Carbuncle," "The Engineer s Thumb," "The Beryl Coronet," "The Copper Beeches," and four others.Dover (2009) unabridged republication of the edition published by Harper, New York and London, 1892."

A Scandal in Bohemia The Red-headed League A Case of Identity The Boscombe Valley Mystery The Five Orange Pips The Man with the Twisted Lip The Blue Carbuncle The Speckled Band The Engineer's Thumb The Noble Bachelor The Beryl Coronet The Copper Beeches

First volume in the Alma Junior Sherlock Holmes series

* First Rate The Times Educational Supplement * It is especially appropriate that the man who played Sherlock Holmes' chronicler in the popular series narrates these tales on audio. Hardwicke's reading is subdued, but clear and precise. The Strand Magazine * You should listen to these wonderfully atmospheric pieces...Edward Hardwicke has the perfect voice for this: resonant, old-fashioned, precise - everyone's idea of a Victorian gent. The Guardian