The Arthur Conan Doyle Stories of Sherlock Holmes
The numbers show the order in which the stories were published.
  1. A Study in Scarlet, a novel published in Beeton's Christmas Annual of 1887. From real life events referred to in the story, it seems it was set around 1881. About half the story takes place years before in parts of the United States controlled by Mormans. Read this complete story online.

  2. The Sign of the Four (Later editions of it called it The Sign of Four) was commissioned by Joseph M. Stoddart, of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, at a dinner in London on August 30, 1889 for both his American magazine and a new version he wanted to publish in Britain. The novel length story came out in both the Philadelphia and London magazines in February 1890. The story takes place in 1888 and again much of it is a background story. - Read this complete story online.

The Sign of Four was reprinted several times soon thereafter but the character of Sherlock Holmes really only rose to prominence with the short stories published in The Stand magazine starting in July 1891 with the third story about Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

  1. "A Scandal in Bohemia" (pub: July 1891; set in March 1888) - Read this online.

  2. "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League" (pub: August 1891; set in the autumn of the previous year)

  3. "A Case of Identity"

  4. "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"

  5. "The Five Orange Pips"

  6. "The Man with the Twisted Lip"

  7. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"

  8. "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"

  9. "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb"

  10. "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor"

  11. "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"

  12. "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" (June 1892)

The above stories all had illustrations by Sidney Paget and were later collected together as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

There is a break of about half a year from June 1892 to December 1892 when they resumed in The Strand. Many of the next stories also have "The Adventure of" in the title but these were later collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

  1. "Silver Blaze" (December 1892)

  2. "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" (this story is included as part of His Last Bow in lifetime editions of the collection)

  3. "The Adventure of the Yellow Face"

  4. "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk"

  5. "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott" (Holmes's tells Watson of his first case)

  6. "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" (an early case, told by Holmes to Watson from before they met)

  7. "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire"

  8. "The Adventure of the Crooked Man"

  9. "The Adventure of the Resident Patient"

  10. "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter" (Mycroft appears for the first time)

  11. "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty"

  12. "The Final Problem" (Published in December 1893, just before Christmas Watson reports that Sherlock Holmes had died two years before)


For the next ten years Sherlock Holmes was dead as far as the readers knew. The author, who controlled the life and death of the detective assured everyone that Holmes was dead. But then there was a break. Holmes was still dead but there was a novel length story set before and seeming written by Watson, before Holmes died:

  1. The Hound of the Baskerville" (serialised 1901–1902 in The Strand) As with the other novels, a large part of this one is a story in which Holmes and Watson do not appear.

Only in October of 1903 does it turn out that Holmes didn't die and really had only been gone two years instead of 10 and the reading public were able to catch up a little on what he had been doing during the years they thought he was dead:

  1. "The Adventure of the Empty House" (October 1903) (the return of Holmes)

  2. "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder"

  3. "The Adventure of the Dancing Men"

  4. "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist"

  5. "The Adventure of the Priory School"

  6. "The Adventure of Black Peter"

  7. "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"

  8. "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons"

  9. "The Adventure of the Three Students"

  10. "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"

  11. "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter"

  12. "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange"

  13. "The Adventure of the Second Stain" (December 1904)

The above stories were later collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes
  1. "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" (1908)

  2. "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" (pub: 1908 set iin 1895)

  3. "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" (1910, 1897)

  4. The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (pub 1911, set in 1901?)

  5. "The Adventure of the Red Circle" (published in 1911, set in 1902)

  6. "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" (pub: 1913, set in 1890)

Then there is the fourth novel
  1. The Valley of Fear (serialised 1914–1915) - The last novel

And the story which is chronologically last, though stories were written later and set in earlier times.
  1. "His Last Bow" (1917, August 1914(

The following were published in The Strand in the 1920s, all but the first two are still under copyright protection.
  1. The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" (October 1921) (told in third-person)

  2. "The Problem of Thor Bridge" (1922)

  3. "The Adventure of the Creeping Man" (1923)

  4. "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" (1924)

  5. "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs" (1924)

  6. "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" (1924)

  7. "The Adventure of the Three Gables" (1924) set in 1902

  8. "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" (1926) (Holmes narrates, no; Watson)

  9. "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" (1926) (narrated by Holmes; no Watson

  10. "The Adventure of the Retired Colourman" (1926)

  11. "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger" (1927)

  12. "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" (1927 last story published, set in 1902?)


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