The Works of Arthur Conan Doyle (unspecified)
by Arthur Conan Doyle 
The White Company (Collections and Selections — Omnibus 1, plus)
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Doyle's Sherlock Holmes may not be the greatest mysteries ever, but they're certainly among the best know and the most fun. As mysteries, they hold up well a hundred years later - people still enjoy being fooled a little bit. As late Victorian / Edwardian writing, they're superb in offering us a glimpse into the world of England's respectable classes caught with the hands in the cookie jar, or biscuit tin?
My copy was a present from my favorite uncle at age 15. I am 42 now. This is one of the books that just make me go wow and want to read anything in site. Holmes and Watson are one of the best partnerships in literature. In these complete original stories much more of a team than in other media. Yes the mysteries are also logical and fun.
I was disappointed by the selection. I was hoping for some of his 'Challenger' works. It had a reasonable selection of Sherlock Holmes, the historical Romances (i.e., "The White Company"), and a good number of other stories.
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3,986+ Works 169,064 Members
The most famous fictional detective in the world is Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. However, Doyle was, at best, ambivalent about his immensely successful literary creation and, at worst, resentful that his more "serious" fiction was relatively ignored. Born in Edinburgh, Doyle studied medicine from 1876 to 1881 and received his M.D. in show more 1885. He worked as a military physician in South Africa during the Boer War and was knighted in 1902 for his exceptional service. Doyle was drawn to writing at an early age. Although he attempted to enter private practice in Southsea, Portsmouth, in 1882, he soon turned to writing in his spare time; it eventually became his profession. As a Liberal Unionist, Doyle ran, unsuccessfully, for Parliament in 1903. During his later years, Doyle became an avowed spiritualist. Doyle sold his first story, "The Mystery of the Sasassa Valley," to Chambers' Journal in 1879. When Doyle published the novel, A Study in Scarlet in 1887, Sherlock Holmes was introduced to an avid public. Doyle is reputed to have used one of his medical professors, Dr. Joseph Bell, as a model for Holmes's character. Eventually, Doyle wrote three additional Holmes novels and five collections of Holmes short stories. A brilliant, though somewhat eccentric, detective, Holmes employs scientific methods of observation and deduction to solve the mysteries that he investigates. Although an "amateur" private detective, he is frequently called upon by Scotland Yard for assistance. Holmes's assistant, the faithful Dr. Watson, provides a striking contrast to Holmes's brilliant intellect and, in Doyle's day at least, serves as a character with whom the reader can readily identify. Having tired of Holmes's popularity, Doyle even tried to kill the great detective in "The Final Problem" but was forced by an outraged public to resurrect him in 1903. Although Holmes remained Doyle's most popular literary creation, Doyle wrote prolifically in other genres, including historical adventure, science fiction, and supernatural fiction. Despite Doyle's sometimes careless writing, he was a superb storyteller. His great skill as a popular author lay in his technique of involving readers in his highly entertaining adventures. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Arthur Conan Doyle has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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- Canonical title
- The Works of Arthur Conan Doyle (unspecified) (unspecified)
- Alternate titles
- The Works of A. Conan Doyle (unspecified) (unspecified)
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.25)
- Languages
- English
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 13
