The story is set in 1888. The Sign of the Four has a complex plot involving service in East India Company, India, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a stolen treasure, and a secret pact among four convicts ("the Four" of the title) and two corrupt prison guards. It presents the detective's drug habit and humanizes him in a way that had not been done in the preceding novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887). It also introduces Doctor Watson's future wife, Mary Morstan. Each RADLEY CLASSIC is a meticulously restored, luxurious and faithful reproduction of a classic book; produced with elegant text layout,...

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. It was first published on 14 October 1892; the individual stories had been serialised in The Strand Magazine between June 1891 and July 1892. The stories are not in chronological order, and the only characters common to all twelve are Holmes and Dr. Watson. The stories are related in first-person narrative from Watson's point of view. Each RADLEY CLASSIC is a meticulously restored, luxurious and faithful reproduction of a classic book; produced...

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the crime novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin. Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case. This was the first appearance of Holmes since his apparent death in "The Final Problem," and the success of The Hound of the...

The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1891, Conan Doyle was completely exasperated by the seemingly endless appetite of readers who welcomed each new Sherlock Holmes story with the greatest delight. He wrote to his mother confessing that he was "thinking of slaying Holmes... He takes my mind from better things." His mother's famous reply, "You won't, you can't, you mustn't " only echoed the voice of his readers. However, in 1893, Conan Doyle did the unthinkable; he finished off Holmes in...

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The novel starts with Sherlock Holmes receiving a cipher message from Fred Porlock (pseudonym), an agent of Professor Moriarty. After Porlock sends the message, however, he changes his mind for fear of Moriarty's discovering that he is a traitor. He decides not to send the key to the cipher, but he sends Holmes a note telling of this...

The Valley of Fear Summary The Valley of Fear begins with Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, and Dr. Watson, his fellow lodger of 221 b Baker Street, in mid-conversation. Holmes is puzzling over an encrypted message, which he has received from Porlock, an associate of Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty. A second message from Porlock, which was supposed to contain the key to the coded message, soon arrives, stating that he (Porlock) is afraid of Moriarty's wrath and will not reveal the purpose of his correspondence. Holmes soon deciphers the message regardless, and discovers that it warns...

For reasons that are unclear, Nicholas Craigie, Captain of the Pole-Star, decides to anchor in the middle of the arctic ocean, contrary to the opinion of his crew. Indeed, the boat could be trapped in the ice at any moment, resulting in a sudden death for everyone. Days pass... One morning Mr. Manson, the second mate, reports he saw a ghost at night. His story is not taken seriously, and is put on account of idleness. But a few days later, sailor Milne also reports he has seen an apparition around the boat. The whole crew is convinced that something uncanny is flitting around them. The...

CHAPTER I. THE NEW-COMERS. "If you please, mum," said the voice of a domestic from somewhere round the angle of the door, "number three is moving in." Two little old ladies, who were sitting at either side of a table, sprang to their feet with ejaculations of interest, and rushed to the window of the sitting-room. "Take care, Monica dear," said one, shrouding herself in the lace curtain; "don't let them see us. "No, no, Bertha. We must not give them reason to say that their neighbors are inquisitive. But I think that we are safe if we stand like this." The open window looked out upon a...

Tales of Terror and Mystery is a volume of non-Sherlock Holmes stories by the masterful creator of the inimitable detective. "The Horror of the Heights" A few abandoned items, which include a pair of broken binoculars and a notebook, are found by a farmhand. The notebook has some macabre commentary, but is incomplete because it is missing the first few pages. It has been studied and it appears to have remnants of blood. "The Leather Funnel" A story in which dreams are effected by objects that retell the purpose they served. In this tale of terror, a leather funnel tells the tale of a horrbile...

Stories The stories were originally published in the Strand Magazine between December 1894 and September 1903. They were later issued in two volumes: The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard in February 1896 and The Adventures of Gerard in September 1903. Some of the titles were changed on re-publication. The last story, "The Marriage of the Brigadier," was published in September 1910. All the stories were published in The Complete Brigadier Gerard in 1995, which includes the story "A Foreign Office Romance" (1894) - a precursor to the stories, but not actually featuring Gerard. PREFACE I hope that...