“What are Arthur Conan Doyle’s Best Books?” We looked at all of Conan Doyle’s authored bibliography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the books written by Arthur Conan Doyle and looked at his Goodreads, Amazon, and LibraryThing scores, ranking them against one another to see which books came out on top. The books are ranked in our list below based on which titles have the highest overall score between all 3 review sites in comparison with all of the other books by the same author. The process isn’t super scientific and in reality, most books aren’t “better” than other books as much as they are just different. That being said, we do enjoy seeing where our favorites landed, and if you aren’t familiar with the author at all, the rankings can help you see what books might be best to start with.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

The Top Book’s Of Arthur Conan Doyle

50 ) The Poems of Arthur Conan Doyle: Collected Edition

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 48
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 45

49 ) Our African Winter

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 45
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 45

Like many of his contemporaries, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle traveled extensively. This eloquent travelogue recreates in amusing detail the difficulties ordinary tourists encountered while travelling abroad, while at the same time giving a lucid picture of colonial life at the early part of the 20th century.

48 ) The Case for Spirit Photography

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 41
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 45

47 ) Songs of the Road

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 48
• Amazon: 35
• LibraryThing: 45

45 ) The Last Galley

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 42
• LibraryThing: 43

I have written “Impressions and Tales” upon the title-page of this volume, because I have included within the same cover two styles of work which present an essential difference. The second half of the collection consists of eight stories, which explain themselves. The first half is made up of a series of pictures of the past which maybe regarded as trial flights towards a larger ideal which I have long had in my mind. It has seemed to me that there is a region between actual story and actual history which has never been adequately exploited.

45 ) The Land of Mist

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 42
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 44

This is the third and last novel in the “Professor Challenger” series, and is a marked departure from the previous tales. In this novel Challenger becomes a Spiritualist, and the novel strongly promotes the concept of Spiritualism. A belief strongly adopted by the author towards the end of his life. This novel was first published in a serial form in “The Strand” magazine July 1925-May 1928.

44 ) A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 40
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 37

43 ) Three of Them

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 47
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 23

But it took the queerest shape – like many of his vagaries – for his ways were original. It be gan by sticking remarks of his own into his prayers, which were by no means of a humble or prayerful character. Thus he said, addressing his Maker, Please make me a good boy – which I am! At the dictation of his mother he said, Please teach me self-control to others, and added, please also teach others self-control to me. Finally he showed how much he needed this self-control by completely losing his temper, and charging in tears and fury, with clenched teeth and raging fists, at Laddie, who looked with gentle contempt at the furious figure, and re marked icily, Do blow your nose! Which brought the charge to an ignominious halt. That was a touch of Laddie’s knightly spirit, as cool, proud, and reserved before menace as he was soft and yielding to love.

42 ) Songs of Action

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 45

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (1859-1930) was a Scottish author. He is most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction. His first significant work was A Study in Scarlet, which appeared in Beeton’s Christmas Annual for 1887 and featured the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes, who was partially modelled after his former university professor, Joseph Bell. Other works include The Firm of Girdlestone (1890), The Captain of the Polestar (1890), The Doings of Raffles Haw (1892), Beyond the City (1892), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896), The Great Boer War (1900), The Green Flag (1900), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and The Lost World (1912).

41 ) The Guards Came Through, and Other Poems

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 46
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 37

40 ) The Gully of Bluemansdyke

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 37
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 45

39 ) The Poison Belt

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 33
• Amazon: 37
• LibraryThing: 33

The poison belt The disintegration machine When the world screamed

38 ) The Coming of the Fairies

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 35
• LibraryThing: 32

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes but also a devout spiritualist, was entirely convinced by a set of photographs seemingly showing two young girls playing with a group of tiny, translucent fairies.

37 ) The Edge of the Unknown

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 43
• Amazon: 27
• LibraryThing: 29

A small, solid iron tank was filled with water. A man was placed inside, water completely covering him. Over this an iron lid with three hasps & staples was securely locked. The body was submerged & a clock began ticking off the seconds. In less than a minute & a half, the entombed man was standing calmly outside the tank, still dripping the locks had not been touched, the lid was still secure. Once again, the great Harry Houdini had confounded scientists & his audience by escaping sure death! How was it possible to survive this? His friend, Arthur Conan Doyle, thought the answer might lie in spiritualism. The Edge of the Unknown presents the evidence. Houdini’s powers comprised only one area on which Doyle focused attention. Here he details all he uncovered in decades of psychic investigation. Because he was convinced for that psychic occurrences could be explained by natural laws, he began a skeptic.

36 ) The Wanderings of a Spiritualist

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 35
• Amazon: 27
• LibraryThing: 34

35 ) The Mystery of Cloomber

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 27
• Amazon: 32
• LibraryThing: 36

Master of detective fiction, Arthur Conan Doyle here reveals his deep fascination with spiritualism and the paranormal. To his fellow residents on the remote western coast of Scotland, Major Heatherstone’s behavior seems far from orthodox. Spurning all attempts at friendship, he instead becomes a recluse in Cloomber Hall, forbidding his children even to leave their home. Yet unbeknownst to him, they strike up a friendship with the neighboring Hunter Wests, who slowly begin to learn the cause of the Major’s paranoia and his fear of the fifth of October.

34 ) The Stark Munro Letters

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 19
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 35

This book an EXACT reproduction of the original book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR’d book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

33 ) Danger! and Other Stories

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 36
• Amazon: 27
• LibraryThing: 23

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world’s literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

32 ) Uncle Bernac

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 9

Looking for a replacement to Sherlock Holmes after the author had killed him off in 1894, Doyle wrote this murder mystery in the dying years of the 19th century. Set in Napoleon’s era, it involves a Frenchman returning to his native land to join the Emperor’s ranks.

31 ) The New Revelation

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 38
• Amazon: 3
• LibraryThing: 42

he (dis)connection between psychological (or scientific) and psychic mind is a subject that has baffled man for centuries. The phenomenon captured in a very particular way the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a man in whom the analytic and artistic struggled for dominance, and inspired The New Revelation, originally published in 1918. The treatise deals not only with the issue of physical versus metaphysical, but also considers the problem of death (and afterlife) and the question of communication with the spirit world. Conan Doyle’s captivating prose and pragmatic, yet human, voice makes for an enlightening exploration of some eternally relevant questions-and possible answers. Scottish surgeon and political activist SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930) turned his passions into stories and novels, producing fiction and nonfiction works sometimes controversial (The Great Boer War, 1900), sometimes fanciful (The Coming of the Fairies, 1922), and sometimes legendary (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892).

30 ) The Parasite

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 25
• Amazon: 27
• LibraryThing: 30

The skeptical Gilroy’s fiancEe, Agatha, is put into a trance to prove Miss Penclosa’s powers. This succeeds and Gilroy begins to go to the Professor’s house where Miss Penclosa practices her powers on him. Let me try to reason it out. This woman, by her own explanation, can dominate my nervous organism. She can project herself into my body and take command of it. She has a parasite soul; yes, she is a parasite, a monstrous parasite. She creeps into my frame as the hermit crab does into the whelk’s shell. I am powerless! What can I do? I am dealing with forces of which I know nothing. And I can tell no one of my trouble. They would set me down as a madman. Certainly, if it got noised abroad, the university would say that they had no need of a devil-ridden professor. And Agatha! No, no, I must face it alone.

29 ) Rodney Stone

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 23
• Amazon: 20
• LibraryThing: 37

28 ) The Green Flag and Other Stories of War and Sport

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 31
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 9

27 ) The Firm of Girdlestone

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 17
• Amazon: 16
• LibraryThing: 37

25 ) Round the Red Lamp: Being Facts and Fancies of Medical Life

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 48
• Amazon: 18
• LibraryThing: 3

Fifteen short stories, most of which emphasize the graver side of life. The red lamp is the usual sign of the general practitioner in England. Many of these tales have medical interest. The separate titles are: Behind The Times. His First Operation. A Straggler Of ’15. The Third Generation. A False Start. The Curse Of Eve. Sweethearts. A Physiologist’s Wife. The Case Of Lady Sannox. A Question Of Diplomacy. … and many more ..

25 ) The Tragedy of the Korosko

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 29
• Amazon: 18
• LibraryThing: 22

Written in 1898, Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tale of high adventure portrays an alarmist era of imperial sovereignty, invasive foreign policy, and religious extremism, positing the naivety of a group of Anglo-American holiday-makers against the unbending convictions of Middle Eastern banditti. Among others, a young American ingenue, her matronly aunt, a fusty old bachelor, a loving Irish couple, and an opinionated French graduate gather aboard the Korosko. But during a morning tour of the desert, they are taken hostage by a group whose intention it is either to convert them to Islam or to kill them. Conan Doyle brings his mastery of thrills and suspense to bear on this extraordinary tale of East meets West. Scottish-born writer and novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best remembered as the creator of the immortal detective Sherlock Holmes.

24 ) The White Company

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 15
• Amazon: 27
• LibraryThing: 26

Now order the ranks, and fling wide the banners, for our souls are God’s and our bodies the king’s, and our swords for Saint George and for England!” With that rousing proclamation, twelve hundred knights ride into battle, accompanied by the stalwart archers known as the White Company. Fueled by their appetite for glory, this motley crew of freebooters stands united in their unswerving devotion to the company commander, Sir Nigel Loring. Short, bald, and extremely nearsighted, Sir Nigel’s unprepossessing appearance belies his warrior’s heart and his chivalrous nature. The rollicking adventures of his company during the Hundred Years War center around Sir Nigel’s loyal squire, Alleyne Edricson. Raised in the sheltered confines of a monastery, young Alleyne comes of age amid the rough-and-tumble of armed conflict and the bewildering ways of courtly love. Best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was also a passionate historian. The White Company was his favorite among his own works; here, he offers flavorful, realistic depictions of life during the 14th century — from its weapons and apparel to its religious practice, and the close connection between the cycles of human existence, and the rhythm of the seasons. Readers of all ages will thrill to this spirited tale and its evocative portrait of the Middle Ages.

23 ) The Great Shadow

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 21
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 1

How he put his fist through the oak-panel of the game-room door; how, when Long Merridew was carrying the ball, he caught up Merridew, ball and all, and ran swiftly past every opponent to the goal. It did not seem fit to us that such a one as he should trouble his head about spondees and dactyls, or care to know who signed Magna Charta.

21 ) Micah Clarke

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 3

21 ) The Captain of the Polestar and Other Tales

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 29
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 13

20 ) Round the Fire Stories

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 12
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 18

Originally published in 1908 and out of print for more than half a century, this collection of stories, complete with a Preface by the author, presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at his finest. These are seventeen tales of suspense and adventure, of the mysterious and the fantastic, meant to be read “round the fire” upon a winter’s night. Murder, madness, ghosts, unsolved crimes, diabolical traps, and inexplicable disappearances abound in these exciting accounts narrated by doctors, lawyers, genetlemen, teachers, burglars, dilettantes, and convicted criminals. The titles are inviting “The Pot of Caviare,” “The Clubfooted Grocer,” “The Brazilian Cat,” “The Sealed Room,” and “There Fiend of the Coopergate” and the stories are riveting.

19 ) The Maracot Deep

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 28
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 28

This was one of the works of fiction published during Doyle’s life. The story features Professor Maracot who leads an expedition to the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, discovering a lost race of Atlanteans.

18 ) The Adventures of Gerard

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 17
• Amazon: 20
• LibraryThing: 20

The Adventures of Gerard is a compilation of short stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote regarding a French Brigadier named Etienne Gerard who thinks very highly of himself as can be reflected in how he told his stories. The book is divided into chapters containing different segments of his life as a soldier under the leadership of Napoleon together with his personal exploits and the romance that swept his way in between. Typical of war stories, some depicts bloody encounters with his enemies and how he was able to escape those encounters. However, there were soft moments particularly his encounter with women along the way even if she is from their enemy.

17 ) The History of Spiritualism

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 2
• LibraryThing: 37

Arthur Conan Doyle’s very well received story of Modern Spiritualism, acting as a spokesman for the cause. One of Doyle’s last literary efforts, this work traces the history of spiritualism through the early 20th century, and includes profiles of such prominent spiritualists as Emmanuel Swedenborg, Edward Irving, D. D. Home, Sir William Crookes, and Eusapia Palladino. Best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) dedicated himself to the cause of spiritualism in later life. His passion for the paranormal led Doyle to such excesses as the ill-advised endorsement of Elsie Wright’s and Frances Griffith’s clumsily faked photographs of the “Cottingley fairies” in 1922.

16 ) The Vital Message

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 43
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 9

In “The New Revelation” the first dawn of the coming change has been described. In “The Vital Message” the sun has risen higher, and one sees more clearly and broadly what our new relations with the Unseen may be. As I look into the future of the human race I am reminded of how once, from amid the bleak chaos of rock and snow at the head of an Alpine pass, I looked down upon the far stretching view of Lombardy, shimmering in the sunshine and extending in one splendid panorama of blue lakes and green rolling hills until it melted into the golden haze which draped the far horizon. Such a promised land is at our very feet which, when we attain it, will make our present civilisation seem barren and uncouth. Already our vanguard is well over the pass. Nothing can now prevent us from reaching that wonderful land which stretches so clearly before those eyes which are opened to see it.

15 ) Mysteries and Adventures

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 1
• Amazon: 42
• LibraryThing: 9

14 ) Sir Nigel

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 14
• Amazon: 6
• LibraryThing: 31

Sir Nigel is a historical novel set during the Hundred Years’ War, by the British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Written in 1906, it is a fore-runner to Doyle’s earlier novel The White Company, and describes the early life of that book’s hero Sir Nigel Loring in the service of King Edward III at the start of the Hundred Years’ War.

13 ) The Refugees

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 25
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 19

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts – the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

12 ) The Lost World

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 13
• Amazon: 6
• LibraryThing: 26

It’s London, 1907. Journalist Edward Malone, rejected by the woman he loves because he is too prosaic, decides to go in search of adventure and fame to prove himself worthy of her. Soon after, he meets Professor George Challenger, a scientist who claims to have discovered a ‘lost world’ populated by pterodactyls and other prehistoric monsters.

11 ) The Doings of Raffles Haw

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 20
• LibraryThing: 2

Arthur Conan Doyle, best known as the author of Sherlock Holmes, brings us the mysterious Raffles Haw. Robert McIntyre and his sister Laura have fallen on hard times. Their father has been driven into bankruptcy and near madness and alcoholism by commercial reverses and the death of his wife. The family has retreated to a house in the country, living on a small bequest from other relatives. Changes come with the arrival of Raffles Haw, a new neighbor both exceedingly rich and exceedingly eccentric. His generosity is unquestioned. His motives are another matter. Is Raffles Haw the solution to their problems, or another source of them? Robert and Laura will find out.

10 ) His Last Bow

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 5
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 15

We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ Sherlock Holmes’s fearless chronicler Dr Watson once again opens his notebooks to bring to light eight further tales of some of the strangest and most fascinating cases to come before the enquiring mind of London’s most famous detective. These mysteries involve the disappearance of secret plans as well as of a lady of noble standing; the curious circumstances of Wisteria Lodge and of the Devil’s Foot; as well as the story His Last Bow, the last outing of Holmes and Watson on the eve of the First World War.

8 ) The Sign of the Four

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 11
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 21

You are a wronged woman and shall have justice. Do not bring police. If you do, all will be in vain. Your unknown friend.’ When a beautiful young woman is sent a letter inviting her to a sinister assignation, she immediately seeks the advice of the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. For this is not the first mysterious item Mary Marston has received in the post. Every year for the last six years an anonymous benefactor has sent her a large lustrous pearl. Now it appears the sender of the pearls would like to meet her to right a wrong. But when Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick Watson, aiding Miss Marston, attend the assignation, they embark on a dark and mysterious adventure involving a one-legged ruffian, some hidden treasure, deadly poison darts and a thrilling race along the River Thames.

8 ) The Valley of Fear

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 9
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 23

There should be no combination of events for which the wit of man cannot conceive an explanation.’ In this tale drawn from the note books of Dr Watson, the deadly hand of Professor Moriarty once more reaches out to commit a vile and ingenious crime. However, a mole in Moriarty’s frightening criminal organization alerts Sherlock Holmes of the evil deed by means of a cipher. When Holmes and Watson arrive at a Sussex manor house they appear to be too late. The discovery of a body suggests that Moriarty’s henchmen have been at their work. But there is much more to this tale of murder than at first meets the eye and Sherlock Holmes is determined to get to the bottom of it.

6 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 8
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 16

Could the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville have been caused by the gigantic ghostly hound that is said to have haunted his family for generations? Arch-rationalist Sherlock Holmes characteristically dismisses the theory as nonsense. And immersed in another case, he sends Watson to Devon to protect the Baskerville heir and observe the suspects close at hand. With its atmospheric setting on the ancient, wild moorland and its savage apparition, The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of the greatest crime novels ever written. Rationalism is pitted against the supernatural, good against evil, as Sherlock Holmes seeks to defeat a foe almost his equal.

6 ) A Study in Scarlet

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 7
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 17

There’s a scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.’ From the moment Dr John Watson takes lodgings in Baker Street with the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, he becomes intimately acquainted with the bloody violence and frightening ingenuity of the criminal mind. In A Study in Scarlet , Holmes and Watson’s first mystery, the pair are summoned to a south London house where they find a dead man whose contorted face is a twisted mask of horror. The body is unmarked by violence but on the wall a mysterious word has been written in blood. The police are baffled by the crime and its circumstances. But when Sherlock Holmes applies his brilliantly logical mind to the problem he uncovers a tragic tale of love and deadly revenge . . .

5 ) The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 6
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 14

When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ In this, the final collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures, the intrepid detective and his faithful companion Dr Watson examine and solve twelve cases that puzzle clients, baffle the police and provide readers with the thrill of the chase. These mysteries – involving an illustrious client and a Sussex vampire; the problems of Thor Bridge and of the Lions Mane; a creeping man and the three-gabled house – all test the bravery of Dr Watson and the brilliant mind of Mr Sherlock Homes, the greatest detective we have ever known.

4 ) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 4
• Amazon: 16
• LibraryThing: 6

It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ Sherlock Holmes, scourge of criminals everywhere, whether they be lurking in London’s foggy backstreets or plotting behind the walls of an idyllic country mansion, and his faithful colleague Dr Watson solve twelve breathtaking and perplexing mysteries. In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the first collection of the great consulting detective’s cases, we encounter some of his most famous and devilishly difficult problems, including A Scandal in Bohemia, The Speckled Band, The Red-Headed League, The Blue Carbuncle, The Five Orange Pips and The Man with the Twisted Lip.

3 ) The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 9
• Amazon: 6
• LibraryThing: 8

Having killed off Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle began a new series of tales on a very different theme. Brigadier Gerard is an officer in Napoleon’s army—recklessly brave, engagingly openhearted, and unshakable, if not a little absurd, in his devotion to the enigmatic Emperor. The Brigadier’s wonderful comic adventures, long established in the affections of Conan Doyle’s admirers as second only to those of the incomparable Holmes, are sure to find new devotees among the ardent fans of such writers as Patrick O’Brian and George MacDonald Fraser.

2 ) The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 3
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 6

Holmes,’ I cried. ‘Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?’ Missing, presumed dead, for three years, Sherlock Holmes returns triumphantly to his dear companion Dr Watson. And not before time! London has never been in more need of his extraordinary services: a murderous individual with an air gun stalks the city. Among thirteen further brilliant tales of mystery, detection and deduction, Sherlock Holmes investigates the problem of the Norwood Builder, deciphers the message of the Dancing Men, and cracks the case of the Six Napoleons.

1 ) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 2
• Amazon: 6
• LibraryThing: 5

If I were assured of your eventual destruction I would, in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept my own.’ In The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, the consulting detective’s notoriety as the arch-despoiler of the schemes concocted by the criminal underworld at last gets the better of him. Though Holmes and his faithful sidekick Dr Watson solve what will become some of their most bizarre and extraordinary cases – the disappearance of the race horse Silver Blaze, the horrific circumstances of the Greek Interpreter and the curious mystery of the Musgrave Ritual among them – a criminal mastermind is plotting the downfall of the great detective. Half-devil, half-genius, Professor Moriarty leads Holmes and Watson on a grisly cat-and-mouse chase through London and across Europe, culminating in a frightful struggle which will turn the legendary Reichenbach Falls into a water double-grave . . .

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Best Books

Arthur Conan Doyle Review Website Bibliography Rankings