Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Reading Order

Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes in 1887 and spent the next forty years trying to escape him. He killed Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls in 1893 and resurrected him a decade later under immense public pressure. The Holmes canon — four novels and 56 short stories — remains some of the most-read fiction in the English language.

The Complete Canon

Novels:

1. A Study in Scarlet (1887) — Holmes and Watson meet; the detective’s debut

2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) — the most famous; technically set before Holmes’s death

4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

Short story collections:

1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) — 12 stories

2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) — 12 stories; includes “The Final Problem” (the Reichenbach Falls)
3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) — 13 stories; Holmes returns after the Great Hiatus
4. His Last Bow (1917) — 8 stories
5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) — 12 stories; Doyle’s final Holmes collection

The complete Sherlock Holmes reading order is on the series page.

Where to Start

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the most accessible entry point — it’s the most famous, the most complete as a standalone novel, and the most atmospheric. Many readers come to Holmes through this novel.

For completists: start with A Study in Scarlet and read in publication order. The early stories in The Adventures (“A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Red-Headed League,” “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”) are Holmes at his most inventive.

The Essential Stories

From the short story collections, these are considered the essential Holmes stories:

• A Scandal in Bohemia — Irene Adler; “the woman”
• The Adventure of the Speckled Band — the classic locked-room mystery
• The Final Problem — Holmes meets Moriarty; the Reichenbach Falls
• The Adventure of the Empty House — Holmes returns
• The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans — espionage; late Doyle at his best
• The Adventure of the Dancing Men — cipher; excellent puzzle

The TV Adaptations

Holmes has been adapted more than any other fictional character.

Sherlock (BBC, 2010–2017) — Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman; modern-day setting. The first two series (each three episodes) are exceptional; Series 3 and 4 less so. “A Scandal in Belgravia” (Series 2) is among the best single episodes of 21st-century television.

Elementary (CBS, 2012–2019) — Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu; Holmes in modern New York with Watson as a woman. Underrated; a genuinely different approach.

Granada Television (1984–1994) — Jeremy Brett as Holmes in period-faithful adaptations. Brett’s interpretation is the most definitive for many purists.

The 2009 and 2011 Guy Ritchie films with Robert Downey Jr. are action-adventure interpretations — fun but not faithful.

Holmes in Chronological Order

The internal timeline of the stories is complex — Doyle was inconsistent about dates and Watson’s marriages. Various scholars have constructed chronologies. For casual reading, publication order is perfectly satisfactory. The internal timeline only matters to dedicated enthusiasts.