Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The by Arthur Conan Doyle, Eric Ambler (Introduction); 1892/1995. Hardcover. (Barnes & Noble Classics) (CO)

English literature's first and greatest superhero, Sherlock Holmes still fascinates readers more than 100 years after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the beloved detective.

It is with the publication of the stories which comprise The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes in the Strand magazine (1891-2) that Holmes, his dear Watson, 'that imbecile Lastrade' and others of his Scotland Yard colleagues first gained immense public attention. Although Conan Doyle had already created Holmes in A Study in Scarlet in 1887, it was not until he put aside medicine and revived Holmes in these stories that his literary reputation was made.

The first to appear, A Scandal in Bohemia, is uncharacteristically focused on the cleverness of a woman. In fact, so amazed was Holmes at her ingenuity, that Irene Adler was always to him 'the woman'. In The Boscombe Valley Mystery, a vindictive old man, having already achieved a foolproof crime, cannot resist one fatal flourishing touch which tips the case into a dramatic triumph for Holmes. In fact, Sherlock Holmes is really at his theatrical, omnipotent best in the Adventures.

This edition, part of Barnes and Noble Classics, was published in 1995, and incorporates an introduction by Eric Ambler, first published in a 1974 edition from John Murray in 1974.

The full list of the stories in this volume is as follows:
1. A Scandal In Bohemia
2. The Red-Headed League
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 Beaches