Detective Stories Anthology

The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Volume 4 is the fourth in a series featuring the finest short story mystery fiction by the most acclaimed writers, past and present. From Lawrence Block, Sara Paretsky, Georges Simenon, Edward D. Hoch and everyone in between, this unique collection, edited by multi-award-winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler, is a delightful mixture of mystery and suspense.

Watson visits Sherlock Holmes at Christmastime and finds him contemplating a battered old hat, brought to him by the commissionaire Peterson after it and a Christmas goose had been dropped by a man in a scuffle with some street ruffians. Peterson takes the goose home to eat it, but comes back later with a precious carbuncle that his wife found in the bird's crop.

This is a story from the The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes I collection.

A tale of mystery, scandal and murder that may have been committed by the Ku Klux Klan in London. A young Sussex gentleman named John Openshaw has a strange story: in 1869 his uncle Elias Openshaw had suddenly come back to England to settle on an estate at Horsham, West Sussex, after living for years in the United States as a Planter in Florida and serving as a Colonel in the Confederate Army....

Holmes and Watson push the limits of the law when they confront the machinations of a blackmailer whose victims either pay dearly or suffer life-destroying humiliation. Holmes is hired by the débutante Lady Eva Blackwell to retrieve compromising letters from a blackmail artist named Charles Augustus Milverton, a man who causes Holmes more revulsion than any of the 50-odd murderers in his career.

This is a story from the The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes I collection.

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are visited by a young lady of 30 with a face like a hunted animal. Fear, it seems, causes her to constantly shiver. But her horror lies in the fact that her fears are so vague. Two years ago, in the small hours of the morning, a low whistle was heard in their ancestral home. It was then that her sister suddenly died. Now she lives in the same room her sister vacated, and last night, the whistle sounded again…

"Gentlemen, I am here to represent the interest of Henry Bank & Trust. We would like to resolve the situation quickly and quietly, so that all the investors can move forward with a minimum of anxiety. Holmes sat across from her, studying her with a nonplussed air. "I must admit; he said, that I do not know how to assist you. Inspector Lestrade was here earlier, and it appears that you are missing nothing and they have no thieves in custody. When the bank emptied today, everything was in place, except for the criminals."

Flagged down by Inspector LaStrade of Scotland Yard as they walk through the icy winter streets, Holmes and Watson are transported to the home of the aristocratic Lady Whitebread. Once there, she tells them her traditional holiday centerpiece has vanished in the midst of the Christmas dinner - right under the very noses of her guests. The decoration? An enormous work of the jeweler's art centered upon a three inch round emerald called...the Christmas Jewel.

This is a story from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes IV collection. Four more stories from the master detective. The mystery of the missing suitor is solved and Sherlock Holmes raises his whip: an Indian pot stands in the shadows of a Colonel's death; serious affairs of state and international diplomacy are threatened by a theft; and surely evil intent lies behind threats in a hidden house. The cool observations and swift action of Mr. Sherlock Holmes resolves all.

An office filled with red-headed clerks is suddenly closed, and Holmes is asked to investigate a most unusual series of events.

Dr. Watson faints for the first and last time of his life when the believed-to-be-dead Holmes appears in the middle of an investigation of a crime. We find out about what really happened in the fight to the death with the evil Moriarty.

This is a story from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes IV collection. Four more stories from the master detective. The mystery of the missing suitor is solved and Sherlock Holmes raises his whip: an Indian pot stands in the shadows of a Colonel's death; serious affairs of state and international diplomacy are threatened by a theft; and surely evil intent lies behind threats in a hidden house. The cool observations and swift action of Mr. Sherlock Holmes resolves all.

In "The Red-Headed League", the legendary Sherlock Holmes catches one of London's most daring criminals while investigating the strange business of the League, a suspicious organization that gives its members money for "nominal work".

Three compelling Sherlock Holmes Mysteries in one book narrated by Mark Deakins. Set in the late 19th century, no fictional character is more renowned for his powers of thought and observation than Sherlock Holmes.

A young man comes to Holmes for help, fearing that the unknown forces that have brought the deaths of his uncle and father will soon visit death upon himself as well.

"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the second of the 12 Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in most British editions of the canon and second of the eight stories from His Last Bow in most American versions.

"A Scandal in Bohemia" was the first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories to be published in The Strand magazine. Doyle ranked "A Scandal in Bohemia" fifth in his list of 12 favorite Holmes stories. It was first published on June 25, 1891, and was later the first of the stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1892.

Sherlock Holmes finds himself in a famous university town (probably either Oxford or Cambridge). A locked room that contains a university exam has apparently been broken into. The college and the whole university could wind up under a cloud if the cheater is not found and dealt with quickly, and Holmes is called in. With very few clues remaining, can he find the cheaters?

The butler of Reginald Musgrave, one of Holmes' former schoolmates, has disappeared, and the local police can't solve the case. Holmes travels to the Musgrave estate and once there not only discovers the butler, but also finds out about the origin of the centuries-old Musgrave Ritual.