12 Famous Sherlock Holmes Quotes

Within the first few pages of his 1887 novel A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle establishes not only the eccentric and brilliant nature of his hero Holmes, but also the great detective's essential partnership with Watson, and his atmospheric vision of Victorian London.

It is 1888 and Holmes, with no case to occupy him, resorts to cocaine, but a puzzle for Holmes to solve appears with the arrival of Mary Morstan, the daughter of a former Indian Army officer who vanished in London 10 years earlier.

The first of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories to be published in The Strand Magazine, A Scandal in Bohemia is the tale that introduces the beautiful Irene Adler, known also as 'the woman'.

Set on a frosty morning two days after Christmas, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle finds Holmes and Watson inspecting an old hat, along with a fine plucked goose. It is these clues which lead Holmes on the hunt for a jewel thief (a carbuncle is actually a type of jewel).

It is the loss of a hydraulic engineer's thumb that leads Holmes on a trail to unearth coin counterfeiters. However, in a rare instance in the Holmes canon, the perpetrators escape and suffer no retribution for their crimes.  

In this story, a bride named Hatty Doran flees from her own wedding reception seemingly without reason. In classic Holmes style, he manages to solve the case almost immediately, while Detective Lestrade becomes increasingly confused.

Set in 1890, Sherlock and Watson are visited one day by a young woman named Violet Hunter, who thinks she may be being forced to impersonate someone.

This case is unusual both in that no crime has been committed, and that it is one of only a handful where Holmes' deductions are proved wrong. 

This story is a particular favourite of Conan Doyle himself. Holmes delves into the world of international espionage when he is tasked with the return of a vital naval treaty.

 Of all the Holmes tales none caused as much of a stir as this story. Most significantly, it tells of Holmes's untimely death, but it also features the infamous villain Professor Moriarty - the most brilliant of all criminal masterminds.

The Adventure of the Illustrious Client is a thrilling story that blends high-society glamour with the grit of London's criminal underworld and makes up one of the twelve short stories featured in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.

The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place is the last of Conan Doyle's 56 Sherlock Holmes stories, published three years before Conan Doyle died at the age of 71.