A collection of short stories originally published in 1891-2 in the Strand Magazine. Easy to read, once you get accustomed to all the funny Victorian language. Lessons learned:
-
Be careful about
accepting jobs that seem too good to be true ("The Red-Headed League",
"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", "The Adventure of the Engineer's
Thumb");
-
It's best to be wary if you're in line for an inheritance
("The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "Copper
Beeches", again);
-
Getting married is problematic ("The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor",
"A Case of Identity", "A Scandal in Bohemia");
-
If Scotland Yard detectives have settled on a suspect, it's somebody
else ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery", "The Adventure of the Blue
Carbuncle", "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet");
-
Despite Victorian England having a straitlaced reputation,
they were pretty much OK with now-illicit drugs. ("The Man with the Twisted
Lip", although Holmes himself stays off the coke here);
-
Do not mess with Irene Adler ("A Scandal in Bohemia") or the Klan ("The
Five Orange Pips").