The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

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Dr. John H. Watson, returned from Afghanistan, becomes the roommate and chronicler of Sherlock Holmes, a consulting detective who applies rigorous observation and analytical deduction.
Holmes unravels the linked murders of Enoch J. Drebber and Joseph Stangerson in London—using footprints, a found ring and toxicological tests he identifies the cabman Jefferson Hope as the perpetrator.
Part II supplies the motive: a Utah backstory in which Hope avenges the forced marriage and death of Lucy Ferrier and her father at the hands of Drebber and Stangerson; Hope confesses but dies of an aortic aneurism after capture.

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An engineer hired to mend a hydraulic press is lured into a coining gang’s lair, narrowly escapes being crushed but loses his thumb, and the counterfeit works are later destroyed by fire.
Lord St. Simon’s bride vanishes at her wedding; Holmes shows she eloped with a long‑lost American lover rather than suffer a public scene.
Holmes then clears an accused son by exposing Sir George’s theft of three beryls and recovering them, and rescues Violet Hunter from the sinister household at the Copper Beeches where a girl had been secretly imprisoned.

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Dr. James Mortimer brings Sherlock Holmes the Baskerville legend and the strange, apparently fright‑induced death of Sir Charles; Holmes swiftly extracts key facts from physical evidence and agrees to advise about the heir, Sir Henry.
Dr. Watson, sent to Dartmoor to protect Sir Henry, reports local findings—the Barrymores secretly shelter an escaped convict, a threatening anonymous letter and missing boots, and the Stapletons are suspicious neighbours.
Holmes, operating covertly, proves that Stapleton (possessionally posing as a naturalist) engineered a luminous, chemically treated mastiff to terrorize heirs; the hound is killed, Selden is found dead, Stapleton perishes in the Grimpen Mire, and Holmes reconstructs the criminal plot.

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Three short narratives: in "The Greek Interpreter" Mr. Melas, an interpreter, is terrorized into assisting two English villains who hold Paul Kratides captive to extort his sister’s fortune; Holmes and the police rescue Melas and the victims though the principal conspirators escape.
In "The Naval Treaty" Percy Phelps, a Foreign Office clerk, loses a secret naval document which Holmes proves was stolen and concealed by Joseph Harrison and then recovers, thereby averting political ruin.
In "The Final Problem" Holmes describes and pursues Professor Moriarty’s criminal network; after a European chase the two men confront one another at Reichenbach Falls and are lost, while Holmes leaves materials that dismantle the gang.

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Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson tackle a series of cases: a leaked scholarship paper, the golden pince‑nez murder with its Russian secret, the vanished three‑quarter that leads to a tragic domestic death, the Abbey Grange homicide revealed as an act of protection, and the disappearance of a diplomatic despatch that might have provoked war.
By minute observation, clever experiments and relentless questioning Holmes exposes lies, locates hidden evidence and discerns motives.
With discretion and stern compassion he averts scandal where he can, brings culprits to light or spares the innocent when justice and mercy permit.

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Sherlock Holmes is engaged by Miss Mary Morstan, who has received annual pearls and a mysterious summons linked to her father’s 1878 disappearance.
His inquiry uncovers the Agra treasure misappropriated by Major Sholto, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto, and forensic evidence implicating Jonathan Small, a wooden‑legged ex‑convict, and his Andaman accomplice Tonga.
Holmes intercepts the thieves at sea—Tonga is killed, Small captured and admits scattering the loot in the Thames—and the case closes while Watson and Mary form a personal attachment.