Mystery · Detective fiction
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Reading level: we suggest CEFR B2 for reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Length: twelve short stories.
- Suggested levelB2
- Lengthtwelve short stories
- Original languageEnglish
The story
Twelve cases narrated by Dr. Watson, the loyal friend of the world's most famous consulting detective. A king is blackmailed by the one woman who ever outwitted Holmes; a red-headed man is paid to copy an encyclopedia; a speckled band appears in the night.
Each story starts with a strange problem in the rooms at 221B Baker Street and ends with Holmes explaining the clues that everyone else missed.
Themes: logic and observation, friendship, Victorian London, justice.
Why it's a good book for language learners
Short stories of about 8,000 words each are a perfect size for learners: long enough to be satisfying, short enough to finish in one or two sessions. Holmes's explanations use the language of deduction — must have been, can't have been — which is one of the trickiest parts of English grammar.
How hard is the English in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?
- Flesch Reading Ease79.8
- Flesch–Kincaid grade5.7
- Words per sentence14.4
Measured by PageWalker on the full English text of the book. Flesch Reading Ease runs from 0 to 100 (higher is easier; 60–70 is plain English) and the Flesch–Kincaid grade is a US school grade. These formulas only count sentence and word length, so they miss old-fashioned vocabulary, wordplay and style. That is why our CEFR level, which takes those into account, can be higher than the formula suggests.
What you'll practise
- Modal verbs of deduction: must have, might have, can't have
- Describing people's appearance and clues
- Victorian British English
- Question-and-answer interviews
Reading tip
Stop just before Holmes explains the solution and write your own theory first.
Did you know?
The stories first appeared in The Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1892, and made both Holmes and the magazine famous.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: a part-by-part guide
Contains spoilers. Read one part of the book, then come back to check you followed it.
A Scandal in Bohemia
A masked visitor comes to Baker Street. He is the King of Bohemia, and he is about to marry a princess from Scandinavia. Years ago he had a relationship with Irene Adler, a singer, and she has a photograph of the two of them together. She threatens to send it to his new bride's family. The King asks Holmes to find the photograph, and Holmes uses clever disguises to discover where she hides it.
The Red-Headed League
Jabez Wilson, a pawnbroker with bright red hair, tells a strange story. His assistant showed him an advertisement from the Red-Headed League, which pays red-headed men for easy work. Wilson gets the job: every day he copies the Encyclopaedia Britannica in an office for good money. Then, one morning, he finds a notice on the door saying the League has ended. Holmes believes something more serious is hidden behind this odd job.
A Case of Identity
Mary Sutherland, a young typist with her own small income, asks Holmes for help. She was engaged to a shy man called Hosmer Angel, whom she met at a ball. He always wore tinted glasses, spoke in a whisper and only met her in the evening. On the morning of their wedding, he got into a carriage to go to the church, but when it arrived, he was not inside. She wants Holmes to find him.
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
In Herefordshire, a farmer called McCarthy is found dead beside Boscombe Pool. His son James was seen near the pool with a gun, and the two men had argued, so the police arrest him. The evidence looks very strong. But Miss Turner, a neighbour's daughter, believes James is innocent, and Inspector Lestrade asks Holmes for help. Holmes and Watson travel by train to study the ground and the facts.
The Five Orange Pips
On a stormy night, young John Openshaw visits Holmes. His uncle, who once lived in America, received a letter marked K. K. K. with five dried orange pips inside, and soon afterwards he died. Later his father received the same kind of letter and also died. Now John has received one too, with an order to put the papers on the sundial. He is frightened for his life and asks Holmes what to do.
The Man with the Twisted Lip
Watson finds Holmes in disguise in an opium den in Upper Swandam Lane. Holmes is working for Mrs. St. Clair. Her husband, Neville St. Clair, a respectable gentleman, has disappeared. She saw him at an upstairs window of that same building, looking terrified, before he vanished. The police found his clothes in the room and arrested a dirty, ugly beggar called Hugh Boone. Holmes cannot understand what really happened to St. Clair.
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
Just after Christmas, Peterson, a commissionaire, brings Holmes an old hat and a goose that a man dropped in the street during a fight. When Peterson's wife prepares the goose, she finds a beautiful blue stone inside it. It is the famous jewel stolen from the Countess of Morcar, and a plumber called John Horner has already been arrested for the theft. Holmes follows the story of the goose to learn the truth.
The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Helen Stoner lives at Stoke Moran with her violent stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott. Two years ago, shortly before her wedding, her twin sister Julia died in terrible fear in the night. Her last words were about a speckled band. Before she died, Julia heard a strange whistle at night. Now Helen is engaged to be married, she has been moved into her sister's room, and she has heard the same whistle.
The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
Victor Hatherley, a young hydraulic engineer, comes to Watson's medical practice early one morning with a terrible injury: his thumb has been cut off. He tells how a man called Colonel Lysander Stark offered him fifty guineas for one night's secret work, repairing a machine in a house near Eyford. The job was mysterious from the start, and the night turned into a fight for his life. Holmes helps him find the house.
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
Lord Robert St. Simon, a proud nobleman, has just married Hatty Doran, the daughter of a rich American from California. After the wedding ceremony, the new bride suddenly disappears from the wedding breakfast and nobody can find her. The newspapers are full of the story, and Lestrade even searches the Serpentine for her. Lord St. Simon asks Holmes to discover where his wife has gone and why.
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
Alexander Holder, an important banker, lends fifty thousand pounds to a very famous client. As security, he receives the Beryl Coronet, a priceless piece of national treasure, and takes it home to keep it safe. In the night he hears a noise and finds his son Arthur holding the coronet, with part of it broken off and missing. Arthur refuses to explain. The desperate father asks Holmes to help.
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
Violet Hunter, a governess, is offered a job by Mr. Rucastle at a house called the Copper Beeches, near Winchester. The pay is very high, but he has strange conditions: she must cut her hair short, wear a special blue dress and sit where he tells her. She takes the job, but the house, the family and the servants make her uneasy. When she becomes frightened, she asks Holmes to come.
Main characters
- Sherlock Holmes: A brilliant private detective in Baker Street, London, who solves cases by careful observation and logical reasoning.
- Dr. John Watson: Holmes's loyal friend and helper, a doctor who tells the stories and often goes with Holmes on his cases.
- Irene Adler: A clever and beautiful singer in A Scandal in Bohemia, whom Holmes always calls the woman.
- Inspector Lestrade: A police detective from Scotland Yard who works with Holmes but often reaches the wrong answer.
- Jabez Wilson: A red-headed pawnbroker who brings Holmes the strange story of the Red-Headed League.
- Dr. Grimesby Roylott: Helen Stoner's violent and frightening stepfather in The Adventure of the Speckled Band.
- Violet Hunter: A brave young governess who takes a strange job at the Copper Beeches and asks Holmes for advice.
Words to learn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Each example sentence is copied from the book, so you will meet these words in exactly this form.
| Word | Meaning | In the book |
|---|---|---|
| deduce | to reach an answer by thinking carefully about the facts you know | I see it, I deduce it. |
| pawnbroker | a person who lends money to people who leave valuable things with them | I have a small pawnbroker’s business at Coburg Square, near the City. |
| peculiar | strange or unusual | League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. |
| commonplace | ordinary and not interesting or special | It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify. |
| remarkable | unusual or surprising in a way that people notice | Your case is an exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. |
| inquiry | an official process of trying to find out the truth | Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable inquiry |
| vanished | disappeared suddenly | He waved his hands frantically to her, and then vanished from the window so suddenly |
| governess | a woman who lives with a family and teaches their children at home | I have been a governess for five years |
| conclusion | an opinion or decision you reach after thinking about something | But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? |
| reward | money given to someone for finding something or helping | It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be conjectured, but the reward offered of £ 1000 is certainly not within a twentieth part of the market price. |
| stepfather | the man who is married to your mother but is not your father | Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, too |
| lens | a curved piece of glass that makes small things look bigger | He drew out a lens and lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view |
Famous lines
To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman.
You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data.
life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent
It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact
Questions for discussion
Good for a book club, a class, or writing practice: answer one question in five sentences.
- Holmes says that Watson sees but does not observe. What is the difference between seeing and observing, and how could you practise observing more?
- Why do you think Holmes admires Irene Adler so much, even though she is on the other side in A Scandal in Bohemia?
- Several clients, like Mary Sutherland, Helen Stoner and Violet Hunter, are women who come to Holmes alone. What do their stories show about the lives of women in Victorian England?
- Holmes thinks that strange cases are often easier to solve than ordinary ones. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- Which story did you find the most frightening or surprising, and what made it work so well?
- Watson tells all the stories, not Holmes. How would the stories change if Holmes told them himself?
The PageWalker adventure
In the adventure you work the cases at Holmes's side — miss a clue and the culprit escapes. You can try the first page in your browser, and the adventure is available in 13 languages with click-to-translate.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in other languages
- EnglishThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- العربيةمغامرات شيرلوك هولمز
- DeutschDie Abenteuer des Sherlock Holmes
- EspañolLas Aventuras de Sherlock Holmes
- FrançaisLes Aventures de Sherlock Holmes
- हिन्दीशेरलॉक होम्स के कारनामे
- ItalianoLe avventure di Sherlock Holmes
- 日本語シャーロック・ホームズの冒険
- 한국어셜록 홈즈의 모험
- PortuguêsAs Aventuras de Sherlock Holmes
- РусскийПриключения Шерлока Холмса
- TürkçeSherlock Holmes'un Maceraları
- 简体中文福尔摩斯探案集
Questions about The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
What reading level is The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?
We suggest CEFR B2 for reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Short stories of about 8,000 words each are a perfect size for learners: long enough to be satisfying, short enough to finish in one or two sessions. On readability formulas the English text scores a Flesch Reading Ease of 79.8 and a Flesch–Kincaid grade of 5.7, with an average of 14.4 words per sentence.
How long is The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892). Length: twelve short stories.
Can I play The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as an interactive adventure?
Yes. In the adventure you work the cases at Holmes's side — miss a clue and the culprit escapes. You can try the first page in your browser, in 13 languages.
Updated 16 October 2026
