From his first appearance in The Study in Scarlet in 1887, Sherlock Holmes has remained the most celebrated detective the world has ever known. The Holmes stories have been published in 47 languages, made into 126 films, turned into countless television series and over 4000 radio scripts.

This omnibus contains all the four long stories (each a full length novel in itself). These con- tinue to achieve an appeal and a circulation even wider than when they were first published.

What makes the Sherlock Holmes stories so immensely gripping to today's readers? Clearly everyone has his own key to Conan Doyle's genius. Graham Greene points to 'the genuine spine-creeping melodrama' in The Hound of the Baskervilles, John Fowles to 'the brilliant cover- up' in The Valley of Fear. Many would echo the view of C. P. Snow that 'the Holmes stories are a great artistic triumph of a very strange kind'.