This volume comprises a very good selection of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories -- from heavily-anthologized classics such as 'The Red-Headed League' to stories I'd not encountered before, such as 'The Greek Interpreter'. The longest work included is the novella 'The Sign of Four', which was the only inclusion that left my attention wandering a bit.

On the whole, however, this collection forms an excellent introduction to the Sherlock Holmes stories. One note: the stories selected span the full range of Conan Doyle's Holmes opus, so some stories contain references to works that aren't included; some of these are definitely spoilers, so if you're completely fresh to Holmes, you might want to miss this one out and read the stories in a more chronologically-systematic fashion. Holmes would approve, of course! ( )