How many Sherlock Holmes books are there?

Let me straighten it out properly so you don’t keep second-guessing yourself.

The Real Answer (No Guessing, No Internet Noise)

Sherlock Holmes was created by Arthur Conan Doyle.

He didn’t write “books” the way modern series work. He wrote a mix of novels and short stories, and publishers later bundled those into different book editions.

The original, official canon looks like this:

• 4 novels
• 56 short stories

That’s it. That’s the full Sherlock Holmes universe written by Doyle himself.

The 4 Sherlock Holmes Novels (The Big Ones)

These are the full-length stories:

• A Study in Scarlet
• The Sign of the Four
• The Hound of the Baskervilles
• The Valley of Fear

If someone asks “how many Sherlock Holmes books are there?” and means actual novels, the answer is:

👉 4. Full stop.

The 56 Short Stories (Where Most of It Lives)

Here’s where people get lost.

Those 56 stories weren’t released as one big book. They were published in magazines, then collected into 5 separate books later.

The 5 Story Collections

• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (12 stories)
• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (11 stories)
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes (13 stories)
• His Last Bow (8 stories)
• The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (12 stories)

So… How Many Books Are There Really?

Depends what you mean. That’s the trap.

Here’s the clean breakdown:

What you mean	Actual number
Only novels	4
Story collections	5
Total original “books” (novels + collections)	9
Individual stories (including novels)	60 total works

Most accurate everyday answer?
👉 9 books in total (4 novels + 5 collections)

The #1 Thing People Get Wrong

They Google it, see numbers like 60, 62, even 70+.

That’s because:

• Some editions split stories differently
• Some include unfinished or lesser-known works
• Some count every single story as a “book” (which is nonsense in practice)

Stick to Doyle’s canon: 4 + 56. Don’t overcomplicate it.

If You Just Want to Read Them Without Headaches

Here’s what I tell people who are overwhelmed:

• Start with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
  → Short, sharp, easy to get into
• Then read The Hound of the Baskervilles
  → Best standalone novel, no confusion
• After that, go in order if you care… or just jump around

There’s no strict continuity. You won’t “break” the story by reading out of order.

One Last Thing (I Wish Everyone Knew This Earlier)

You don’t need to chase every edition.

Publishers repackage these same 9 books endlessly:

• “Complete Sherlock Holmes”
• “Collected Works”
• “Deluxe Editions”

Different covers. Same content.

Focus on the original 9. Everything else is just packaging.