What Order Should You Read the Sherlock Holmes Books In?

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes across 40 years, in whatever order suited him — which means there's no single "correct" way to read the canon. But there is a best way, depending on what you want out of it. Here are the three approaches, so you can pick the one that fits.

The short answer

If you just want the right order to start reading today, go by publication order. It's how the world met Holmes, it's how Doyle intended the character to develop, and it front-loads the most famous stories. Here are all nine books, in that order:

A Study in Scarlet (1887) — the introduction. Holmes and Watson meet.
The Sign of the Four (1890) — the second novel, introduces Mary Morstan.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) — the first short story collection. Includes "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Red-Headed League." Most people's favorite entry point.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893) — includes "The Final Problem," where Holmes (seemingly) dies at Reichenbach Falls.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901) — the most famous novel, and arguably the best. A prequel, set before Holmes's "death."
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1903) — Doyle brought him back after fan outcry. Starts with "The Adventure of the Empty House."
The Valley of Fear (1914) — the fourth and final novel.
His Last Bow (1917) — short stories spanning Holmes's career, ending just before WWI.
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) — the final collection, written when Doyle was in his 60s and 70s.

If you want the best entry point instead

Publication order is historically correct, but A Study in Scarlet is a slower, stranger book than people expect — it spends its second half on a flashback set in Utah with almost no Holmes in it. If you want to fall in love with the character first, start with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes instead. It's a collection of self-contained short stories, so there's zero commitment, and it contains several of the best mysteries Doyle ever wrote. Then loop back to the two novels once you're hooked.

If you want chronological order (in-universe)

Some readers prefer to follow Holmes and Watson's actual timeline rather than publication dates — useful if you care about tracking Watson's marriages or Holmes's retirement to Sussex to keep bees. This is genuinely disputed among Holmes scholars (Doyle wasn't consistent about dates), but the widely accepted version starts with A Study in Scarlet in 1881 and largely follows publication order anyway, with a few short stories shuffled earlier. Unless you're a completionist, it's not worth the extra research — publication order gets you 95% of the way there.

Do you need to read all nine?

No. The two most essential books, if you only read two, are The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles — between them you get the character at his best in both short-story and novel form. Everything else is worth reading if you enjoy those two.

Read the Entire Canon with Synchronized Audio

All nine Holmes books are in the public domain, and every one is free on TomeReader with text and matched narration playing together — handy for keeping track of who's who across a story this dense with detail.