The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

This collection brings together twelve Sherlock Holmes stories, the last of the fifty-six Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. They ran in magazines between 1921 and 1927, and the book itself appeared in June 1927.

The cases vary widely. In The Illustrious Client, Holmes is asked to turn a young woman away from a dangerous suitor. Other titles include The Sussex Vampire, The Creeping Man and The Problem of Thor Bridge.

Dr. Watson narrates most of the stories, as in the earlier books. The Mazarin Stone breaks the pattern by using a third-person narrator, while Holmes tells The Blanched Soldier and The Lion's Mane in his own voice.

Several stories are set after Holmes has retired or when his career is well advanced. That gives the volume a more reflective mood than the earlier collections, though the puzzles and the deduction remain, and each case is self-contained, so the book can be read story by story.