But in the end, where would we be if it wasn’t for the stories, in the first place? Whether films and series interpret the existing stories, or use them as a departure point for new episodes that seem in line with Holmes and Watson’s adventures (BBC’s Sherlock has done a good job of that), Doyle’s stories are still the source. So, in the spirit of appreciation, I’ve put together a short list of a few of my favorites (it was so hard to narrow it down). So if you haven’t had a chance to read Doyle’s mysteries before, I hope this peaks your curiosity. I admit, all my favorite stories are from the first three volumes written by Doyle (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes). The e-books are available for download for free.

Now then, the list in an arbitrary order of preference. I’ve done my best to avoid any major spoilers.

1) The Adventure of the Speckled Band (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
This story combines some of the best elements present not just in Sherlock Holmes stories, but mystery stories in general. (Doyle also considered it his favorite Holmes story and I’m obviously in agreement.) There is a damsel in distress, an intriguing and eerie death, and a cold-hearted father figure. It’s an example of a “locked room mystery,” where Holmes and Watson have to figure out the nature of the crime that took place in a supposedly locked and inaccessible room. Plus, if you’re into satisfying endings where the bad guys get their just rewards in the best way possible, this one has it, too.

2) The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
The Industrial Revolution brought with it many new and exciting elements to be included in mystery fiction of the time. In this case file, Watson recounts the story of a young hydraulic engineer who arrives at the Baker Street digs with a severed thumb and a confusing story that needs to be untangled. It’s a creepy little story (no supernatural elements – just criminals) that made me really terrified about enclosed spaces when I read it as a kid.

3) The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual (The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes)
In short, this is a story about a man’s disappearance and about a secret society with its mysterious rituals. Holmes deciphers the hidden meaning in the riddle that is a family document, dating back to the 17th century, in the house of his acquaintance Reginald Musgrave. When Musgrave’s butler is caught reading the document, he disappears shortly after (along with the maid), and Holmes is brought on to figure out the disappearance. Who doesn’t like stories involving secret societies with their cryptic rituals?

4) The Adventure of the Dancing Men (The Return of Sherlock Holmes)
Holmes’ new client, Mr. Cubitt, arrives with a piece of paper showing a cryptic arrangement of little dancing stick figures.  The note arrived by mail and has made his wife distracted and upset, although she wouldn’t tell her husband why. More notes bearing similar figures appear and Holmes decides that they are a cipher. Solving the code of the dancing men will help provide the answers to the mystery. It’s a good, solid mystery story and when I first read it as a kid, I went around drawing the little dancing men on figures of paper. Oh, kids.

5) A Scandal in Bohemia (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

The fact this is one of the more frequently adapted Holmes stories just makes it all the more worth reading. The premise is that a compromising photograph, showing an opera singer named Irene Adler and the King of Bohemia, must be recovered by Holmes to avoid it being used as blackmail against the King as he prepares to wed a princess. The story has great elements of social intrigue and potential for scandal and Holmes gets to dress up in a disguise (I just love when he does that). The most notable part, however, is the way Holmes matches wits with the clever and resourceful Adler, with Doyle creating the most notable character (besides Moriarty) in the entire canon.

6) The Adventure of the Yellow Face (The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes)
Holmes and Watson are bored. They haven’t had a case for a while. Enter Munro, a man who is suspicious of his new wife’s strange behavior and enlists the detectives’ assistance in figuring out the truth. When she thinks she is not being watched, she visits a neighboring home where a mysterious person wearing a yellow mask peers through the window. What is the truth behind Munro’s wife’s behavior and who is the stranger in the window? This is not so much a stellar example of Doyle’s mystery writing as a departure; it’s a sentimental story, with an ending that hints that Doyle was perhaps more socially progressive than the community of the time. It’s also a rare example of a case where Holmes actually makes mistakes in his deductive reasoning.

7) The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
Similarly to The Adventure of the Speckled Band, this is another one that reminds me of Gothic mystery fiction. Holmes is approached by a young woman who is alarmed after taking a job as a governess, which comes with a few strange conditions. For one, the new employers required that she cut off almost all of her beautiful, long red hair. They also sometimes make her wear a bright blue dress and sit with her back to the street-facing window, where she realizes a man stands outside, watching her. Add to that a really foreboding atmosphere at the house (including a pair of creepy housekeepers) and you have a great little mystery on your hands. Never fear, Holmes solves it and the young woman escapes unscathed.

1. Doyle was one of the earliest motorists in Britain

He reportedly bought a car without ever having driven one before. In 1911, he took part in the Prince Henry Tour, an international road competition organized by Prince Henry of Prussia to pit British cars against German ones. Doyle paired up with his second wife, Jean, as one of the British driving teams.

2. Conan is not part of his surname

It is, in fact, only one of his two middle names. He is Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle. Shortly after he graduated from high school he began using Conan as part of his surname.

3. Doyle was on the same cricket team as ‘Peter Pan’ writer J.M. Barrie

They also worked together on a comic opera, Jane Annie, which Barrie begged his friend to revise and finish for him.

4. He could have discussed Dracula and Treasure Island with their authors

Doyle was also friends with Bram Stoker, and Robert Louis Stevenson was a fellow classmate at the University of Edinburgh.

5. He helped to popularize skiing

He not only liked cricket and football, but Doyle helped to popularize the winter sport. Following a move to Davros, Switzerland in 1893 (the mountain air was prescribe to aid his wife’s health), he mastered the basics with the help of the Brangger brothers, two locals who had taken to practising the sport after dark to avoid being teased by the townsfolk. Together, they were the first people to make the 8,000ft pass through the Maienfelder Furka, which separated Davos from the neighbouring town of Arosa. Doyle was also the first Englishman to document the thrill of skiing: “You let yourself go,” he said. “Getting as near to flying as any earthbound man can. In that glorious air it is a delightful experience.” Doyle correctly predicted that in the future hundreds of Englishmen would come to Switzerland for the “skiing season”.

Conan Doyle was the first to bring skiing from Scandinavia to Switzerland.

 6. He was a goalie

Under the pseudonym AC Smith, the writer played as a goalkeeper for amateur side Portsmouth Association Football Club, a precursor of the modern Portsmouth FC.

7. Doyle ran for parliament… twice!

Doyle ran for parliament (representing the Unionist Party) once in Edinburgh (in 1900) and once in the Border Burghs (in 1906). Although he received a respectable vote both times he was not elected. In the 1900 general election, Doyle was defeated by CM Brown of the Liberal Party, who received 3,028 votes against 2,459 cast for Doyle.

8. Ophthalmology’s loss was literature’s gain

Arthur Conan Doyle set up an ophthalmology practice in London. Doyle wrote in his autobiography that not a single patient ever crossed his door. Although, the silver lining was that he could dedicate his time to writing.

9. He believed in fairies

Sherlock might have been a skeptic but Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies. Well, he was convinced by the Cuttingly Fairy photographs, the famous 1917 hoax. He even spent a million dollars promoting them and wrote a book, The Coming of the Fairies (1921), on their authenticity.

One of the Cottingley Fairies photographs, taken by Elsie Wright (15) and her cousin Frances Griffiths, which caused a storm in 1917.

10. And also believed in a number of mediums

But this came at the cost of his friendship with Harry Houdini, who at the same time was trying to disprove the claims of the Spiritualist movement.

11. Why he killed off his most famous creation?

Sherlock Holmes was far from being Doyle’s own favorite character and was killed off in 1893, only to be resurrected 10 years later after public demand and monetary persuasion. He had earlier told a friend: “I couldn’t revive him if I would, at least not for years, for I have had such an overdose of him that I feel towards him as I do towards pâté de foie gras, of which I once ate too much, so that the name of it gives me a sickly feeling to this day.” However, there may have been other reasons for the writer killing off his famous creation, as it happened in the same year that Doyle’s alcoholic father died in an asylum.

12. Doyle and George Bernard Shaw had a spat about the Titanic

After the Titanic sank in 1912, Doyle and George Bernard Shaw had a very public disagreement about the disaster. Doyle was outraged by the dismissive and bitter comments made by the playwright regarding the many acts of heroics that took place aboard the ship as it went down.

13. There’s a square in Switzerland named after him

The town of Meiringen in Switzerland was the location of The Adventure of the Final Problem, the novel in which the author killed the detective off. In 1988, a statue of Sherlock Holmes was placed in the village square, now named Conan Doyle Place.

14. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle didn’t just write mysteries, he actually solved a few

One of particular interest to him was The Curious Case of Oscar Slater – for the murder of Marion Gilchrist, a wealthy 82-year-old woman from Glasgow. Doyle applied the “Holmes method”, in which he uncovered new evidence, recalled witnesses and questioned the prosecution’s evidence. His findings were published as a plea for Slater’s pardon. It caused a sensation and there were calls for a retrial, but all this was promptly ignored by the Scottish authorities. The desperate and incarcerated Slater later smuggled messages out of prison and Doyle’s interest in the case was reignited. He wrote to politicians and used his own money to fund Slater’s legal fees. One politician, Ramsay McDonald – Britain’s first Labour prime minister – informed the Scottish Secretary that the police and the legal authorities had colluded to withhold evidence and influence witnesses. Slater was subsequently released from prison with £6,000 compensation but never shared it with Doyle.

15. Doyle died holding a flower

Doyle died on July 7, 1930. He collapsed in his garden, clutching his heart with one hand and holding a flower in the other. His last words were to his wife. He whispered to her: “You are wonderful.”

16. A séance was organized for him to make an appearance from beyond the grave

Following his death, a séance was conducted at the Royal Albert Hall. Thousands attended, including his wife and children. A row of chairs were arranged on the stage for the family, with one left empty for Sir Arthur. Even though he did not appear, there were many people in the audience who claimed they had felt his presence among them.

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