All of the stories take place in the 1890's in London. London is a very crime-ridden place because many people get killed there. There are also many robberies. There always seems to be a lot of small crimes there, too. The book was set in the past.  There were no cars in the book. They didn’t even have T.V.'s. They had brick streets. London is also a very mysterious place. Sometimes the criminals are the ones you least suspect. All the crimes happen at night, and all  crimes are weird. For example, once they had a father pose as her daughter’s boyfriend so she wouldn’t get married. 

         The main character is Sherlock Holmes. He is a very kind man. In the book, he saved someone’s life, recovered three stolen gold coronets, and helped put an end to someone who was blackmailing the King of Bohemia. Sherlock is very smart. Once he figured out a man’s false identity. He figured out the real killer in “The Boscombe Valley Mystery,” and he figured out what murderer sent five orange pits to his victim. Sherlock Holmes is a very mysterious man. He can tell people's past by just one look at them. You never know what he is thinking, and he always solves crimes right after he gets the case.

         The conflict in “The Speckled Band,” one of the short stories in the book, starts when Ms. Hudson’s twin sister exclaims to her father that she is getting married; the next night she gets murdered. Then,  Ms. Hudson exclaimed to her father that she was going to get married , and went to Sherlock Holmes to see who killed her sister. The night after Ms. Hudson's sister exclaimed she was getting married, she got stunned by something. She yells about a speckled band, then dies. The theme of the novel is be prepared for anything.

          At first I thought the book was going to be boring because it took a long time for the first story to get going.  Then it got really interesting. The author described everything very clearly. One thing the author could have done was make Sherlock Holmes the narrator instead of Watson. It is not like anything I have ever read because the stories are so weird. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read ten great mysteries in one book. Do you want to find out who killed Ms. Hudson's twin sister? Then you should stop everything you are doing and start reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.