The novel that introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes. An army surgeon invalided home from Afghanistan, in want of cheap lodgings, is introduced to a singular young man conducting chemical experiments in a hospital laboratory — and Dr. Watson's life, and detective fiction, are changed forever. From the rooms at 221B Baker Street to a murder whose roots run back across an American desert, the method and the friendship arrive here fully formed. Conan Doyle wrote it in three weeks and sold it outright for twenty-five pounds. This edition presents the complete and unabridged novel, newly typeset and illustrated with 30 full-page color plates.