Introduction

J-!o/111cs lookl'd ni her ((lrcji1/ly. 'Is typi11,I! d![firnlr 111hr11 yo11 !1t1Pc ll'('(lk
cycs?' he ns kcd her.
'lt 111ns 111l1e11 I stnrted,' she n11s111ered. 'B111 11011 1 I do111t l1nl'C to look
dcH1111 ni 111y .fi1!J?ers, a11d - oli! Ho111 did yo11 k110111?'
Ho/111es la11ilied. 'l'm a detccti11c,' /Je said. 'It's 111yjob.'

Sherlock Holmes is a very clever man. He sees the little things.

He finds answers to sorne of the strangest and most difficult
problems when other detectives - and his friend Dr Wacson -
cannot begin to understand them.
This happens in each of the three scories in this book.
Why did a man type his name at the end of a letter? Why did
somebody sit in tliat chair when there were other chairs in the
room? Why does a man follow a young woman on bis bicycle,
but never talk to her? These are imponant questions for Sherlock
Holmes.
People read Sherlock Holmes stories and books in rnany
different languages. They also ,,·atch che detective in films and on
television. In one of the stories, Holmes died. The \\Titer, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, had to bring him back to life again.
bccause people wantcd to rcad more about che great detective.

Archur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, in Scotland, in

l 859 and died in 1930. He '"ªs a doctor. but then he began
writing. Between 1887 and l 927 he \\TOte sixry stories abouc
Sherlock Holmes. S/,er/ock Ho/111cs n11d tlic .\ly.,·rcry of Bosco111bc
Pool, A Sca11da/ i11 Bolie111ia, Tlic Ret11m C?f Slicrlork Ho/111cs, Tlircc
Adve11/11res <if Slicrlock Ho111es, T/1c Hc11111d c!f' rhc Baskcr11illes and
Slierlork Ho/111es Shcir/ Storics are ;dl Pen§!uin Readers.

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