The first short story collection with most of the famous cases being detailed here. I can understand why many find the short stories better than the novels as a whole. Holmes is better is in short, small doses. He seems more humanized and emotional in these stories. Though he is still obviously cold and conceited, but more tolerably so. I really adored this collection. More than ever I think Holmes and Watson are the perfect duo. Holmes is sangfroid while Watson is affable and more socially reasoned. Though, Conan Doyle definitely has themes, and my excessive reading and tv and movie watching have enabled me to predict the real culprits of his mysteries more than once. Also, he is a bit of a formula because in this collection, there is not one, but three short stories of crazy fathers or stepfathers. The repetition does not bother me, I rather like reading the Holmes’s methodology of reaching it. I have already started the next in the canon and will finish the series before the end of next month I expect.