Sherlock Holmes novels reading order

A plan for the whole series

4 volumes, 784 pages, about 14 hours. At 45 min a day that is 19 days.

• From volume 2 on, the number of ratings falls most before volume 4, “The Valley of Fear” (by 76%). Plan your break after volume 3, before the series plans it for you.
• Readers scored volume 4, “The Valley of Fear”, below its predecessor (7.8 after 8.2). If you slow down there, that is on the book, not on you.

Stages

2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around November 26, 2026, 9 days later than in one go.

1. 1
   Stage 110 h14 daysby November 12, 2026

   • 1. A Study in Scarlet1887 · 171 pages · 3 h
   • 2. The Sign of the Four1890 · ≈ 196 pages · 4 h
   • 3. The Hound of the Baskervilles1902 · 204 pages · 4 h
2. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by November 21, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
3. 2
   Stage 24 h5 daysby November 26, 2026

   • 4. The Valley of Fear1915 · 213 pages · 4 h
4. The end of the series

   November 26, 2026

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

≈ next to a page count: a volume with no page count in our data is counted at this series’s average.

Does the series hold up

Shape of the series: a drop at the end. The last scored volume (7.8) has the lowest score in the series.

Best volume: The Hound of the Baskervilles (8.2, 990 ratings). Weakest: The Valley of Fear (7.8). From volume 2 on, the biggest drop in the number of ratings is between volume 3 and 4: 76%. The series is complete; you can read it start to finish with no waiting.