The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

These are the twelve stories that made Sherlock Holmes a legend: a king blackmailed by the incomparable Irene Adler, a pawnbroker paid handsomely to copy the encyclopedia, a bride who vanishes from her own wedding breakfast, a whistle heard in the night in a locked country bedroom. Each case begins with a stranger climbing the stairs to 221B Baker Street and ends with Holmes making the impossible look obvious.

Conan Doyle perfected the short mystery here, and the format is ideal for listening. Each story is a self-contained forty-odd minutes of setup and investigation and payoff, narrated by the ever-loyal Dr. Watson. If you've never actually read Holmes, start here. The originals are faster and funnier and stranger than any adaptation.

At roughly 101,300 words, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes runs about 11½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.