'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' Sherlock Holmes, scourge of criminals everywhere, whether they be lurking in London's foggy backstreets or plotting behind the walls of an idyllic country mansion, and his faithful colleague Dr Watson solve twelve breathtaking and perplexing mysteries. In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , the first collection of the great consulting detective's cases, we encounter some of his most famous and devilishly difficult problems, including A Scandal in Bohemia , The Speckled Band, The Red-Headed League , The Blue Carbuncle , The Five Orange Pips and The Man with the Twisted Lip .