The hit BBC series Sherlock offers a fresh, contemporary take on the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and has helped introduce a whole new generation of fans to the legendary detective. In this new edition of Conan Doyle's first collection of short stories, Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss explains how these gripping tales inspired and influenced the new series. Sherlock: The Adventures contains twelve short stories first published in The Strand magazine between 1891 and 1892 and then published as a collection in October 1892. It includes some of Conan Doyle's best tales of murder and mystery, such as The Adventures of the Speckled Band , in which the strange last words of a dying woman 'It was the band, the speckled band!' and a inexplicable whistling in the night are the only clues Sherlock Holmes has to prevent another murder; and, The Five Orange Pips , in which an untimely death and the discovery of the letter containing five orange pips lead to a cross-Atlantic conspiracy.