The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was the first collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories Conan Doyle published in book form, following the popular success of the novels A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four, which introduced the characters of Dr. John Watson and the austere analytical detective Sherlock Holmes. The collection contains twelve stories, all originally published in The Strand Magazine between July 1891 and June 1892. Narrated by the first-person voice of Dr. Watson, they involve him and Holmes solving a series of mysterious cases. Some of the more well-known stories in this collection are “A Scandal in Bohemia,” in which Holmes comes up against a worthy opponent in the form of Irene Adler, whom Holmes forever after admiringly refers to as the woman; “The Redheaded League,” involving a bizarre scheme offering a well-paid sinecure to redheaded men; and “The Speckled Band,” in which Holmes and Watson save a young woman from a terrible death.

Dracula is one of the most famous horror novels, responsible not just for introducing the eponymous Count Dracula, but for laying the foundations for many of the common tropes we see in modern horror fiction. Count Dracula isn’t the first vampire to have graced the pages of Western literature—that honor belongs to Lord Ruthven in “The Vampire,” a short story by John William Polidori—but Dracula is the vampire on which the modern vampire trope is based. Dracula wasn’t as famous in its day as it is today; readers of the time seemed to enjoy it as nothing more than a good story, and Stoker died nearly penniless. But its long-lasting influence is undeniable, and for all its age Dracula remains a gripping, fast-paced, and enjoyable read.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the classic novella of split personality. Stevenson wrote it in just a few days while sick and bedridden, and famously burned the first draft after his wife suggested it should be written as an allegory and not as a story. He re-wrote it in three to six days, and after a few weeks of editing and revision he published what would become one of his most famous and best-selling works. The story follows a London lawyer as he investigates the relationship between a brilliant scientist and a misshapen misanthrope. As the link between the two becomes clearer, Jekyll and Hyde develops into an allegory on the nature of good and evil.

It would be hard to nominate a more well-known character in English literature than that of the austere analytical detective Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1880s. Holmes, alongside his friend and biographer Dr. John Watson, appeared in two initial novels and dozens of short stories serialized in popular magazines, attracting a devoted, almost fanatical following which continues to this day. The Hound of the Baskervilles, serialized in 1901–1902, was the third novel featuring Holmes and Watson. Sherlock Holmes is consulted in his Baker Street apartment by Dr. Mortimer, a physician now living on the fringes of Dartmoor. He gives Holmes and Watson an account of a centuries-old legend, in which a hell-hound slaughtered the debauched heir of the Baskerville family who had been in lecherous pursuit of an innocent maiden across the moor. The same hound is reputed to have harrowed several of the subsequent heirs to the estate. This ancient story might be dismissed as mere fancy, but for the fact that the elderly Sir Charles Baskerville recently died in very mysterious circumstances, apparently fleeing in terror from something which came from the moor. Dr. Mortimer is concerned that the new heir, Sir Henry, just returned from Canada, may be at risk from this supernatural beast. Holmes is intrigued, but being too busy to go himself, sends Dr. Watson to accompany Sir Henry to the ancestral home on Dartmoor and to report anything suspicious. The Hound of the Baskervilles is arguably the best, and certainly the most popular, of Doyle’s novels featuring his iconic detective. It has been translated into almost every language in the world and been the basis of dozens of movies (starting as early as 1914), radio plays and comic books.

Hercule Poirot has retired to the English village of King’s Abbot, determined to use his little grey cells in the growing of vegetable marrows. But when Roger Ackroyd, a local businessman and former acquaintance of Poirot’s, is murdered, the man’s niece begs Poirot to investigate in order to clear her fiancé. With Hastings having married and moved to Argentina, Poirot enlists the local doctor to be his assistant and scribe, and the two of them sift through clues to try to discern the ones that will lead them to the killer. Agatha Christie’s two previous Poirot novels had been generally well-received, but The Murder of Roger Ackroyd made her a household name. Consistently ranked among Christie’s best works, in 2013 it was voted as the best crime novel ever written by the 600-member Crime Writers’ Association of the United Kingdom.

Arsène Lupin, with his characteristic wit, plots over the course of nine short stories to steal many of France’s best antiques and artworks from under their owners’ noses. Only his classic opponent Detective Ganimard has the brilliance to attempt to foil Arsène’s plans, albeit with mixed results. This first collection of nine Arsène Lupin stories were originally serialised in the magazine Je Sais Tout from 1905 and translated into English in 1910. The final story of the set features Herlock Sholmes. In the original printings, Sholmes was simply an unauthorized Sherlock Holmes, but this appearance annoyed Arthur Conan Doyle; the character’s name was changed to “Herlock Sholmes” for later printings and future stories. Arsène Lupin later went on to feature in over fifty stories by Maurice Leblanc along with many other books, films and plays around the world.

Attending medical school in Boston, Reuel Briggs has neither wealth nor the good looks of the upper-class white society with which he surrounds himself. He is, however, incredibly talented, and has a rare gift in the psychological study of mysticism and supernatural phenomenon. Even if his peers aren’t too keen on him, they can’t help but be awed by his talent, and subsequently call on his aid in reaching out to the minds of the sick and dying who would otherwise be lost. Though this field of mysticism is his life’s work and sole talent, it may soon be his downfall as it leads him down a dark path of secrets and discoveries. Of One Blood was first published serially in The Colored American Magazine, which Hopkins edited at the time. Written at the turn of the century and shortly after the Civil War, Hopkins explores the legacy of slavery, questions of identity, and the bounds of love and loyalty.

Two hundred years ago, merchants in the small country of Dorimare, weary of the capricious nature of the ruling class, cast out the aristocracy and established their own government. Believing that their former rulers’ erratic behavior was caused by their neighbors in Fairyland, the mention of anything fairy quickly became taboo among Dorimare’s citizens. Now, though, illicit trade of fairy fruit is on the rise in the border town of Lud-in-the-Mist and the government seems powerless to stop it. As influential families fall victim to the maddening effects of the fruit it becomes clear that someone is working to undermine the status quo, and the Mayor needs to discover who it is before it’s too late. Lud-in-the-Mist is Hope Mirrlees’s third and most popular book. It has been reprinted several times, and was a part of the Fantasy Masterworks series produced by Orion Books. It has been referred to as a masterpiece of fantasy literature, with Neil Gaiman calling it “a little golden miracle of a book.”

Whose Body?, published in 1923, is the first in a long and very popular series of mystery novels written by Dorothy L. Sayers and featuring her aristocratic detective Lord Peter Wimsey. In this novel we are introduced to Wimsey, his imperturbable and multi-skilled butler Bunter, and his close friend Charles Parker of Scotland Yard as they come together to investigate an extremely mysterious incident: the naked body of a man, wearing a golden pince-nez, has been discovered in the bath of a bewildered tenant of a flat in Battersea. There’s a good deal of humor in the book, carefully balanced against the grim reality of murder. Whose Body? was well-received on first publication, and provided a basis for Sayer’s successful career as a novelist. In sum, she wrote some eleven Wimsey novels as well as several short stories featuring the characters. Nevertheless, it appears that she herself felt that her translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy was her greatest literary work.