Book at bedtime: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, twelve evenings

Tonight's book is The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, the collection of 1892. For evening reading it is almost perfectly built: not a novel but twelve separate stories, each read in one sitting and each ending with its answer. You can take one and go to sleep without leaving a plot half-finished. The English text is in the public domain and published in full by Project Gutenberg, so you can start tonight for nothing.

Which story should you start with?

The first one, "A Scandal in Bohemia". It opens with the line quoted more than any other: "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman." Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Scandal in Bohemia", first line, from the edition published by Project Gutenberg.

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One sentence, and the whole of Holmes is in it: a man who talks about feeling in the language of precise definition. The rest of the collection runs through "The Red-Headed League", "A Case of Identity", "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Man with the Twisted Lip", "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb", "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor", "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" and "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" — twelve stories, twelve evenings.

Why read it today?

Because it is a book about attention. Holmes does not guess; he notices what nobody else is looking at, and half the pleasure is catching the detail before Watson does. Second: London here is not scenery. Conan Doyle writes the city in train timetables, cab fares, office hours and the way clothing gives away a trade. For anyone living in Britain now, it is also a way of seeing what the country grew out of.

"A Scandal in Bohemia" takes about thirty minutes. If it does not pull you in, you can leave the other eleven: there is no running plot to lose.

Who was Arthur Conan Doyle?

Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859–1930, according to the Project Gutenberg catalogue, which carries this collection along with his other books. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was the first collection of Holmes short stories; it appeared in 1892 and gathered twelve tales that had previously been published separately.

A substantial part of his legacy is kept in Portsmouth, where the city museum and the central library hold the Conan Doyle Collection of archives, books and objects. The museum is currently showing the exhibitions "Study in Scarlet" and "You Don't Know Sherlock Holmes Yet".

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Where can you walk in Holmes's footsteps?

Two places in London and one outside it — all checked today.

The Sherlock Holmes Museum, 221b Baker Street, London NW1 6XE. Open daily 9.30am to 6pm, last admission 5.30pm, closed on 25 December. Adult £19, child under 16 £14, under 6 free, concessions for students, seniors and disabled visitors £17. One warning that matters: the museum runs over several floors linked only by narrow staircases, there is no lift, and it is not suitable for wheelchair users or anyone who cannot manage stairs. The gift shop is on the ground floor but has a step at the entrance.

The Sherlock Holmes pub, 10 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5DB, telephone 020 7930 2644. Monday to Saturday 11am to 11pm, Sunday 11am to 10.30pm. It is about fifteen minutes from Baker Street by Tube, so both places fit into one evening.

The Conan Doyle Collection, Portsmouth. The objects are at Portsmouth Museum, Museum Road, PO1 2LJ: Tuesday to Sunday plus bank holiday Mondays, 10am to 5pm from October to March, last admission 30 minutes before closing, closed 24–26 December and 1 January. The archives and books are at the Central Library, Guildhall Square, PO1 2DX: Monday and Friday 9.30am–5pm, Tuesday to Thursday 9.30am–6pm, Saturday 10am–3.30pm, closed Sunday. Admission is free.

Where can you get the book?

Free and legally in English from Project Gutenberg. For a library copy, the Library Hub Discover catalogue shows which British libraries hold it. A reminder that applies across this series: a translation is protected separately from the original, which is why we translate our own extracts rather than lifting an existing Russian text.

The cover of this issue was made by our editors from our own night photograph: an arch and the towers of the City with a lamp burning. It is our illustration, not a publisher's cover and not a still from any screen adaptation.