This document provides background information on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and some of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories. It discusses that Sherlock Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is the protagonist of many of his detective novels. It provides details on some of Doyle's most famous novels featuring Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson solving mysteries. It also summarizes the plots of two Sherlock Holmes short stories - "Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son" and "The Pyramid of Fear."

1. Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Books of Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes and the duke’s son The piramid of Fear The museum Sherlock Holmes

2. Sherlock Holmes is a famous character of detective stories. He was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He is the protagonist of a lot of his novels. Sherlock Holmes

3. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22nd May, 1859 in Edinburgh. He studied to become a doctor, and he graduated, but he had a secret passion for detective stories. In 1890, he began to write the Sherlock Holmes novels. Then, his books became famous, but in 1906, when his wife died, he went mad. He died in 1930. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

4. Arthur Conan Doyle was famous for his stories starring the detective Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. His most famous novels are: Sherlock Holmes – A Study in Scarlet in 1887 Sherlock Holmes – The Sign of the Four in 1890

5. Sherlock Holmes The Yellow Face in 1893 Sherlock Holmes The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1902 Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure of the Three Students in 1904

6. One day, the famous detective Sherlock Holmes had a visitor, Dr. Huxtable, who asked him to help him to find one of his students, Arthur who was missing. Dr. Huxtable was the headmaster of a school for boys and Arthur was the Duke of Holdernesse’s son, a very important and rich person. The German teacher was missing too. He took his bicycle with him. Holmes and Watson went to the Dr Hutable’s school where they met the Duke and his secretary, Mr. James Wilder . Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's son

7. After considering a series of elements, Holmes said that the boy and the teacher went across the moor, as confirmed by the boy’s hat that one of the gardeners found in the moor. The day after, Watson and Holmes walked across the moor to look for the tracks of a bicycle. They only saw cow tracks. At last they found some tracks of a bicycle but they were of a different kind. Then, they found Mr. Heidegger’s corpse behind a bush. Holmes and Watson visited the places around the school too. So they went to the “Green Man Inn”. There, they met Mr. Hayes, the owner .

8. Holmes visited the stables too, where he saw that the horses had old shoes but new nails. Holmes suspected Hayes to know everything about the kidnapping. Then, they saw Mr. Wilder coming By bike at the Inn. He looked scared. He left His bicycle and went away by horse. The bike’s tyre had the same track they saw in the moor, so they suspected Mr. Wilder too.

9. Then Holmes went to the Duke’s. He told him that Wilder was his illegitimate son and that he had kidnapped Arthur because he wanted to become the new Duke, while Mr. Hayes helped him and killed the German teacher. The Duke knew that Arthur was at the “Green Man Inn” while James was going to Australia as he did not want to be arrested. Holmes asked the Duke why Hayes’s horse made cow tracks in the mud and he showed the detective a pair of old horse shoes which looked like cow’s foot. Then Holmes took his cheque as a reward for his work, also because he despised the Duke for his behavior as he didn’t help Arthur when James told him that he had kidnapped him.

10. The teenager John Watson, decided to become a doctor, meets the young Sherlock Holmes, well regarded by teachers. A group of five rich and successful British men are being targeted by a mysterious figure with a cloak, which uses a blowgun to shoot small spines on the neck of his victims. The plugs, wet with poison, push them to suicide. Holmes suspects the incident and he, his girlfriend Elizabeth and Watson begin to investigate. Clue after clue they come across different objects and a large Egyptian pyramid. They go inside and discover a set to perform a ceremony in which young girls are sacrificed. On the banks of the Thames, the members of the cult hit and kill Elizabeth with the gun and then engage in a fight with Holmes: Sherlock prevails over his opponents who disappeared in the icy water, and can only give a last farewell to his beloved that dies between his arms. The pyramid of Fear

12. The Sherlock Holmes Museum in London is located in Baker Street to number 234, next to 221B Baker Street, the address chosen by Arthur Conan Doyle as the residence of his famous detective. The museum is run by the nonprofit International Sherlock Holmes Society. In the past, between 1860 and 1936, the Georgian house, currently occupied by the museum, was, a small hotel. The museum

14. A cura di: Belli Greta Borrelli Caterina Bracaglia Anna Chiara Iacovissi Giulia Lancia Maria Chiara Magliocchetti Michela