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The Red-Headed League is the second of the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in 1892. In it, Jabez Wilson, a flame-haired London pawnbroker, comes to consult Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Some weeks before, Wilson responded to a newspaper want-ad offering highly-paid work to only red-headed male applicants. Wilson is hired on the basis of the precise hue of his hair color and performs menial work at a decent wage. When this occupation is suddenly suspended, he enlists Holmes and Watson to find an explanation. One of his more lighthearted shorts, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ranked it as his second-favorite Sherlock Holmes story.
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"The classic stories, the ones that really consolidated Holmes popularity, and also the ones that confirmed me as a fan. This collection probably has more of the best stories Doyle wrote for Holmes than any other single collection. They are all good, but this is the best "
— Joe (5 out of 5 stars)
" This isn't by who it says its by... Mysterious! "
— Liz, 9/29/2012" I really enjoyed this book. I like the way Doyle writes--very crisp, very precise. Now, I'm going to pick up some of the longer books at the library. "
— Kivrin, 2/5/2010Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a writer and physician most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, the first scientific detective, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. Before becoming a writer, he attended the University of Edinburgh to train as a physician, and it was from his teacher, Joseph Bell, that he learned much of what would inspire Holmes’s skills of deduction. He also wrote science fiction stories, historical novels, plays, romances, poetry, and nonfiction. After his son Kingsley died in the first World War, he became a convert to spiritualism and a social reformer who used his investigative skills to prove the innocence of individuals.
Stephen Thorne trained at RADA and played several seasons with the Old Vic Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London. He has worked extensively in radio, with over two thousand broadcasts for the BBC, including Uncle Mort in the Radio 4 comedy series and the part of Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings. His television work includes EastEnders, Boys from the Bush, Death of an Expert Witness, and David Copperfield.