1/14 - Sherlock Holmes

This is the first Sherlock Holmes story I have ever read. I have read detective stories before, but none recently. I remember when I was younger a lot of people were reading the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys series, but I never followed them. The most recent detective stories I have encountered, I think, have been in movies. They have all followed a similar structure, this Sherlock Holmes story included.
In reading "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," the structure was pretty much what I expected I might find. Sometimes a detective takes it on himself to find and solve a problem/crime/mystery, but many times he is approached by an outside party with an issue to be investigated; usually it is one that is thought to be too difficult for most to solve. The good detective is incredibly observant (many times possessing a keener eye and a more readily clever mind than the average person) and begins to pick out clues right away. They form hunches and hypotheses from these initial clues, but they must then go do field investigation to gather more clues and confirm their theories. Often the detective is one step ahead of everyone else in his thought process. Those around him may observe the same clues, but aren't able to come to the same conclusions as the detective based on these clues. The climax is when the detective's theory is confirmed by a discovery that is often incredibly surprising to all others. The detective then explains the important clues and hunches that led him to the successful conclusion of the case. The writer of the story gives the audience hints and clues throughout and depending on the amount of clues given and the cleverness of the audience, the audience may or may not be able to solve the case before the conclusion is revealed.