I now understand why this collection of short stories is not as popular as the others. I feel as if Conan Doyle wanted to write something different from the usual formula of finding a murdered victim, then searching for her/his past, and finally capturing the murderer. Unfortunately, these "different" stories do not work as well, or at least they are not as appealing to me. And since they were all collected into the same volume, the whole thing just feels not good enough. I enjoyed "The Problem of Thor Bridge", "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client", "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", and "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place". But unfortunately, none of them were as good as previous ones. Moreover, I plainly disliked "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger", and most of the others were just as forgettable.