A Scandal in Bohemia (3 stars) Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, King of Bohemia is arranged to marry the daughter of the King of Scandinavia but he loves another girl. Irene Alder. Entertaining. Fast-paced. I love the disguises!

The Red-Headed League (3 stars) Mr. Jabez Wilson has an apprentice in his pawnshop whose name is Mr. Vincent Spaulding. One day, Spaulding recruits his boss to the association of people with red hair to copy encyclopedia, Very funny storyline. I love the twist!

A Case in Identity (3 stars)Mary Sutherland, a typist, who inherits riches from her uncle in New Zealand, wants to find the whereabouts of Mr. Hosmer Angel, her boyfriend. Hmm, I can’t believe that Mary does not have a hint about her uncle in disguise. It reminded me of Roschester disguising as a fortune teller in Jane Eyre. Still funny, though.

The Boscombe Valley Mystery (2 stars)James McCarthy is suspected to have murdered his father, Charles McCarthy. However, through Charles last words and striking the conscience, Holmes finds out the real killer. After the first three short stories, this one pales in comparison but still okay.

The Five Orange Pips (4 stars)Elias Openshaw hires his favorite nephew John Openshaw as his household manager. One days Elias receives an envelope containing five orange pips that are the traditional symbol of Ku Klux Khan, a post-Civil War American terrorist organization. This organization kills the supporter of African-American voting rights. My first fiction on K.K.K. and I loved it!

The Man With the Twisted Lip (1 star)Neville St. Clair is missing so his wife is looking for him. The last time she sees him is on top of the building staring down at her. When she goes up she sees the beggar Hugh Boone. All these disguises! All these disguises! Hannibal Lectern does it better by scraping the skin of his victim but make up? I dunno. In whatever angle I see my wife, near or far, I could spot her without any effort!

The Blue Carbuncle (3 stars)The Blue Carbuncle is a stolen jewel belonging to the Countess of Morcar. This is believed to be stolen by a hotel employee named James Ryder. It is found inside the throat of a goose that is goes together with a hat. Both of them are owned by a plumber named John Horner. Quite clever using the poor goose to swallow a diamond! I liked this one.

The Speckled Band (3 stars)Helen and Julia Stoner have a stepfather Dr. Grimesby Roylott who will get poor if any of them gets married. The reason is that the will of their mother has named Roylott as the trustee as long as either of them ties a knot. Roylott does everything to stop Julia’s wedding to Percy Armitage. The solution that Holmes used here is quite simpler but the flashback approach seemed to have differentiated this to the other stories.

The Engineer’s Thumb (2 stars)Victor Hatherley is a hydraulics engineer but has no job so when Colonel Lysander Stark approaches him for a task that will pay him a huge amount of money, he accepts. It’s just that he is not aware of the risks that go with it. I just had a hard time understanding what is the meaning of fullers but this story has lesser suspense that the others in my opinion.

The Noble Bachelor (2 stars)Lord St. Simon, son of the Duke of Balmoral, has a missing wife, Hatty Doran. The main suspect is another woman, Flora Miller, who tries to stop the wedding of the two. Another story regarding marital problem, the spouse ditching her partner. Quite similar to “Twisted Lips.”

The Beryl Coronet (3 stars) Lord St. is a senior partner of one of the biggest banks in London. One day, a customer asks for a big loan with Beryl Coronet, a golden crown with 39 beryls (a kind of gem) inset, as a collateral. Worried about the security, Lord St., brings the gem home and tells his son and niece about it. When Lord St., wakes up 3 beryls are already missing. Very good story. The twist is solid and the denouement is well-thought of.

The Copper Beeches (4 stars)Violet Hunter wants Holmes’ opinion whether she should be a governess or not of a family with peculiar demands, including to cut her hair, but the rate will be double. The funniest story in the whole collection. Reminds me that governess or housemaids should not be discounted as they could be as smart as anybody else.

Twelve short stories that prove how clever Sherlock Holmes is as a detective. They also show us the friendship between him and his lifelong partner, Watson. This friendship is almost like a bromance, it’s just that it is really platonic and based on mutual respect and admiration. No wonder my friend in our bookclub is crazy about Sherlock Holmes. I bet he dreams of finding not a bromance but a close friend who will stay by his side up to his twilight years on earth.

After “reading” lengthy audiobooks like  Vanity Fair I just wanted to read/listen-to something short. Then I saw the movie The Imitation Game (highly recommended) and I thought “Of course! Sherlock!”

I suspect reviewing an anthology by listing all the stories and commenting on each of them is probably inelegant and amateurish, but I never said I was a pro. So the game is afoot! Let the jollification begin:

A Scandal in Bohemia - Irene Adler is not Holmes' girlfriend OK? Stop shipping "Sherene" already! (sorry for this bout of Tumblrism). One of the best known SH stories ever, one with a great twist. Irene Adler is simply awesome. She is possibly the inspiration for Catwoman. Without spoiling anything I can tell you that she was never in any danger of being beheaded in the Middle East. Actually Holmes probably fancies her a bit, mostly for her brain.

The Red-Headed League - Holmes vs The Deadly Gingers! This is “a three pipes problem” according to Holmes. This story is subtly funny in places, Holmes and Watson even have a good laugh at his dimwitted client's expense.

A Case of Identity - One of the more comfy cases which Holmes can solve from his armchair. Funny thing about this story is that while it is good, when I looked at the title of the story a couple days later in the Contents page I had no idea what it is about. It's just too elementary. Note to self: This one is about a missing fiancé who leaves his nice but dim bride at the altar, he is not what he seems...

The Boscombe Valley Mystery - Murder (al)most foul. Number of pipes not specified, probably not more than four as the case involves a bit of traveling. Holmes says something surprisingly religious here: “You are yourself aware that you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Assizes."

The Five Orange Pips - A bit of an epic fail for Sherlock, it's a great story and Holmes did solve the case but the conclusion of the case is not one of his shining moments. If you receive five orange pips in the post you may as well kill yourself because even Holmes can’t help you (though he will avenge you which is not much of a consolation)

The Man with the Twisted Lip
Holmes vs a master of disguise! Great story with a surprisingly sweet ending. Holmes solves this one by “sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag.” LOL! Mr. Holmes you are too many for me.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
In which Holmes wouldn't say boo to a goose. Underneath the cold exterior he can be quite kindly and forgiving to newbie criminals. It's a gem!

The Adventure of the Speckled Band - Holmes assists a Stoner in a most serpentine tale! This is the most thrilling and sinister story so far in the book. Definitely a favorite.

The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb - Another case where Holmes does not have to do a lot of work. The poor engineer and his ex-thumb though. The climax is quite thrilling, you can almost feel the ceiling closing in.

The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor The titular Noble Bachelor turns out to be an upper class twit. Doyle is doing a bit of a social satire with this story I think. A relatively inconsequential story but still a lot of fun. The wedding scene reminds me of the movie The Graduate a little bit.

The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
A tale of thievery and familial trust issues. Holmes can be quite paternal and sentimental when he chooses to be, though here he does that stuff "off screen".

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
“They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky”

It’s Holmes vs The Addams Family! Well, not quite but it’s not too far off. Marvelous story, featuring Violet Hunter, a resourceful and competent young lady, who is almost as awesome as Irene Adler. If Irene is Catwoman, Violet is surely Batgirl.

No Shit Sherlock* - Holmes battles his deadliest enemy, constipation! Dr. Watson to the rescue with a suppository.

Every story in this book (except that last one about constipation) is a gem. Gems come in different sizes of course, but the entire collection is definitely a treasure. Holmes is probably my favorite fictional character of all time. His intellect is practically of superhero proportion, he is also wonderfully inscrutable yet caring and staunch defender of the less well to do. Watson is an extremely important support for Holmes, his courage and loyalty to Holmes saves the sleuth’s bacon on many occasions. He is also definitely not an idiot as portrayed in some dramatization. He can be quite quick witted and observant, and of course he is our trusty narrator.

Of course it takes an actual genius to create such a vivid and convincing fictional genius. From the reader’s point of view it may seem easy to think up a crime and then retroactively create clues that will lead Holmes to solving them, but when you read these stories Holmes’ problem solving just seem so organic and natural. His reading of people’s background from observing the minutiae of their appearance is mind boggling even though we know the author create the observations to fit the characters’ appearance. The ingenious part is that Doyle makes it all so believable, and he writes with such wit, style and elegance.

If you never read any Sherlock Holmes before shame on you! I recommend starting with this collection, then go on to the novels and other collections.
_________________________________
* OK, I totally made this one up!

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Librivox audiobook read – nay performed – by David Clarke. Awesome job Mr. Clarke!

3.5/5 ~ The edition that I own is a collection of stories taken from both this book and another one! This book was a fun mysteries read, coolest part was definitely seeing Sherlock’s mind in action

A Scandal in Bohemia: 4 stars
The Adventure of the Red-Headed League: 5 stars
A Case of Identity: 3.5 stars
The Bascombe Valley Mystery: 3 stars
The Five Orange Pips: 3.5 stars
The Man with the Twisted Lip: 4 stars
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: 4.5 stars
The Adventure of the Speckled Band: 5 stars
The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb: 4 stars
The Adventure of the Nobel Bachelor: 4.5 stars
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet: 5 stars
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches: 5 stars

BRILLIANT. I NEED ME SOME MORE SHERLOCK PLEASE.

Sherlock es un gran personaje y en estos relatos se confirma, intuitivo, observador, divertido. Watson un gran narrador se historias y el complemento perfecto de este investigador.
Mi favorito: Escándalo en Bohemia.

(A) 85% | Extraordinary
Notes: It finds an ideal medium in chapter-length tales: a rare short story collection with no misses, only hits and better hits.

n  n    As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is, the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.n  n

Who doesn't know Sherlock Holmes these days? Even if not everyone might be familiar with the original version invented by Arthur Conan Doyle, Mr. Holmes has become such a legend in his own right, a development fed and supported by numerous stage, screen and radio adaptions, that it is nearly impossible to hear the word 'detective' without immediately associating Sherlock Holmes.

'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' is a collection of altogether twelve short stories, published as the third part of the Sherlock Holmes series following Doyle's novels "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Sign of Four". Not without reason do many readers consider this collection to be Doyle's masterpiece, myself included. It simply was no masterpiece which absolutely thrilled or stunned me. Blame it on me or my inability to read all the stories from this collection in less than four months, but a lot of the fun about Holmes' and Watson's adventures was deprived from the novel by repeating exactly the same concept in each and every one of those stories.

Let's take a look at the short stories itself, which may very well represent the very essence of Doyle's works in the Sherlock Holmes canon. Beginning with A Scandal in Bohemia and concluding with The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, Doyle invented two famous female characters frequently associated with the stories about Holmes: Irene Adler and Violet Hunter. Both may be considered ahead of their times, surprisingly independent and brave. The other characters Doyle brought into play during the other ten stories were not quite as memorable, however. The Red-Headed League turned out to be a sweet little short story which isn't very outstanding in the Sherlock Holmes series because of its predictability, but still includes some interesting quotes and follows a suspense-packed plot with a conclusion which will keep you turning the pages ... just as The Boscombe Valley Mystery, an interesting mystery story about a man being suspected of having murdered his father, consisting of fast-paced dialogues and an exciting turning point. Everyone seems to have guessed the ending correctly before reading it - everyone except for me -, which may be the reason for why I liked it so much.

A Case of Identity was far off being nearly as intriguing - I have written a full review for this story here - while The Man with the Twisted Lip emerged as a really good short story with an interesting twist I would never have figured out on my own. In addition, Arthur Conan Doyle included some interesting material surrounding Sherlock's drug addiction here, and once again, he masterfully explored the friendship between Sherlock and Watson. Afterwards, a story about the influence of the Ku Klux Klan, The Five Orange Pips, eloquently narrated by Watson as usual, once again followed the pattern of a classic Holmes tale with an interesting plot and new layers of depth to the character of Sherlock Holmes. Sadly enough, it wasn't as unique as Doyle wanted the story to appear.

Another rather interesting little story, but not outstanding or mind-blowing was The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, enjoyable, but nothing more. Therein, Holmes has to deal with a stolen carbuncle appearing in the throat of a Christmas goose, entering on the search for the real culprit. The Speckled Band is one of the most well-known stories in this collection, and the hype this short story received is understandable due to its complex mystery and the stunning conclusion. I liked the story myself. However, never before has Doyle confronted us with so many plot holes, which ultimately disappointed me. A story full of potential which was stripped from its credibility for the sake of cutting it short - the story certainly provided home for more potential than some of Doyle's full-length novels. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb deals with an engineer whose thumb is chopped off, stinging Sherlock to work out the background of this new case.

The Noble Bachelor focuses on the disappearance of a Lord's bride immediately after the wedding ceremony. Quite an entertaining story with snarky Sherlock Holmes at his best, and a stunning conclusion which once again made the reader feel as dumbfounded as John Watson about Sherlock's investigative talents. The second-last story, The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, deals with the damage mysteriously inflicted to the coronet of a British earl, and, finally, during the conclusion of the collection Doyle rises to fresh heights of his writing with The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, breathing life into a suspenseful story surrounding a woman who assumes work at the mansion of a strange couple with dark secrets.


While most of these stories are independently enjoyable and memorable on their own, added up on each other they amount to a collection of great mysteries Doyle could have been proud of. However, for me, the problem in getting through the anthology proved to be the similar execution of each and every story. All of them started with Sherlock and Watson sitting or conversing in Sherlock's home, right before the case's new victim appeared - in most cases on the story's second page. After elaborately recounting their experiences in a way so explicitly formulated that they might have been the starting-point of a story without Sherlock or Watson being present, the second part of all the stories mainly consisted in Sherlock and Watson calling upon the location of the occurence, right before the third part was used to allow Sherlock to narrate the real events leading up to the upcoming of the mystery based on his investigations. Now and then, the second step was even skipped if Sherlock started the investigation without Watson (who was the first-person narrator, which resulted in us only being allowed to look at Sherlock's approach if Watson was present as well), and it just bothered me to read the same concept over and over again, only embedded in different plotlines. And, just as a footnote, someone should have told Sherlock not to consider every single one of his cases as the greatest challenge of his career. It became repetitive after a certain point.

However, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" remains a great work and can be seen as a tribute to the wonderful and world-wide famous characters of Holmes and Watson. My only disappointment results in my shattered hopes that Mycroft - Holmes' brother - or Moriarty - Holmes' archenemy - might be introduced during one of these stories, but my anticipation of meeting them obviously needs to wait slightly longer. Up next on my Sherlock Holmes quest: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”

It's true what they say: You can't beat the classics!

Seriously, there's a reason why these stories have stood the test of time: They're amazing!

If you've never read any of the original Holmes novels, you should go find one...NOW!

The Sherlock Holmes stories are "comfort food for the soul" to me. They have brought so much enjoyment through the years and, starting any of the tales (even a "lesser" one), instantly transports me to a soothing literary place that is as effective as any meditation session for me. Indeed, it has been a time of emotional uncertainty that brought me back to THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, and the stories quickly worked their magic upon me.

Although Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a number of popular novels, I've often heard the opinion expressed that the Sherlock Holmes novels he wrote were not nearly as good as the short stories. Now, I've always enjoyed THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. However, in general, I must admit that I also prefer the short story collections, and those found in THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES may be the best.

Once again, my source for enjoying these was "The Oxford Sherlock Holmes." Although I wouldn't recommend this series to the first time Reader because of the amount of distracting detail that they provide, it was an absolute delight for me to learn more about the world's most famous consulting detective, his "Boswell," and the writer.

There are two strong reasons to recommend the Oxford edition of THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES:

* When originally published in the "Strand," some stories appeared out of sequence from when they were written. This "order" was also duplicated in original collections of the stories. It is not a major element, but the writer often referenced previous stories in the current one. So, if taken out of order, there are references to "cases" that have not yet been read. The Oxford edition restores them to their written order.

* Once more, the annotations can be fascinating. Particularly, there are not only descriptions of places and terminology that may not be readily apparent to the modern Reader, but there is speculation on where the writer obtained his names for characters and plot ideas. It may be astonishing to realize that some were "borrowed" from other famous works including stage plays! Imagine doing that today without an immediate lawsuit arising! He also freely used ideas suggested by acquaintances and from "news of interest" clippings from various newspapers. Some of the original sources very much intrigued me! And there are also the comments about the inconsistencies, such as Watson's name changing from John to James, the temporary replacement of Mrs. Hudson, and Watson's roving war wound.

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES collects twelve popular tales including some extremely famous ones that have become iconic such as "A Scandal in Bohemia," "A Case of Identity," "The Red-Headed League," "The Five Orange Pips," and the horrific thriller "The Speckled Band." Also included is a personal favorite of mine, "The Blue Carbuncle," set during the Christmas holiday season and almost as reminiscent of the time as A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens.

Out of the twelve, only one was less satisfying (in my opinion). That would be "The Noble Bachelor." It is not poorly written, but the story overall contained much less interesting characters and the case solution was uninvolving. Also, because of the presence of "class lineage," the notations were excessive and of very little interest to me. Of course, that's just my opinion.

It took me longer than usual to complete THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES because I frankly didn't want the experience to end. Each reading session was highly anticipated and left me with a feeling of having spent time with friends. That may be the best recommendation that I can give.

Para ser lo primero que leo del autor (hace lo que parecen ser mil años una de las lecturas obligatorias en mi instituto fue “El sabueso de los Baskerville”, pero eso no cuenta), estoy muy gratamente sorprendido.
Saltándome el orden usual, decidí comenzar con “Las aventuras” en lugar de con “Estudio en escarlata” para garantizarme una lectura sencilla, ágil y poco exigente. Que es justo lo que he tenido.
Me ha encantado entrar en el 221B de Baker Street y conocer estos ¿pueden llamarse casos menores? de Holmes y, si bien no todos tienen la misma complejidad ni, a mis ojos, calidad, sí que suponen un ejercicio de lógica entre lo fascinante y lo absurdo (en el buen sentido).
He disfrutado especialmente de “La liga de los pelirrojos”, “El misterio de Boscombe Valley”, “La aventura del carbunclo azul” y, por encima de todos, de “La aventura de la banda de lunares”.