4.75 Stars

Since I’ve been reading this off and on since February (yeah, that’s right, ten months!), I’ve forgotten a lot of particular criticisms and compliments for individual mysteries. So, although I can’t be exactly in-depth with this, I can account for the general, over-all feel of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

When I first started reading, I found it difficult to picture Holmes and Watson as younger men. They’re in their mid-30s, probably, but for some reason the tone of the book makes them feel like they're much older than that.
Basically, when I began, I was picturing them as looking quite a lot like this:



Blame it on my childhood, will you?!

A Study In Scarlet was a strange tale, but I remember laughing out loud when Holmes was “sniffing about the room like some highly trained dog” (or something like that), and the introduction to Holmes as a character was very interesting. The mystery would’ve been fine if not for the Mormon plot-line, which really took me off guard. I guess it added depth, but it made the story drag along since it wasn’t all that interesting and it was long-winded and…well, strange.

The Sign of Four was about on the same level, without the weird Mormon plot. I had a happy little moment when Toby showed up to smell out the criminal, since Toby was also in The Great Mouse Detective (I know, I know! But I loved that cartoon when I was younger).

And also, Watson gets married at the end, which was kinda sweet. We’re also informed near the beginning that Holmes is a crack addict. AHEM *cough cough cough.* We all know this of Holmes with or without reading the mysteries, but it was rather disturbing to read about him stabbing himself with the needle repeatedly and syringing the stuff into his bloodstream. Ugh. Gross.
And yet, when I informed my sister, “Sherlock Holmes really is a druggie!” I kind of um…busted up laughing. :S
I am a horrible person…

Then I was thrust into all the little short stories from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. These were all good, but not exciting enough to keep me from setting the book aside for other pursuits. My favorite in The Adventures was, I think, “The Five Orange Pips.” I remember that interesting me more than many of the others, although the one about the blue carbuncle in the goose was also quite intriguing, with a few memorable lines about, you know, food.

After that was another series of short stories/mysteries called Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. These were also good, but I was starting to get bored because there wasn’t really anything too remarkable. I didn’t feel like I was getting to know the characters any better and they seemed dull and unchanging. Also, half of the story would be taken up by someone coming to 221B Baker Street and laying out the mystery in the most minute detail. I know this was probably necessary, but sometimes it just got BORING.

The most entertaining part of Memoirs was the first page of The Musgrave Ritual, in which Watson shares with us that Holmes was unorganized with his papers, kept his tobacco in a Persian slipper, and would sit in his armchair with his hair-trigger and adorn the opposite wall with a V.R. done in bullet-holes. After that it got better for me. And although it’s sad, and it’s not actually a mystery, The Final Problem may very well have been my favorite from Memoirs. Which is strange, of course, since Sherlock "DIES" in that one. :S But I saw more life and excitement in Sherlock Holmes just before his "death," which reminded me of the movie that finally succeeded in getting me to pick this volume up at Barnes & Noble.



When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle finally decided to write about his beloved detective again, he did it with style. The Hound of the Baskervilles was my favorite of them all. Very well written and exciting the whole way through. It’s suspenseful, appropriately dark, and just…WOW. Bravo, Doyle, I applaud you. This would have gotten 4 stars if not for that last one.

I have to say that I like the novel form for the mysteries a lot more than the short story form which ACD used more often for Holmes, since there’s more time to create a deeper plot and build up to a proper climax.

If you've been wanting to read about the famous detective, but haven't worked up the bravery to read the complete series, then I recommend reading A Study In Scarlet since it is the introduction to Holmes, and The Hound of the Baskervilles because it is an absolute masterpiece in classic mystery. Really just phenomenal.
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Volume 2!



Also looking forward to movie #2. ;)

P.S. Random quote from Watson about Holmes: "I have not heard him laugh often, and it has always boded ill to somebody." xD Yep, pretty much.

Fantastic. Brilliant. A Study in Scarlet was my very favorite.

I actually started this book probably two years ago, read a third of it and got bored, came back to it and read another third, got bored again, and now I decided to finally finish it. I didn't enjoy it. I think part of the problem was that they are mostly short stories so there isn't too much continuity so it was hard to stay interested. Also I think in the tv world of CSI/law and Order or any other crime show, it is pretty easy to see how things would work out. I do like the character of Holmes but just was kind of dull to read. I feel like nowadays they portray Holmes as a very cold, unfeeling, socially difficult person, but in the book he is quite affable and gentlemanly but a couple quirks. I am not sure why they choose to make him so harsh. Anyway, glad to be done with it.

Whatever you do, read Hound of the Baskervilles. Holy cow, that's now one of my favorite books. The short stories are fun, but some are better than others.

It feels like Holmes and Watson are really fleshed out as dynamic characters in Baskervilles. Is it the longer length? Is it because it was written so much later than the short stories?

I wasn’t able to finish—it had to be returned on Libby. I skipped around and jumped ahead to The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I’d heard was one of the best Holmes stories, and it didn’t disappoint! If I’d read it in my youth, it would have felt spooky. The annotations were fascinating, highlighting Doyle’s vast knowledge—he quotes poets, scripture, and ancient philosophers. I expected more clues to solve mysteries, but his stories focus more on human nature and the Holmes-Watson friendship, which I enjoyed most. Despite some vices (addiction being one) Holmes and Watson display a lot of wonderful characteristics of courage, chivalry, and gentlemanliness worth studying!

buckle up kids, 'tis gonna be a long one

Primul volum ne face cunoștință cu ingeniosul Sherlock Holmes și prietenul său Doctor Watson. Cuprinde romanele "Un studiu în roșu", "Semnul celor patru", dar și povestiri. Indiferent de complexitatea cazului, Sherlock găsește rezolvarea. Câteodată Scotland Yard-ul (poliția) îi cere ajutor.

As the commentary of the book informs me, Raymond Chandler once wrote that "Sherlock Holmes is after all mostly an attitude and a few dozen lines of unforgettable dialogue." Frankly, I think that's about right, at least for Volume I. The writing and plotting is really not that great in these early ones; only The Hound of the Baskervilles is a really mature work, in my opinion. The rest, while historically interesting (and full of very interesting historical color), are, in my opinion, pretty poor mysteries as far as the genre goes. Most of the time you can't at all try to "solve the mystery" yourself because the crucial facts are known only by Holmes and come through only at the last moment of the story. So basically it's an exercise in watching Watson get all confused, then Holmes swoops in and clarifies things (assuming that the villain hasn't already escaped or done himself in by the time Holmes does that, which happens about 3/4ths of the time—what exactly makes him the master detective, again?).

Personally I think the idea of Holmes and the setting of Holmes are great—the actual execution is a little shakey, though.

I suspect Arthur Conan Doyle felt similarly—there's a reason the guy had him thrown off a cliff!

(Which was, other than the Hound, one of my favorite stories, if only for its desperation. "Watson, there's a horrible monster, he's taken over everything! I will catch him! Oh no, we go over the cliff together!" You can just feel Conan Doyle's frustration with the character. The Final Solution is practically a parody of the whole genre.)

Always worth a re-read, but I hadn't read the Hound in a while. What a masterpiece.

If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes and love a good mystery, grab this classic collection.

I love Sherlock Holmes. Written in the late 1800s/early 1900s in London. I love the old vocabulary and the history. I can hear the horsedrawn hansons clattering down the brick streets. I can smell the tobacco of Holme's pipe. I have enjoyed the odd friendship of Holmes and Watson. And I have enjoyed the adventure and mystery these 2 gentlemen find themselves in. This volume takes some time to read, but I recommend anyone who is interested in mystery to read about this famous detective's adventures.