Λατρεύω τον Σέρλοκ Χολμς αλλά το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο το βρήκα λίγο βαρετό. Μπορεί να φταίει που ήταν συλλογή διηγημάτων (και θα έλεγα ότι δεν μου αρέσουν ιδιαίτερα τα διηγήματα), άλλα το βρήκα δύσκολο σε πολλές περιπτώσεις να κρατήσω το ενδιαφέρον μου ζωντανό. Κάποιες από τις ιστορίες μου άρεσαν και τις βρήκα ενδιαφέρουσες, αλλά σε άλλες έπρεπε να πιέσω τον εαυτό μου να συνεχίσει να διαβάζει.

The unregretted crime of creating an icon.

In the preface to this work--the last of the series--Doyle reflects on his experience of being the author of Sherlock Holmes, where he explains:

"I have never regretted it, for I have not in actual practice found that these lighter sketches have prevented me from exploring and finding my limitations in such varied branches of literature as history, poetry, historical novels, psychic research, and the drama. Had Holmes never existed I could not have done more, though he may perhaps have stood a little in the way of the recognition of my more serious literary work."

I've read that Doyle hated Holmes by this point. Thus it is no surprise this is not the best collection. I noticed in the twelve stories here there were few beloved tidbits about Holmes, the favorite aspect of many, including myself.

There was one tidbit I found interesting, though. As we know Holmes (Doyle) was always open to any type of clue. In this work, Holmes makes this proposition, dogs not only as bloodhounds, but to assess character:

"My line of thoughts about dogs is analogous. A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones. And their passing moods may reflect the passing moods of others."

Not the best of the series, but I'm sure his avid fans at the time appreciated just one more collection of Sherlock Holmes.



Listened via Librivox, narrated by Thomas A. Copeland, a prolific, fine narrator.
https://librivox.org/the-case-book-of...

kocham yaoi

El último. El resucitado Sherlock y sus postreras aventuras. Con el prefacio escrito por un conmovido y agotado Arthur Conan Doyle. Con la originalidad de leer algunos relatos escritos directamente por Holmes (y no por Watson) justificando este hecho extraordinario por el "hostigamiento y la persecusión" a la que lo sometía su fiel compañero quien, ya harto de tantas críticas, declara "¡Pruebe de escribir usted mismo, Holmes!"
Como es normal que ocurra, algunas historias me han gustado más ("La aventura del soldado de la piel decolorada", "La aventura del vampiro de Sussex" y "El problema del Puente de Thor") sin duda por la originalidad de sus resoluciones.
Sin embargo, en palabras de su autor "Esto tiene que terminar, y Sherlock Holmes debe seguir el camino de todo lo que es carne en el sentido material o en el de la fantasía"

Y sí. Tiene que ser así, más ¿cómo no entristecerse?

My least favorite of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story collections. Probably 3.5 stars, all but a couple stories remind me of listening to the Rolling Stones post 2000 (appreciate the work, but it is obvious the exceptional stuff was done 20 years previous). Still here and there I found the Case-Book enjoyable, the rest of the stories seemed phoned in. Doyle wasn't carving new channels here, but his craft was still formidable.

A couple of stories written by Holmes himself are the stand out of this collection, even if they are not as successfully written as the standard formula. There is also a preface which is quite amusing. Doyle states in it that the popularity of the Holmes stories may have undermined his more serious literary work. I found this a little hard to believe. I mean, it is not as if an author is necessarily like an actor - in the way it would have been hard for Don Adams to play someone other than Maxwell Smart.

Also interesting is the number of stories in which dogs play vital roles. As always, a joy to read.

3'5 ⭐

Muy floja está colección de aventuras de Sherlock Holmes. Se nota que el autor lo escribió más por obligación que por disfrute.

Solo encuentro 3 relatos remarcables y que me han parecido interesantes: El Vampiro de Sussex, La aventura de los tres Garridebs y La aventura de Shoscombe Old Place.

Los demás son olvidables, y algunos hasta aburrido.

Pero al ser Sherlock Holmes y un personaje que me encanta le subo media estrella

My edition of this book has a nice Preface by the author himself, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He explained that he had written enough about Holmes and Watson so he said goodbye to them. However, he hoped that his readers will remember those characters for a long time. There were some readers who advised him not to end the series as it had formed part of their boyhood. Well, I was already in my middle age when I finally read this but still I appreciated it and for 10 months became part of my daily reading routine. I normally read this as a back up (if the first book proved to be boring) book in the morning early morning, during weekends and especially while resting at the gym lounge. You see, there are some books that I would not dare bring at the gym because some of the members are snoopy and form some kind of expression on their faces if they see me reading books that they think make my sexual preference the same as theirs.

Yes, when I closed this book after my workout today, I also said goodbye to Sherlock Holmes as but I definitely enjoyed reading the whole canon.

This book, his last collection of 12 (out of 56) short stories has works that deviated from the usual Watson as the narrator. Rather there is one “Mazarin Stone” narrated by an unnamed third person then there are two, “Blanched Soldier” and “Lion’s Mane” with Holmes as narrator himself. Also, that “Lion’s Mane” is already set after Holmes’ retirement. This gave me the inkling that Sir Doyle also thought twice before deciding to end this canon.

The Adventure of the Illustrious Client. Violet is the daughter of General De Merville and she is in love with a murderer, Austian Baron Adelbert Gruner. The murderer’s last victim is his wife but he does not get punished because the witness gets sick and dies during the trial. Holmes first sees the baron himself but the meeting does not help Holmes in anyway. It takes the other past mistress for him to get clues on what really happened to the victims. Quite interesting. I thought that the baron was some kind of a vampire killer and then it turned out that he was just ugly and turned uglier at the end of the story. The story is entertaining but when the real baron is revealed towards the end, I said: “huh? okay” and proceeded right away to the next story. This is the reason why it took me a while to finish this collection. - 2 STARS

The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier. Godfrey Emsworth is missing and his friend James Dodd is looking for him. They both served as armies during the Second Boer War in South Africa. It has been six months since the war ended and since they were friends during the war, Dodd tries to contact him and since Emsworth has not responded, Dodd writes to his father. The father says that his son is on travel around the world but Dodd does not believe him. He thinks that Emsworth is missing so he consults Holmes for help. This is one of the two short stories that are narrated by Sherlock Holmes instead of his partner, Dr. Watson. The reason is that “Watson deserted me for a wife.” The wife being referred here is Watson’s second wife since this was published after Watson and his first wife have separated. The story ends happily and hopeful as regards to the real condition (why is he called “blanched”) of Emsworth. Quite different from the other stories. I also liked the friendship between the two men. - 4 STARS

The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone. Count Negretto Sylvius still an important jewel called the Mazarin Stone. Together with his henchman, Sam Merton, Count Sylvius comes to 221B Baker St. to confront Holmes and ask why the latter’s henchmen are following him. After explaining that the henchmen are all him in disguise, Holmes pulls a series of tricks to make the count admit that he is indeed the thief. This is one of the two Sherlock Holmes stories (the other is His Last Bow that are written in third person. Also, what is noteworthy here is the fact that there is only one setting: Holmes’ room in 221B Baker St. Based on Wiki, the reason is that that this short story is originally written for a theatre play. – 3 STARS

The Adventure of the Three Gables. Steve Dixie, a black dimwitted man, tells Holmes to stay away from Harrow (a area in London). To know the reason for the threat, Holmes floated that he knows Dixie’s participation on the Perkin’s case (death). Dixie’s boss is Barney Stockdale and Holmes suspects that he is connected with Harrow Weald case as is tipped off by Mary Maberley, the lady who lives at Three Gables.This is the best story in this collection. It reminded me of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables especially because of the characters. Was it possible that this story was inspired by that classic novel by Hawthorne? - 4 STARS

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. Mr. Ferguson suspects that his wife is a vampire because their son’s nurse has caught her sucking the blood of their son. Mr. Ferguson tells the nurse to keep quiet by bribing her. The baby is the 2nd son of Mr. Ferguson. The first one is the 15-y/o Jack whose mother is not Mrs. Ferguson. The family lives at their Essex Estate. The starting scene is very engaging. I thought that this was comparable to the gothic ingredient of The Hound of the Baskervilles. - 3 STARS

The Adventure of the Three Garridebs. Nathan and John Garridebs are looking man whose surname is unusual: Garrideb. Holmes finds out that there is an American Garrideb who asks John Garrideb to look for another man who has the same surname and he will give John $15 million dollars. So far, John has found only Nathan who consults Holmes and so the American Garrideb is not pleased. I liked how the deductions were done by Holmes in the story. The basic premise is not very interesting because the Garrideb does not longer look like an out of this world surname. However, it might be the case when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote this in June 1902. - 3 STARS

The Problem of Thor Bridge. Maria Gibson is killed near Thor Bridge apparently by her children’s governess, Grace Dunbar. Maria’s husband goes to Sherlock Holmes to clear Dunbar. Despite the obvious evidences, Holmes proceeds to the investigation and by the power of deduction, finds out what are really happened. Simple yet elegantly told. At first, it seems like a simple straightforward story yet when Holmes’ deductive skills come into play, the unearthing of the real story is just impressive. – 3 STARS

The Adventure of the Creeping Man. Professor Presbury is acting strange and his personal secretary, Mr. Bennett seeks the help of Holmes and Watson. Mr. Bennett informs the duo that the professor has just come from Prague and that he does not want a box to be opened and the letters with cross beneath the stamps to go straight to his master. Prague should be an exotic place around that time that this was written. Maybe like Transylvannia where Dracula used to reside. No extraordinary flavor in this story except that Sir Doyle seemed to be thinking of going sci-fi. Do old man who are about to re-marry, this time with a much younger woman, have to resort to those things? - 2 STARS

The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane. Harold Stackhurst is a headmaster of The Gables, a preparatory school. Holmes is enjoying a weekend with him because they are friends when another teacher in the same school, Fitzroy McPherson arrives with blood and says something about “lion’s mane” before collapsing then dies. The third teacher, Ian Murdoch, comes after but says that he has no knowledge about the murder. Holmes thinks that Murdoch is the killer because he used to court Maud Bellamy, McPherson’s fiancée until the lion’s mare comes out. Very educational at least for me. I grew up in an island but I never knew about this lion’s mane could be deadly. Maybe this is found only in that part of the world and not in the Pacific? I like it when I learned something from Holmes. - 4 STARS

The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger. Mrs. Merrilow has a lodger who is mysterious because she has not shown her face. Once, Mrs. Merrilow sees it by accident and it was disfigured. Another lodger complains and so Holmes and Watson do their investigation and find the history of the disfigurement. It is that time when the lodger is working on a carnival and gets herself a boyfriend. This one is quite different. It is more dramatic than the usual illustration of Holmes’ power of deduction. This one has heart and Holmes is more of like a shrink rather than a detective. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. - 3 STARS

The Adventure of the Shoscombe Old Place. John Mason is a trainer at a racing stable called Shoscombe Old Place. He consults Holmes because he thinks that his master, Sir Robert Norberton is going mad. The owner of the racing stable is the sister of Sir Robert but Sir Robert is betting on the horse called Shoscombe Prince because if the horse wins, he will be out of debt. When the sister-owner dies, Sir Robert has to hide the body while waiting for the derby where Shoscombe Price competes. This was the last work included in this Sherlock Holmes canon. Yey! It’s a nice story and ends happily. There is nothing remarkable but it felt nice to finally read all the works. So, maybe that’s the reason why I liked this. I said “finally! At last!” and closed the book. - 3 STARS

The Adventure of the Retired Colourman. A wife of a man leaves with her lover. The man is Josiah Amberley and the lover is Dr. Ray Ernest. The husband is the one who comes to Holmes to help track down the lovers. It turns out that the lovers have not eloped as the husband is telling Holmes. Very nice story and I thought that the reason why the British edition put this as the last story is that this is better than the real last which was the Shosombe. This has all the usual elements of a Sherlock Holmes story: deduction, Watson being part of the plot, Baker has an appearance here, the drama of mature adult relationship, etc. - 5 STARS

Thank you, gentlemen (Doyle, Holmes and Watson). I really had a nice time knowing you. We were together for 10 months and I will surely miss all of you. *salutes*

Now, my problem is what book to bring to the gym.

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 12 short stories. I've seen a few reviews for this particular collection saying that it is the worst of all the Sherlock Holmes cannon, so I lowered my expectations - and was pleasantly surprised. It's not my favourite of the collections, but I enjoyed and was intrigued by the majority of the stories. It also felt shorter than the others, there was the same amount of stories (actually more than "His Last Bow") but I think the stories themselves were a bit shorter in general.
The stories are:
- The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
- The Problem of Thor Bridge
- The Adventure of the Creeping Man
- The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
- The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
- The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
- The Adventure of the Three Gables
- The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
- The Adventure of the Lion's Mane
- The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
- The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
- The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place

I only have one book left now - "The Hound of the Baskervilles" - which is sad, but I think I saved the best for last!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a writer I count among my favorites, and I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan since my boyhood. However, although I've read all four of Doyle's Holmes novels, there are still a number of the short stories in the canon that I haven't read; and except for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, this is the only one of the author's own collections I've read. This volume collects the last dozen stories Doyle wrote about Holmes (his preface states his intention not to write any more of them), all set before "His Last Bow," which takes place at the outset of World War I, though they were written after it. (Some of the story settings are given exact chronological dates, and some aren't.) Stylistically, they're very much of a piece with any of the earlier ones that I've read. Holmes solves cases by the rigorous observation of details and the application of deductive logic, in a coldly intellectual fashion that the Neoclassical writers would have approved; but Doyle's essentially Romantic approach shows in the appeal of the tales to the emotions, and the frequent use of outre and exotic motifs and sometimes Gothic atmosphere. Most of the stories here, unlike the majority of modern mysteries, don't involve murder (and some don't actually involve criminal behavior at all). Usually Holmes' faithful sidekick Dr. Watson narrates the tales, but one story here is told in third person, and the great detective himself narrates two of them.

Most of the stories were new to me in written form, though I'd previously read "The Adventure of the Creeping Man," which appears in the excellent Southern Illinois Univ. Press collection The Best Science Fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle; the Holmes stories avoid use of actual supernatural elements (though Doyle wrote supernatural fiction with other characters), but this is a good example of the few that use science fictional elements. (I also realized, while reading the book, that I'd previously read "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" and "The Problem of Thor Bridge," because I recognized remembered passages of dialogue in both of them; but those reads were long ago and I'd forgotten almost all of the plots.) In a few cases, I'd also seen an adaptation of a story years ago on the outstanding PBS series Mystery!, whose wonderful Holmes episodes feature Jeremy Brett, whom I consider THE definitive cinematic Holmes. But the adaptations were different enough from the written stories (and I'd forgotten enough of most of them!) to not be spoilerish.

One of these adaptations was the main source of my interest in this particular collection. The two-part episode The Last Vampire (which is actually feature-film length, and which I taped on VHS and re-watch occasionally) was based on one of the stories here, "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," and I've wanted to read the latter ever since seeing the TV version. The two, however, are actually significantly different. A literal adaptation of the story wouldn't have run for more than an hour (half an hour might have done it). Both story and film are set mostly in rural Sussex, though the latter develops the setting more; the dynamics of the Ferguson household in the film are (mostly) also in the story, and a couple of plot elements are the same, but used differently. But two of the best-drawn characters in the film, Stockton and the vicar, as well as the villagers, are absent from the story, as is the background about the St. Clair family and their ruined mansion, and the whole theme of psychic vampirism is lacking as well. Also, the film version is darker, more suspenseful, and more emotionally impactful. I won't say the story was a disappointment; it's a good yarn for what it is. (But it's nowhere near as ripping good as the TV "adaptation!" Viewed strictly as a adaptation, I'd have to give the latter a D-; but taking it on its own terms just as a piece of cinema in its own right, I'd give it an A+, five stars, and two thumbs up.)

In some cases here, Holmes doesn't have to do much deduction; and in other stories, I was able to figure out the basic nature of the solution to the mystery pretty quickly. (That didn't preclude enjoying the stories, however.) Doyle's leading female characters are often morally courageous, emotionally strong women of admirable character, although we also have one nasty villainess here (and it isn't Kitty Winter, despite her "fallen" status!). "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger" is perhaps the most emotionally evocative of the twelve stories here, and "the Adventure of the Lion's Mane" perhaps the most imaginative. A couple of caveats are in order about ethnic stereotyping. One of the minor villains in "The Adventure of the Three Gables" is black (and a police inspector refers to him by the infamous "n-word," though Holmes and Watson don't), and in "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" it's mentioned more than once that a number of Sir Robert's creditors are Jews, though the principal one is a Gentile. But Doyles's criminals are generally white; there's no suggestion here that blacks are commonly criminals, or that Steve is a criminal because he's black. (Blacks have the same range of moral possibilities as any other ethnic group; for writers to always feel self-consciously obliged to portray them as saintly doesn't really represent an embrace of the idea of racial equality, in the actual meaning of the term.) And although the legal and ecclesiastical rules against Christians charging interest on loans (which had meant that in the medieval and early modern eras, only Jews engaged in commercial money-lending) had been done away with by Holmes' time, the traditional pattern in the financial industry still persisted to a degree --most Jews weren't money-lenders, and a number of money-lenders were Gentiles, but a disproportionate number of them were still Jewish. (Doyle doesn't suggest that the trade is in any way dishonorable, or that those who follow it, Jewish or Gentile, are at all out of line in expecting to be repaid money that they loaned in good faith!)

All in all, I think this collection would appeal to any Holmes fan. Mystery fans in general, provided they don't avoid short stories as such, should also enjoy these; the diction isn't particularly challenging, nor archaic. IMO, though, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes or one of the first two novels, A Study in Scarlet or The Sign of Four, might be a better first introduction to the character of Holmes, if you've never actually read any of the canon. But that may be just me, and reflecting the fact that those were the first Holmes books that I read!

This collection of short stories is not the strongest in the series, but it certainly has its moments. Doyle knew this would be the end, and he took a few risks with the storytelling, getting away, in places, from his standard approach. This is the book, more than any of the others, where he really seemed to relax and get creative with the style. Some parts are better than others, but all of them are interesting. This book features some stories narrated from Sherlock’s point of view, and one of those, set during Holmes’ retirement, takes place mostly on the beach. That’s a fun deviation from Sherlock’s usual milieu. Doyle also allowed himself to get a little sentimental here, especially in the story “The Three Garridebs.” I would give the collection 5 stars for this story alone. In this story, Holmes and Watson go off on an adventure, and Watson gets shot. Watson is also narrating the story, and his account of Sherlock’s reaction is golden: “‘You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!’ It was worth a wound—it was worth many wounds—to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.” I can’t imagine that. Sherlock losing control, his lip trembling? And all because he cares for Watson! This is the moment I’d been waiting to see since book one. Absolutely lovely.

Το Σημειωματάριο του Sherlock Holmes είναι η συλλογή των τελευταίων περιπετειών που έγραψε ο Doyle για τον διάσημο ντετέκτιβ και τον βοηθό του. Παρόλο που η δομή των ιστοριών παραμένει ίδια με τις υπόλοιπες, η θεματολογία είναι αρκετά πιο σκοτεινή και αρκετές περιπέτειες έχουν έναν πιο "Gothic" χαρακτήρα. Η αφήγηση δεν γίνεται πάντα από τον Watson (κάτι το οποίο ήταν δεδομένο σε όλες τις προηγούμενες ιστορίες) αλλά σε μερικές αναλαμβάνει ο Sherlock τον ρόλο του αφηγητή (σε αυτές απουσιάζει τελείως ο Watson). Μία μάλιστα γίνεται εξ ολοκλήρου σε τριτοπρόσωπη αφήγηση! Αρκετοί κριτικοί υποστηρίζουν ότι το βιβλίο περιλαμβάνει τις πιο "φτωχές" περιπέτειες που έγραψε ο συγγραφέας. Μία λανθασμένη άποψη (κατά την γνώμη μου) που οφείλεται μάλλον στο γεγονός ότι ο Doyle "ξέφυγε" από την συνηθισμένη μορφή των ιστοριών. Έκανε όμως ξεκάθαρο έτσι ότι οι ήρωες του δεν είναι ένα είδος αστυνομίας που αναλαμβάνουν υποθέσεις. Τα βιβλία του μιλάνε για τις ΠΕΡΙΠΕΤΕΙΕΣ (και όχι για τις υποθέσεις) δύο φίλων, του Sherlock και του Watson... Δύο ανθρώπων που εκπροσωπούν το δίκαιο και όχι απαραίτητα τον νόμο!
Η συλλογή περιλαμβάνει τις περιπέτειες:
1. Η περιπέτεια του επιφανούς πελάτη.
2. Η περιπέτεια του ασπρισμένου στρατιώτη.
3. Η περιπέτεια του πετραδιού Mazarin.
4. Η περιπέτεια των τριών αετωμάτων.
5. Η περιπέτεια του βρικόλακα του Sussex.
6. Η περιπέτεια των τριών Garridebs.
7. Το πρόβλημα της γέφυρας Θορ.
8. Η περιπέτεια του έρποντα άντρα.
9. Η περιπέτεια της χαίτης του λιονταριού.
10.Η περιπέτεια του ενοίκου με το βέλο.
11.Η περιπέτεια της Βίλας Shoscombe.
12.Η περιπέτεια του συνταξιούχου χρωματοπώλη.

Ο Doyle σε αυτό το τελευταίο κεφάλαιο του ήρωα του δείχνει περισσότερο από κάθε άλλη φορά την επίδραση που έχει ο Watson πάνω στον Sherlock σφραγίζοντας μια από τις πιο δυνατές φιλίες σε ολόκληρη την λογοτεχνία.