5 stars. This is my least favourite of the Sherlock collections, but I still found it enjoyable. A couple of the stories are much darker, particularly the last two, so they left me with a bad taste in my mouth when I finished off the canon with them. I prefer to read n  His Last Bown after this one, rather than before; it’s the real ending to the Sherlock books.

I enjoyed seeing two of them through Sherlock’s eyes. Oddly enough, in this book you really see a glimpse of Holmes’ heart. There’s his pleading with Miss Violet in “The Illustrious Client”; and his wonderful advice to the Veiled Lodger; his remarks to the millionaire in “Thor Bridge”; and my favourite, his reaction when Watson is wounded in “The Three Garriebs”. I love seeing his friendship with Watson, and his humour is epicccc. The Mazarin Stone was particularly humorous. Overall, this collection shows more of Holmes, and it really makes you think a lot about life.

Individual reviews:
I. The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
5 stars. This is a somber story, but with a good message for young women then and now. I love the glimpse we get of Holmes’ heart here—the side of him rarely seen—and this, as well as his various failures throughout the story, humanize him. The other characters are none of them very pretty, but faithful Watson is as heartening as ever. The ending was unexpected and I don’t quite like it—it’s rather horrible—but the rest of the plot is fascinating, and as always, the humour is excellent.

Other Content: violence; plot contains a lustful man with many mistresses and a woman who was his mistress; language; smoking. Recommended age: 18+

II. The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
5 stars. This is quite a unique story. When a young man comes to Holmes worried over the mysterious fate of his beloved comrade, Sherlock must work on his own, “Watson having deserted him for a wife.” There aren’t many stories written from Holmes’ POV, and somehow he manages to point out his methods and still pop a surprising ending. The characters are interesting. Mrs. Emsworth was sweet and the Colonel was rather hard to peg. Mr. Dodd was a splendid friend, and Godfrey himself, while not particularly striking, at least had striking adventures. The plot is too short to comment greatly upon, but it’s a great example of how Sherlock works—I love how the deductions are really plain common sense.

Content: hope to G**, wish to G**, d*mned x2, what the de**l, in Hea**n’s name.

III. The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
5 stars. This is such a fun story! It’s rather different from the others, being the only Sherlock story to be written from an omniscient narrator POV. It seems set after Watson’s second marriage, at a period when Holmes was somewhat lonely, and includes a page, Billy, who seems a sweet and helpful boy—I wish we’d see him again! It’s nice to see Holmes worried about him. ;) The two other characters are also very interesting—the panther-like Count Sylvius and the stupid, bullheaded Sam. I would have liked to see the Count facing off against Holmes again. The plot was quite enjoyable, much more comedic than anything—the characters provoke much satirical humour from Holmes. I was sorry Watson didn’t show more, but really, this is one of mt favourite stories and it shows Holmes off so well. ;)

Content: D*mned (x2); what the d*vil; d*mn you; good Lo*d; the deuce (x2).

IV. The Adventure of the Three Gables
4 stars. This story reminds me strongly of A Scandal in Bohemia. There are some very remarkable women in the Sherlock chronicles… The story was less enjoyable for me, because of the nature of the crime (really, take a lover, refuse to marry him, and have your men beat him up?). I despised the villain, and I was annoyed that Justice wasn’t done, yet I understood Holmes’ reasons for “compounding a felony as usual.” I was also bothered by his racist attitude towards Steve, especially since it was uncharacteristic of him, as made plain by The Yellow Face. However, I did enjoy the humour... Holmes talking to Susan was something else. And Mrs. Maberley was a sweet old thing. Overall, I enjoyed the story, it’s just not one of my favourite Sherlock stories.

Content: D*mn; so help me the L**d (x2); I’ll see you in hell first; by He**en; G*d knows.

V. The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
5 stars. Such a dramatic tale, and so unique! A quintessential Englishman marries a beautiful Peruvian woman, as sweet and devoted a wife as she could be. However, their differing cultures and beliefs has begun to alienate him a little, when the woman suddenly exhibits vampire-like tendencies towards their baby and cruel behaviour towards her stepson. Horrified and bewildered, the man reaches out to Sherlock Holmes as a last hope… Needless to say, B. does not shine as a father and husband, but at least his family loved him. Poor Mrs. F. was fascinating and wonderful; Mrs. M. was a dour but trustworthy woman; D. was a sweet and excellent maid; and the villain was horrid—I was disappointed that no stronger steps were taken against them. Holmes did excellently in the story and it brought out some of the best parts of his character. The story ends on a hopeful note, and with a “happily ever after” insinuation that I appreciated. Overall, it’s quite a unique, fascinating story with heartwarming portions and, as such, I love it.

Content: For G*d’s sake (x2); for He**en’s sake; good G*d.

VI. The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
5 stars. Oh, I love this story! To start off, it’s quite baffling and twisty, quite fascinating. Both Garridebs were interesting folk in their own ways—the smooth, anglicized American and the eccentric old scientist, so utterly different. This is one of those stories where Holmes’ brainwork is quite stupendous and yet very simple, once he explains it. It also reveals his real character in a beautiful way. His friendship with Watson shows up so well. In short, this is one of my favourite of the Homes stories. <3

Content: By the Lord (x2).

VII. The Problem of Thor Bridge
5 stars. This is such a fascinating story! It’s one of the best criminal cases Holmes handles. The cast was epic. An American millionaire of cold steel and resolve, afire with love. His unloved, passionate South American wife, full of wild hate. A beautiful, upright young English governess who finds her (married) employer obsessed with her. One of them is a killer. I appreciated how Holmes handled Gibson and brought him down pegs; and I loved how passionate he was for friendless Miss Dunbar. And how he went about the case, and the way he proved his theory, were masterful. Definitely a tale not to be missed!

Content: D*mned; what the de**l. A married man falls in love with his children’s governess and tries to make her his mistress. She refuses, and almost leaves his house, but chooses to remain to influence him for good (a foolish decision but one she made in honesty and purity of motivation).

VIII. The Adventure of the Creeping Man
4 stars. This is a slightly disturbing tale, involving an older professor madly in love with a beautiful and much younger girl, and ‘an obscure scientist who was striving ... for the secret of rejuvenescence and the elixir of life’ and created a ‘wondrous strength-giving serum’ made in some way from langurs, ‘the great black-faced monkey of the Himalayan slopes, biggest and most human of climbing monkeys.’ While Prof. Presbury was not a likeable character by any means, Miss P. & Mr. Bennett were a nice young couple. The sci-fi element wasn’t my fav, but I did like Holmes’ monologue on it and I enjoyed him & Watson as usual. Also, there is one of my favourite bits of Sherlock’s humorous mockery of Watson within these pages:

Content: For G*d’s sake.

IX. The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
5 stars. This is such a dramatic story that really fires the imagination, and I love it. Being one of the rare stories narrated by Holmes, after his retirement, it’s quite unique, and shows more of the detective than is revealed in his earlier self-narrated The Blanched Soldier. The plot of this story is gripping and extremely twisty, leaving me baffled until the very end. The characters are really interesting—a dour mathematics professor with a passionate temper; a weak-hearted but athletic science professor, reported to be both friends and not friends with said the mathematics professor; a beautiful love interest whose buff father and brothers are not in the slightest supportive of her love interest; a badly puzzled school principal; and a mysterious, ‘savage, inhuman’ scourging. There is nothing more to be said that doesn’t spoil the story, but rest assured it is one of the best Sherlock tales!

Content: For G*d’s sake; my G*d; or He**en’s sake.

X. The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
5 stars. Wow. This story... It’s so sad and somber. This tale shows plainly the hardships of life. A wicked, beastly sot of a man. A passionate, miserable, beautiful wife who takes a handsome, selfish coward for her lover. A murder… And then there is nothing left but the scars and haunting memories of sin. Though this story has almost nothing to do with Holmes’ powers, it shows his character splendidly. His words to the woman are amazing... and the ending is wonderful. I recommend it for ages 18+, but it is nevertheless a good addition to the Sherlock canon.

Content: Poor devil (x2); deucedly; for G*d’s sake; I wish to G*d; Lo*d bless you (as an exclamation).

XI. The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
5 stars. This isn’t my favourite of the Sherlock stories, and I always confuse it with n  The Retired Colourmann... but it involves a man up (and over) the ears in debt, a loving sister who suddenly acts mysterious, and a dog given away… I love the Sherlock & Watson element (both being fantastic) and the humour. I used to find it disturbing, but now I just find it fascinating and thought-provoking. I think the villain definitely didn’t get what he deserved…

Content: Language; disrespect to the dead. Violence/Disturbance Level: 3/5 (medium)

XII. The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
4 stars. Well, this is an interesting story. I just wish the evildoer had met Justice… It’s hard to share the plot without spoilers, but it involves murder, a wizened old man, a young wife, a boyish doctor, and a mysterious stranger. A. was terrible, but B. was fascinating and I so do wish he too shown up in more of the stories!! This is another of the stories where Watson investigates and Holmes tears his work to shreds, and then Watson plays decoy. Both Holmes & Watson were as splendid as ever, of course, and what I really loved was all the doses of Sherlock’s satirical humour…

Content: D*mned; de**l; a wife may have been unfaithful.

A Favourite Quote: “‘Your life is not your own,’ he said. ‘Keep your hands off it.’
“‘What use is it to anyone?’
“‘How can you tell? The example of patient suffering is in itself the most precious of all lessons to an impatient world.’”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “Inside it was all panelling and tapestry and half-effaced old pictures, a house of shadows and mystery.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “The prize-fighter ... stood ... looking about him with a puzzled expression. Holmes’s debonair manner was a new experience, and though he vaguely felt that it was hostile, he did not know how to counter it. He turned to his more astute comrade for help. ‘What’s the game now, Count? What’s this fellow want? What’s up?’
“[I]t was Holmes who answered. ‘If I may put it in a nutshell, Mr. Merton, I should say it was all up.’
“The boxer still addressed his remarks to his associate. ‘Is this cove trying to be funny, or what? I’m not in the funny mood myself.’
“‘No, I expect not,’ said Holmes. ‘I think I can promise you that you will feel even less humorous as the evening advances.’”

(B+) 76% | Good
Notes: A volume divided into two tiers of quality. Heavily reliant on gimmickry and clear retreads of earlier Holmes stories.

That's it. That's the end.

I had grown fond of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson's adventures and now... I know that my previous reviews were not much useful to understand my real feeling toward their stories, however I can swear that I truly love them. I began this last book with a heavy heart knowing that everything would soon be all over.

This collection starts with an introduction written by A. C. Doyle, that really made me come to tears. It was beautiful, and sad, and I still cannot realize that I will not read anything new about those two. It was a pleasure to read their adventures, because it was my opportunity to prove my intelligence, to see if I would have been able to solve the mystery like Sherlock did, or if I would have stared in amazement the final revelation. Sometimes I was able to solve it, sometimes not, sometimes I did both. Anyway, it was an amazing thrill.

It was a great ending, tho. Not only for the stories themselves, probably among the strangest cases Holmes and Watson had ever followed, but also for the writing style: third person narrator, Watson' narration and, wonder of wonders, this time we even have a couple of adventures narrated by Holmes himself (even though I felt the absence of Watson). Anyway, I really enjoyed these short stories, I really had great times with them.

Oh, I feel so sad.

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 the Shoscombe Old Place

“And so, reader, farewell to Sherlock Holmes! I thank you for your past constancy”. —Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

[ESP]
No sé ni qué decir en esta reseña. No tanto porque terminé el libro, si no porque aquí concluye la aventura de mi detective y doctor favoritos de la literatura y la ficción. Cuatro (4) novelas y 56 relatos cortos después, no puedo si no agradecer a Doyle por su Canon Holmesiano que sin duda forman parte vital de mis inicios como lectora.

Todavía más agridulce es que esta fuera mi colección de relatos favoritos, donde más que misterios policiales son mini estudios de personaje, donde se ven lo mejor y lo peor de las personas, y un lado más humano y émpatico de nuestro Holmes. Resaltan como mis favoritos The Sussex Vampire, The Three Garridebs y The Creeping Man, aunque en general disfruté de la diversidad de esta colección.

Y sin más que decir… ¡Hasta luego, Sherlock Holmes! No cabe duda que algún día volveré a releer mis novelas y relatos favoritos, pero hasta entonces… ¡Adiós!

Canon Holmesiano: Check! ✔

[ENG]
I don't even know what to say in this review. Not so much because I finished the book, but because here concludes my adventure of my favourite detective and doctor in literature and fiction. Four (4) novels and 56 short stories later, I cannot but thank Doyle for his Holmesian Canon, which is certainly a vital part of my beginnings as a reader.

Even more bittersweet is that this was my favourite collection of adventures! Where more than police mysteries are mini character studies, where you see the best and the worst in people in certain situations, and a more human and empathetic side of our Holmes. Standing out as my favourites are The Sussex Vampire, The Three Garridebs, and The Creeping Man, although overall I enjoyed the diversity of this collection.

And without further ado. . . See you later, Sherlock Holmes! No doubt that someday I will reread my favourite novels and stories but until then. . . Farewell!

Holmesian Canon: Check! ✔

This is the way that Holmes ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

The stories in this collection feel slap dash and coarse. Some are clear retreads of earlier tales - the exact idea with only details changed. Others have villains that act in nonsensical ways. Some simply have outrageous and unbelievable conclusions. Sir Arthur stoops to mining humor from crude racist tropes. By this point, ACD was writing these stories simply for the money, and it shows. It is such a disappointing end to a dynamic series.

His Last Bow Book.

n   IMPORTANT: n: For a sort of HEA ending for the series I strongly recommend saving 8. His Last Bow for last, right after 9. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

Last collection of the immortal Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Quite a letdown really, being half good half meh. The only thing I wanted was at least a nice farewell to this ennealogy, and that didn’t happen; if anything this felt like the watching the last episode of a series that was unexpectedly cancelled. I’m positive this series would have ended so much better for me if I had read 8. His Last Bow last; so in my mind, I’m going to pretend that was what happened. It also must be noted that most of these collection books are assembled non-sequentially, so chronologically speaking, in the correct order “His Last Bow” IS in fact the last Sherlock Holmes story, so please bear that in mind when reading them.

Go for the Best, consider the Good, whatever the Meh.

n   The Best n:
★★★★★  "The Illustrious Client."
★★★★☆  "The Blanched Soldier."
★★★★☆  "The Retired Colourman." [3.5]

n   The Good n:
★★★☆☆  "The Mazarin Stone." [3.5]
★★★☆☆  "Shoscombe Old Place."
★★★☆☆  "The Veiled Lodger."

n   The Meh n:
★★☆☆☆  "The Problem of Thor Bridge." [2.5]
★★☆☆☆  "The Sussex Vampire." [2.5]
★★☆☆☆  "The Three Garridebs."
★★☆☆☆  "The Lion’s Mane."
★☆☆☆☆  "The Three Gables." [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "The Creeping Man."t

It’s public domain, you can find it HERE.

Still missing, the BBC series.



-----------------------------------------------
n  PERSONAL NOTEn:
[1927] [303p] [Collection] [2.5] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------

★★★★☆ 1. A Study in Scarlet [3.5]
★★★☆☆ 2. The Sign of Four [2.5]
★★★☆☆ 3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
★★★★☆ 4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes [3.5]
★★★★☆ 5. The Hound of the Baskervilles
★★★★☆ 6. The Return of Sherlock Holmes
★★★☆☆ 7. The Valley of Fear
★★★★☆ 8. His Last Bow [3.5]
★★★☆☆ 9. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes [2.5]
★★★☆☆ 10. The Complete Sherlock Holmes

-----------------------------------------------

El Ultimo Saludo Libro

n   IMPORTANTE: n: Para tener una especial de final feliz en la serie recomiendo fuertemente dejar 8. Su Ultimo Saludo para el final, después de leer 9. El Archivo de Sherlock Holmes

Ultima colección del inmortal Sherlock Holmes por Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Una gran decepción la verdad, siendo mitad buena mitad meh. Lo único que quería era al menos una linda despedida para esta nonalogía, y eso no pasó; debo decir que esto se sintió como ver el último episodio de una serie que fue cancelada inesperadamente. Estoy completamente convencido que esta serie habría acabado mucho mejor para mí si hubiera leído 8. Su Ultimo Saludo al final; así que en mi mente, voy a imaginar que eso es lo que sucedió. Debe notarse además que la mayor parte de estos libros de colecciones son armados no secuencialmente, así que cronológicamente hablando, en el orden correcto “Su Ultimo Saludo” ES en efecto la última historia de Sherlock Holmes, así que por favor tener eso en cuenta al leerlos.

Ir por lo Mejor, considerar lo Bueno, loquesea lo Meh.

n   Lo Mejor n:
★★★★★  "La Aventura del Cliente Ilustre."
★★★★☆  "La Aventura del Soldado de la Piel Descolorida."
★★★★☆  "La Aventura del Fabricante de Colores Retirado." [3.5]

n   Lo Bueno n:
★★★☆☆  "La Aventura de la Piedra de Mazarino." [3.5]
★★★☆☆  "La Aventura de Shoscombe Old Place."
★★★☆☆  "La Aventura de la Inquilina del Velo."

n   Lo Meh n:
★★☆☆☆  "El Problema del Puente de Thor." [2.5]
★★☆☆☆  "La Aventura del Vampiro de Sussex." [2.5]
★★☆☆☆  "La Aventura de los Tres Garrideb."
★★☆☆☆  "La Aventura de la Melena de León."
★☆☆☆☆  "La Aventura de los Tres Frontones." [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆  "La Aventura del Hombre que se Arrastraba."

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.

Queda pendiente, la serie de BBC.



-----------------------------------------------
n  NOTA PERSONALn:
[1927] [303p] [Colección] [2.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------

I enjoyed this collection more than those in His Last Bow. My favourite being The Adventure of the Lion's Mane.

I wasn’t feeling hopeful when going into this final read of Holmes. But it was… more of the same really. It’s another short story collection but after reading the first one this felt a bit dry and repetitive. It was a struggle to read through, so I ended up audiobooking it. (I don’t know who but a man was reading it in a deep gravelly voice. He sounded elderly and like he would’ve been telling this story with a pipe, which was so scenic.)

The mysteries were clever, but I was sort of over them because the formula as to how they are written is so repetitive.

Also, there’s some more racism for you. I just don’t think I like the way Conan Doyle describes anyone who isn’t white, male, and fit. Otherwise, they get some pretty grotesque or unpleasant descriptions.

This review and others can originally be found on Olivia's Catastrophe: https://oliviascatastrophe.com/2020/0...

Enough Is Enough!

At least, this is what Arthur Conan Doyle himself must have felt when he published The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of twelve stories that were written between 1921 and 1927 mostly for the Strand Magazine and Liberty. In the preface to this collection, we find the author express his firm resolution to have done with Holmes and to finally let him go the way of all flesh in order to dedicate his time and power to other literary projects. He even seems to regret having once given in to the public’s desire for more of the mastermind’s adventures and having allowed his resurrection after his deadly struggle with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls and he stresses that another revival of his long-lived creation will be out of the question.

Here is a quick overview of the twelve individual stories – spoiler-free:

The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone: This is a rather unusual adventure in that we do not see so much of Holmes’s skills of reasoning and deduction but are treated to a rather stale coup de théâtre at the end. Holmes basically has an entire case against the dangerous criminal Count Negretto Sylvius, who has stolen a famous jewel, the eponymous Mazarin Stone, with the help of a rather simple-minded accomplice, but he does not know where the jewel is hidden. In order to find this out, he meets the count face to face and sets him a psychological trap. – Since Watson does not play a major role in this adventure, we have here one of two tales that are written in the perspective of the omniscient narrator, and while the story itself is not really very mysterious, it has at least a suspenseful encounter between master criminal and master sleuth on offer and shows Holmes at his best in terms of wry humour, as when he says, shortly after divulging to Watson that he expects to be murdered, ”’[…] But we may be comfortable in the meantime, may we not? Is alcohol permitted? […]’” Holmes also excels as a master of disguise in this story, and the red herring he uses will be familiar to the avid reader from the 1903 Adventure of the Empty House.

The Problem of Thor Bridge: This is a murder case that seems to be very clear against the governess Miss Dunbar, whose mistress is found shot on a bridge, with a note in her clenched hand showing that she had an appointment in that very place with Miss Dunbar. The police also find a pistol in the governess’s wardrobe – but her employer entreats Holmes to prove the young woman’s innocence. Holmes is disgusted with his client’s morals but he still agrees to help because he believes in Miss Dunbar’s innocence, and he soon unravels an extremely sophisticated murder riddle. – Not only is the story extremely clever, but in its introduction we also learn something we might never have surmised, namely that Holmes, for all his astuteness, also has to look back on a number of cases he actually failed to solve – cases which are so mysterious that they border on the supernatural. Especially one of them did whet my curiosity, the one of ”Isadora Persano, the well-known journalist and duellist, who was found stark staring mad with a match box in front of him which contained a remarkable worm said to be unknown to science.” Boy, Mr. Doyle certainly had a deft hand at throwing his readers hints to stories he had never written and at making them ardently wish he had! This odd reference may also serve to remind you that Doyle was the author of several gripping tales of the supernatural.

In The Adventure of the Creeping Man Holmes and Watson are called for help by the private secretary (and future son-in-law) of Professor Presbury because that eminent and learned man, always a bit on the irascible side, has started to behave very strangely of late. To give an example, he was surprised creeping on all fours by his secretary – yes, you are reading right! Is he under the influence of some strange drug? And if so, why did his own dog repeatedly attack him? – If pressed upon to select the worst Sherlock Holmes story ever, I’d lay my finger on this selfsame tale for the same reason as Watson, who, at one point of this half-baked and simply ludicrous yarn, cries out, ”’Surely, Holmes, this is a little far-fetched’”.

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire may sound like another story in which the author goes beyond the limits of likelihood in a sensationalist desire to impress his readers, but it is actually a decent little family mystery, which starts when an old acquaintance of Watson’s asks the detective’s help after finding that his Peruvian wife has repeatedly attacked her stepson and been caught in the act of sucking blood from her own baby’s neck. Its introduction gives yet another example of how Doyle teased his readers’ imagination by casually mentioning cases that have yet to be recorded as when Holmes talks of the Matilda Briggs, ”’a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.’” I can’t speak for the world, but as to myself, I’d say, Here I am, and fully prepared!

The Adventure of the Three Garridebs is yet another clever and entertaining story although it has to be confessed that, strictly speaking, Doyle rehashes the plot of one of his earliest Holmes cases, albeit to some good effect. Holmes is supposed to track down a third bearer of the unusual name of Garrideb so that a will promising 5 million dollars to each of the three Garridebs can be properly executed. Too good to be true?

In The Illustrous Client Holmes pits his strength against yet another arch-villain of the Moriarty style, and this time it is an Austrian nobleman, the Baron Adelbert Gruber, who has dedicated his life to crime without sullying his own hands too notably. Holmes’s task is to provide material that will prevent a young infatuated lady from giving her hand in marriage to the Baron, who has already killed his first wife. What follows is a dramatic tug-of-war between the detective and the scoundrel, but experienced readers of the canon might feel that Charles Augustus Milverton is looking on from around the corner.

The greatest mystery lying in wait for the reader of The Adventure of the Three Gables is probably the question why the story came to be named The Adventure of the Three Gables. The house in which Holmes’s client lives does happen to have three gables, but none of these gables plays any role in the story, and all we get is a burglary tale with a rash and dissatisfying ending. Easily one of the lamest stories in the entire canon.

A similar thing can be said about The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, where Holmes has to find out the real reason why a young man and former soldier should be hidden from the world by his family and all the world be told that the young man is travelling through Europe. Holmes has little to go by and from that little he draws the most remarkable and far-reaching conclusions. What makes the story really disappointing is the absence of Dr. Watson, a melancholy fact that deprives the story of what makes Holmes tales so enjoyable, namely the interaction between those two friends. To make matters even worse, Holmes, who takes on the role of narrator here, starts with a rather disparaging and, one hopes, out-of-character remark about his loyal companion: ”The ideas of my friend Watson, though limited, are exceedingly pertinacious.” This thankless arrogance made a very bad starting-point into the tale for me.

The next story is set in 1907 and it is also told by Holmes himself, who has now withdrawn from active life and taken up beekeeping on the Sussex seaside. When I first read The Lion’s Mane, the surprise ending made me rank it among my favourite Holmes stories, but my recent re-reading showed that the absence of Watson is sorely felt: One has the impression that the visit to the family of the dead man’s love interest just serves the purpose of filler and that the tale is eked out to postpone the solution for as long as the author deems it necessary to make a tale out of a good idea, which is, however, poorly executed.

The Adventure of the Retired Colourman has the making of a good tale in it – Holmes is asked to look into the elopement of a retired colourman’s wife with her neighbour and part of her husband’s savings –, but there is one major point in this story, not to be given away here, which just does not sit straight with me.

The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger begins with yet another of those famous Doyle teasers, namely Watson’s threat to disclose the ”whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant” and then gives us a dramatic yarn about a wild circus lion, which is entertaining as a story but gives Holmes no opportunity to display his skills.

Luckily, the last tale in this collection, The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place, – as far as I know, it was also the tale with the latest publication date, shows Doyle return to his old standards and – if you want – tricks, in giving us an intricate case about the irascible Sir Robert and his sister, who seem to have fallen out with each other, which leads the brother into a series of rather unusual actions. In this affair, Holmes and Watson are back on deck in their full glory.

All in all, one can say that the stories in this volume tend to be played more for effect than to give insight into Holmes’s faculties of reasoning and drawing his conclusions, which, in some cases, is quite annoying. One can also surmise that Doyle was struggling for new forms of telling these stories, albeit with limited success. I also had the impression that Watson himself changed from a man of normal mental faculties, but one still of value to his partner, to a mere admirer and idolater, as becomes obvious in the following quotation:

“He was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one of them. […] I was a whetstone for his mind. I stimulated him. He liked to think aloud in my presence. His remarks could hardly be said to be made to me – many of them would have been as appropriately addressed to his bedstead – but none the less, having formed the habit, it had become in some way helpful that I should register and interject. […] Such was my humble role in our alliance.”

One passage is extremely gushing in this context, and it occurs after Holmes shows some serious concern when Watson receives a gunshot wound during one of their explorations. Here Watson gushes forth:

”It was worth a wound – it was worth many wounds – to know the depth of loyalty and love which like behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking.”

One might definitely ask what is wrong with Watson and why he more and more begins to hide his light under a bushel: Holmes does not appear any the greater, the smaller Watson makes himself – but the detective’s fascination is derived from his ability to evaluate the clues he collects in the course of an examination. Unluckily, some of the stories in this collection give our sleuth little opportunity to do this.

3.7 gwiazdki

** 4.1 Stars out of 5 Stars **

Classic mystery read. Sherlock Holmes does not disappoint.

If you are a short story fan this book is for you.

As I have stated previously, I am a huge fan of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Basically, when I come across a free version on my Kindle I pick up and add it to my night reading list before bed.