My final Sherlock Holmes! A joy to read, like the rest of the short stories - I can't believe I've actually finally read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

3.7 gwiazdki

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...

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.

This is the final Sherlock Holmes book, and while it is enjoyable, I think "Casebook" is the weakest collection of Sherlock stories. Having gone through all nine books this summer, it really seems like Doyle was so tired of the character that he was phoning it in by the 1920s.

But I did have some favorites in the bunch: "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone," in which Holmes uses that wacky new gizmo called a phonograph to fool some criminals; "The Problem of Thor Bridge" has an ingenious method of framing someone for murder using a rock, a handgun and some string; and "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs," because Sherlock shows genuine feeling for Dr. Watson when he gets shot in the leg while on a case. "It was worth a wound, it was worth many wounds, to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask."

Despite the unevenness of this story collection, it was bittersweet for me. I'm sad that my summer of Sherlock is now over. I've spent the past two and a half months listening to the marvelous actor Derek Jacobi narrate all nine books of Holmes, and he really made the great detective come alive. If any of you Goodreaders want to delve into the Sherlock canon, I recommend letting Jacobi be your guide.

Y con este libro termino la saga de Sherlock Holmes.
Creo que echaré de menos su sagacidad y sus peculiaridades,...aunque no descartó releer alguna de sus historias.
En este libro, Holmes relata algunas de sus historias (es lo que más me ha gustado, la capacidad de Conan Doyle de reflejar como escriben distintas personalidades,...).
Entretenido.

n  ***The Summer of Sherlock 2019***n

The last collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about the great detective. They’re not bad, but they certainly are not his best efforts either. By this time, he had already tried to kill Mr. Holmes and had to revive him. These last few stories, it seems, were written as money making ventures. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, authors should make money from their creations. I guess what I’m saying is that Doyle’s heart really didn’t seem to be in these stories.

There also seems to be an awful lot of violence and unhappiness. In The Adventure of the Illustrious Client there is an evil criminal who is “ruining” women just for the pure misogynistic joy of it. Plus, there is vitriol throwing, disfiguring those that it doesn’t kill. The Adventure of the Three Gables has racism on display in an ugly fashion. Two of the stories feature dysfunctional families and marriages that are obviously in trouble (The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire and The Problem of Thor Bridge). In the first, there is potential for the spouses to reconcile, but in the second, the unfaithful husband seems to be almost rewarded and definitely goes unpunished. There is also disfigurement in The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger.”

Two of the stories have medical solutions: The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, which at least ends semi-happily and The Adventure of the Creeping Man, a tale of medical quackery.

Disappointing or not, they are part of the Holmes canon and I am glad to have read them.

I thought that the final Holmes short story collection was the weakest of the lot - perhaps one as a reader is a bit satiated even with these great stories when one has gotten this far, or it may be true that the author was thoroughly fed up with his hero by here. Anyway, does not matter much, the rating is still a (possibly rounded up) 4-star and this is well worth your time.

By the time Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the dozen stories that make up "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes," from 1921 to 1927, he had clearly tired of the character. He had already tried to kill off the sleuth once, after all, and was forced by fans to bring him back. By the '20s, he obviously wasn't putting the same effort into the tales he once had, and turned to entertaining himself, seemingly, by experimenting with the Sherlock Holmes format.

While the bulk of the Holmes canon is told from Watson's point of view, one in "Case-Book" is told in third person, and two others are narrated by Holmes himself. The former, "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone," is jarring to read, particularly when Watson leaves the scene for the first time. The latter two, "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" and "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane," are not quite as disorienting, with Holmes speaking directly to us, the readers, in much the same way he usually addresses Watson.

"Case-Book" also contains one truly bad story, "The Adventure of the Creeping Man," and one that's almost a rewrite of an earlier, far superior Holmes story: the plot of "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs" is almost identical to that of "The Red-Headed League," from 1891.

Most of the book's other stories, though, are more enjoyable, while still paling in comparison to Doyle's earlier work. Even with a couple elements unpleasant to modern readers -- Holmes' condescending treatment of a black man, and a debt-ridden baronet said to be "in the hands of the Jews" -- it's hard to completely dislike even the least of the Sherlock Holmes books.

It is Sir Doyle. Can you expect anything less than completely entertaining and genius stories?
“Life, it turns out, is infinitely more clever and adaptable than anyone had ever supposed.”
I can't even say much about this book except that I stayed up till 4 am reading because I love Sherlock Holmes.
My Favourite story has to be The Problem of Thor Bridge and The Adventure of Sussex Vampire.

Final de trajecte. Última obra de les nou que conformen l’anomenat “cànon” de Sherlock Holmes.
Recull de dotze narracions publicades entre els anys 1921 i 1927

Com és habitual, el narrador és el doctor Watson, amic i company de aventures de Sherlock Holmes. Però, per primer cop, hi trobem excepcions.

n  “El soldat esblanqueït”n i n  “La crinera del lleó”n són narrats per el propi Holmes, atorgant així, em sembla, un valor excepcional a aquest recull doncs, per primer cop, escoltem directament els seus pensaments.

n  n    Pobre de mi! Quina manera d’ensenyar les cartes quan sóc jo qui escriu el relat!n  n

Hi trobem, també per primer cop, un conte, n  “La gemma Mazarin”n, narrat enterament en tercera persona.

Les narracions són, en general, una mica més breus que en els altres reculls. Cinc són de mida conte, sent les altres narracions relats més curts.

En tota aquesta sèrie de Sherlock Holmes, dins la col·lecció El cercle de Viena, la traducció de Xavier Zambrano m’ha semblat meravellosa. És quan no te’n adones, quan llegeixes com si fos escrit originalment en català. Sovint pensava, “...ostres, Conan Doyle sembla talment que usi girs i frases fetes catalanes”. Però, és clar, això és mèrit de Zambrano.

n  n   
―There is no getting past you, Mr. Holmes!
―Vostè reconeix els coixos ajaguts, senyor Holmes!n  n

No us sembla genial?

n  “El soldat esblanqueït”n, n  “El vampir se Sussex”n, n  “La crinera del lleó”n, n  “El pigmentari jubilat”n... que difícil escollir quina m’ha agradat més, però indicaré n  “El client il·lustre”n i n  “La gemma de Mazarin”n, aquesta última un exercici fascinant confinats dins la sala de rebre de 221B Baker Street.

n  n    ―Em sap greu ―va dir Holmes―. Els meus casos acostumen a tenir un misteri en un dels seus extrems, però tenir-ne en tots dos extrems resulta massa confús.n  n

Hem vist la sèrie de Granada TV. Ens ha agradat molt la interpretació de Jeremy Brett. Diuen que aquesta sèrie és la més fidel als llibres de les que s’han fet. Sovint dèiem: “... mira, això ho diu exactament com al llibre”. I és que els diàlegs de Conan Doyle són fantàstics. Rèpliques i reflexions d’aquelles que se’t queden gravades.

Al breu pròleg d’aquest recull, el propi Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fa un repàs meravellós del que ha estat per a ell escriure la sèrie Sherlock Holmes.

Fent el seu comiat meu,

n  n    “... ara dic: adèu Sherlock Holmes!”n  n

i sí

n  n    “... els pensaments m’han envoltat d’aquella manera que només és possible en el regne imaginari de la ficció.”n  n

This is the lowest rating in the series for me. Most of the stories were OK, but not of the caliber of earlier books. You can tell Doyle wasn't really in the mood to write these.