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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I like these books a lot but I do have a hard time finishing them quickly because it's so easy to put it down between chapters. Once the case is wrapped up, I can put it down without feeling compelled to pick it back up again as soon as possible. Still love them, however, and plan to continue reading them.
You know, I started reading the Sherlock Holmes series because I wanted to read a book by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar centering on Sherlock’s brother Mycroft Holmes and wished to recognize all the in-jokes, but I’d almost forgotten about that goal as I’m now just into Sherlock Holmes for its own sake. Although I have been reading these books out of order according to a reading guide created by a random website I found (Reedsy.com), the one-two punch of THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is best read back-to-back, as the one contains the supposed “death” of Sherlock Holmes and the other essentially picks up where the other left off, giving an account of his comeback. Oddly, though, I let over a year and a half lapse between reading the two, meaning that it has been over a year and a half since I have read any Sherlock Holmes. Picking up this book was a welcome return.
I read another Goodreads user who wrote that although there are no standout stories in this collection, it is the most consistent in quality of the series. I’d probably agree with that. Most of the stories I doubt I’ll be able to recall with any specificity before long, but the whole Sherlock/Watson vibe is just firing on all cylinders here, I don’t know how to describe it exactly. It’s just so fun to be back with these characters.
One thing that stuck out to me in this collection and which I really loved is that it advances Watson’s role in the relationship. In previous books, when a client would appear at Sherlock’s door he would wow them with a half-dozen facts he knew about them just from their appearance and Watson was similarly impressed by this parlor trick. This happens again in the second story, “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”, when a man named John Hector McFarlane appears at the sleuth’s door. Sherlock does his usual: “You mentioned your name as if I should recognize it, but I assure you that, beyond the obvious facts that you are a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about you.” Here, though, Watson states that he could easily follow all of Holmes’ deductions and describes exactly what clues he spotted. In another, the “Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter” (probably the most forgettable of the bunch, honestly), Holmes offers theories about where a missing soccer star has gotten to based on the idea that he was kidnapped for ransom. Watson points out that none of these theories account for a telegram the soccer player sent the same day. Holmes responds that this is quite true and that clue mustn’t be forgotten. It’s impossible to believe Holmes had overlooked the telegram; his offering of the ransom theories seems like a way to test Watson’s ability. Finally, in “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, rather than going himself to investigate the scene where a woman is seemingly being stalked by a man clad in black, Holmes sends Watson. “You will observe these facts for yourself, and act as your own judgment advises,” he tells the doctor. It’s almost like he’s giving him a practice case of his own! Watson manages to observe the man in black and picks out details about him from afar; he returns to Baker Street proud of himself but Holmes hilariously berates him for a number of flaws in his process, telling Watson that he’s essentially come back with no information they did not already have and asserting, “You really have done remarkably badly.”
This brings me to another thing about this book that I quite enjoyed. Although it’s been present in the other books, I was just more attuned to it this go around, and that’s the fact that the stories we are reading are presented as though they are being written for public consumption by Watson after-the-fact. Many a story will begin with Watson stating that he got permission from Holmes to release this one to the public because enough time has passed and names have been changed to protect the innocent. Holmes at times comments on the fact that Watson is capturing the details of his cases for later publication, telling him to change certain details or complaining that he focuses too much on the drama of the cases and not the scientific process. All of this meta-commentary is great, but what I started thinking about as I was reading these stories was, if these are the published tales of Sherlock Holmes by John Watson, why include the scene where Holmes berates him for his shoddy attempt at investigation? The number of weird asides—and the inclusion of the meta-commentary itself—is such an odd choice if you take the stories at face-value, and thinking about how strangely personal these stories are is a lot of fun.
But I know, I know, the purpose of Sherlock Holmes is the mysteries. How do they fare? Again, they’re largely successful. The first of the lot, “The Adventure of the Empty House” has a rather thrilling moment where Holmes thwarts a would-be assassin by jumping on his back. This is another one where Watson’s improving eye for detail comes into play, as Watson points out what he believes to be the bad guy but Holmes later reveals was a police officer in disguise and commends Watson on having spotted him. “The Adventure of the Priory School” is another neat one, as it includes a diagram in the book; the mystery rests in large part on the shape and direction of bicycle tracks and the inference that the missing student likely left of his own accord. I will say on this one that the ultimate conclusion rests on some odd cow hoof-prints in the mud around the bicycle track (hmm…) and I was surprised at how long it took Holmes to catch on to their importance. “The Adventure of Black Peter” is another good one—a case that begins with a man impaled by a harpoon, blood splattered all over the walls. Gruesome! “The Adventure of the Three Students” is just the platonic ideal of a Holmes story—three possible suspects, with Holmes dissecting why it couldn’t be the two others and fingering the culprit who stole test answers using clues picked up on-scene, including a scratch in the desk, the location of the test answers, and little balls of clay found in the vicinity.
My favorites of the bunch are “The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez”. This is another one with a diagram—I always love it when there are drawings inside the book of maps, bits of writing, etc. A man who was murdered croaks out the last words, “The professor, it was she” and is found with a golden pince-nez (a type of eyeglasses) in his hand. Holmes figures out the meaning of this cryptic phrase, and recognizes that the killer likely did not get far without their glasses and covertly uses the ash from a cigarette to locate their hiding spot. It’s exciting! “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” is another highlight, in my view, even though it seems fairly obvious from early on that the person destroying cheap busts of Napoleon is likely searching for something hidden within.
My least favorite are the one about the soccer player I mentioned above and “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”. Although this story has images of writing in it, which I normally love, the case rests on Sherlock discovering their meaning and it turns out that they are a one-to-one replacement cipher, with a particular stick figure matching a specific letter. Holmes claims to have authored a book on 160 differen ciphers, and this is a childishly simple one but it nevertheless takes him a great length of time to decipher it. I’m disappointed when Holmes’ smarts aren’t at the level I expect from him. I was also made uncomfortable by how many of these stories involved men who claim to “love” women and whose love manifests in creepy stalker behavior. On some occasions, this attitude is characterized as deviant but in others it’s seemingly lauded. For example, in the one where the woman is being terrorized by a man clad in black… it’s a man who loves her, and who is trying to prevent a gang of hoodlums from attacking her on that stretch of road. Holmes does chide the man later for allowing the woman to continue taking that road (she goes down it because he is her employer, which adds a whole other layer to the impropriety here), but his act of following and frightening her mostly reads as a good deed on the whole.
So. Yes, there’s still some weaker stories and there are some issues I have with the content, but in general the cases (Adventures) are compelling and Conan Doyle’s writing is sharp. There have been Sherlock Holmes books which wore out their welcome for me. Not so with this one; I was glad to be in this world and can absolutely see myself returning for the next round sooner than 1.5 years this time.
I read another Goodreads user who wrote that although there are no standout stories in this collection, it is the most consistent in quality of the series. I’d probably agree with that. Most of the stories I doubt I’ll be able to recall with any specificity before long, but the whole Sherlock/Watson vibe is just firing on all cylinders here, I don’t know how to describe it exactly. It’s just so fun to be back with these characters.
One thing that stuck out to me in this collection and which I really loved is that it advances Watson’s role in the relationship. In previous books, when a client would appear at Sherlock’s door he would wow them with a half-dozen facts he knew about them just from their appearance and Watson was similarly impressed by this parlor trick. This happens again in the second story, “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”, when a man named John Hector McFarlane appears at the sleuth’s door. Sherlock does his usual: “You mentioned your name as if I should recognize it, but I assure you that, beyond the obvious facts that you are a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about you.” Here, though, Watson states that he could easily follow all of Holmes’ deductions and describes exactly what clues he spotted. In another, the “Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter” (probably the most forgettable of the bunch, honestly), Holmes offers theories about where a missing soccer star has gotten to based on the idea that he was kidnapped for ransom. Watson points out that none of these theories account for a telegram the soccer player sent the same day. Holmes responds that this is quite true and that clue mustn’t be forgotten. It’s impossible to believe Holmes had overlooked the telegram; his offering of the ransom theories seems like a way to test Watson’s ability. Finally, in “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, rather than going himself to investigate the scene where a woman is seemingly being stalked by a man clad in black, Holmes sends Watson. “You will observe these facts for yourself, and act as your own judgment advises,” he tells the doctor. It’s almost like he’s giving him a practice case of his own! Watson manages to observe the man in black and picks out details about him from afar; he returns to Baker Street proud of himself but Holmes hilariously berates him for a number of flaws in his process, telling Watson that he’s essentially come back with no information they did not already have and asserting, “You really have done remarkably badly.”
This brings me to another thing about this book that I quite enjoyed. Although it’s been present in the other books, I was just more attuned to it this go around, and that’s the fact that the stories we are reading are presented as though they are being written for public consumption by Watson after-the-fact. Many a story will begin with Watson stating that he got permission from Holmes to release this one to the public because enough time has passed and names have been changed to protect the innocent. Holmes at times comments on the fact that Watson is capturing the details of his cases for later publication, telling him to change certain details or complaining that he focuses too much on the drama of the cases and not the scientific process. All of this meta-commentary is great, but what I started thinking about as I was reading these stories was, if these are the published tales of Sherlock Holmes by John Watson, why include the scene where Holmes berates him for his shoddy attempt at investigation? The number of weird asides—and the inclusion of the meta-commentary itself—is such an odd choice if you take the stories at face-value, and thinking about how strangely personal these stories are is a lot of fun.
But I know, I know, the purpose of Sherlock Holmes is the mysteries. How do they fare? Again, they’re largely successful. The first of the lot, “The Adventure of the Empty House” has a rather thrilling moment where Holmes thwarts a would-be assassin by jumping on his back. This is another one where Watson’s improving eye for detail comes into play, as Watson points out what he believes to be the bad guy but Holmes later reveals was a police officer in disguise and commends Watson on having spotted him. “The Adventure of the Priory School” is another neat one, as it includes a diagram in the book; the mystery rests in large part on the shape and direction of bicycle tracks and the inference that the missing student likely left of his own accord. I will say on this one that the ultimate conclusion rests on some odd cow hoof-prints in the mud around the bicycle track (hmm…) and I was surprised at how long it took Holmes to catch on to their importance. “The Adventure of Black Peter” is another good one—a case that begins with a man impaled by a harpoon, blood splattered all over the walls. Gruesome! “The Adventure of the Three Students” is just the platonic ideal of a Holmes story—three possible suspects, with Holmes dissecting why it couldn’t be the two others and fingering the culprit who stole test answers using clues picked up on-scene, including a scratch in the desk, the location of the test answers, and little balls of clay found in the vicinity.
My favorites of the bunch are “The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez”. This is another one with a diagram—I always love it when there are drawings inside the book of maps, bits of writing, etc. A man who was murdered croaks out the last words, “The professor, it was she” and is found with a golden pince-nez (a type of eyeglasses) in his hand. Holmes figures out the meaning of this cryptic phrase, and recognizes that the killer likely did not get far without their glasses and covertly uses the ash from a cigarette to locate their hiding spot. It’s exciting! “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” is another highlight, in my view, even though it seems fairly obvious from early on that the person destroying cheap busts of Napoleon is likely searching for something hidden within.
My least favorite are the one about the soccer player I mentioned above and “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”. Although this story has images of writing in it, which I normally love, the case rests on Sherlock discovering their meaning and it turns out that they are a one-to-one replacement cipher, with a particular stick figure matching a specific letter. Holmes claims to have authored a book on 160 differen ciphers, and this is a childishly simple one but it nevertheless takes him a great length of time to decipher it. I’m disappointed when Holmes’ smarts aren’t at the level I expect from him. I was also made uncomfortable by how many of these stories involved men who claim to “love” women and whose love manifests in creepy stalker behavior. On some occasions, this attitude is characterized as deviant but in others it’s seemingly lauded. For example, in the one where the woman is being terrorized by a man clad in black… it’s a man who loves her, and who is trying to prevent a gang of hoodlums from attacking her on that stretch of road. Holmes does chide the man later for allowing the woman to continue taking that road (she goes down it because he is her employer, which adds a whole other layer to the impropriety here), but his act of following and frightening her mostly reads as a good deed on the whole.
So. Yes, there’s still some weaker stories and there are some issues I have with the content, but in general the cases (Adventures) are compelling and Conan Doyle’s writing is sharp. There have been Sherlock Holmes books which wore out their welcome for me. Not so with this one; I was glad to be in this world and can absolutely see myself returning for the next round sooner than 1.5 years this time.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
I remain amazed at how well these hold up to time.
Not only did I (finally?) find the reference toSherlock’s beekeeping retirement, once again his respect of others (based in character, not rank or class) shines through.
Not only did I (finally?) find the reference toSherlock’s beekeeping retirement, once again his respect of others (based in character, not rank or class) shines through.
So odd that this starts with the adventure of the empty house which is set after Sherlock Holmes fakes his death. It didn't make sense for volume 1 to start there at all. That is why I gave it 3 stars. These books are so old and written with all the sensibilities that a man from England in that era would have, that they are sometimes hard to read, but with that in mind they are still enjoyable.
My favourite Sherlock Holmes. The London detective soes it's best in these short stories, moving through different settings and social classes. I love his imperturbability. Well, I love anyone's imperturbability. Even the criminals act with dignity.
Let's move on to the next book.
Let's move on to the next book.
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Otra colección de relatos del doctor Watson sobre los casos de Sherlock Holmes. Me ha gustado especialmente el primero, con la artimaña montada por Conan Doyle para satisfacer a los aficionados del gran detective. En general todos los casos son muy interesantes y tienen tramas muy adictivas. Imprescindible para todo buen aficionado a los misterios.