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A review by knitnetic
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #6) by Arthur Conan Doyle
4.0
In 1893, tired of writing his Sherlock Holmes stories and eager to focus on historical novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sent his famous detective to his death down the Reichenbach Fall in "The Final Problem". For years, the public clamored for the next installment in Holmes's tale and finally, nine years and several generous offers from his publishers later, Doyle was back to writing his Holmes stories.
Now, I'm a big fan of mysteries and an even bigger fan of Holmes - having finished this collection, I've now read about 65% of the canon. However, I've gotta say - I was disappointed. It was clear that Doyle's heart simply wasn't in these stories. The logic of Holmes isn't nearly so clear as in the earlier tales, usually relying on some important piece of information that has been withheld from the reader. Beyond that, the stories are much darker than those found in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In those stories, the only people to die were generally on the wrong side of the law, and certainly didn't have the sympathy of the reader. In the tales recounted in this collection, however, at least one character we care about dies in each story. Perhaps this is to be expected - his readers stole Holmes's death from him, and as a result, he hits them upside the head with death in every story.
This is not to say that the book was entirely unenjoyable. There's still enough of the old Holmes left to satisfy, and I'm always happy to have decent short stories to read. Still, if you're looking to start the Holmes canon, this is not the place to do it.
Now, I'm a big fan of mysteries and an even bigger fan of Holmes - having finished this collection, I've now read about 65% of the canon. However, I've gotta say - I was disappointed. It was clear that Doyle's heart simply wasn't in these stories. The logic of Holmes isn't nearly so clear as in the earlier tales, usually relying on some important piece of information that has been withheld from the reader. Beyond that, the stories are much darker than those found in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In those stories, the only people to die were generally on the wrong side of the law, and certainly didn't have the sympathy of the reader. In the tales recounted in this collection, however, at least one character we care about dies in each story. Perhaps this is to be expected - his readers stole Holmes's death from him, and as a result, he hits them upside the head with death in every story.
This is not to say that the book was entirely unenjoyable. There's still enough of the old Holmes left to satisfy, and I'm always happy to have decent short stories to read. Still, if you're looking to start the Holmes canon, this is not the place to do it.