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A review by benstanley
The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
4.0
The first thing I want to say is that this collection is really good. Arthur Conan Doyle didn't lose a step in the great hiatus between this and Adventures (even though The Hound of the Baskervilles already made that clear). That being said, I didn't find myself getting in to this collection as much as I had the previous two. There were a few stand-outs, such as The Empty House, Charles Augustus Milverton, Abbey Grange, and the Second Stain. And then there were a few duds, like the Solitary Cyclist and the Dancing Men (apologies if those are someone's favourites). And on the whole the rest of them, while good, weren't all that remarkable.
Also, it seemed like Watson seriously lost some agency between Hound and Return. He only got to act as a character rather than a narrator/blank wall for Holmes on a few occasions, and in most of those it was simply to prove how inferior he was to Holmes' staggering intellect. I realize you have to expect some of that, but it felt a bit too overdone in this collection. Still though, I enjoyed the whole book immensely.
Also, it seemed like Watson seriously lost some agency between Hound and Return. He only got to act as a character rather than a narrator/blank wall for Holmes on a few occasions, and in most of those it was simply to prove how inferior he was to Holmes' staggering intellect. I realize you have to expect some of that, but it felt a bit too overdone in this collection. Still though, I enjoyed the whole book immensely.