The Complete Sherlock Holmes

Rating:
Summary: Omne ignotum pro magnifico
Review: The adventures of Sherlock Holmes are as exiting as they are mysterious. This collection of them is nicely packaged into two volumes. The first volume of this collection contains "A Study in Scarlet", "The Sign of Four", "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes", and "The Hound of Baskervilles". All of these parts contain many plot twists and ingenious observations by Sherlock Holmes. Alongside him is Dr. Watson who catalogues these accounts in first person. The books go through the introduction of Watson and Holmes, to the revealing of Holmes' drug addiction, ending with Watson's marriage, while solving what seems to be the smallest, least important crimes. These grow into the most insidious plots. This is a great read that could be read again and again. It is a must have in any collection.

Rating:
Summary: hard back is too clumsy
Review: I received the hard back and it is too difficult to read (2 columns of print per page of very small print) I'm going to buy the paperback which looked a lot more reader friendly.

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Summary: The ultimate collection of the ultimate super-sleuth.
Review: These two volumes contain the complete collection of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's adventures of the world's most famous super sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. For any mystery reader, the Sherlock Holmes stories are must-have classics, with a combination of excellent characterization and ruthless logic coming together in the enigmatic person of Holmes himself. Watson's analysis of Holmes is insightful: "Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero...Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mudstains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco." What marks Holmes is his ability to perceive the extraordinary in the ordinary. To quote the man himself: "Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent ... there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace ... The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult it is to bring it home ... There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact." Like Watson, we readers are frequently amazed at the logical deductions he produces, as Watson humbly confesses to Holmes, "When I hear you give your reasons, the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process." Watson is often perplexed as we are: "I was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque." But perhaps what we enjoy most is the moment when Holmes sits in his chair to unravel the mystery for us.

Altogether Doyle wrote four novel-length books featuring Holmes: "A Study in Scarlet"; "The Sign of Four"; "The Hound of the Baskervilles"; and "The Valley of Fear". But the greatest ever fictional detective especially acquired his legendary status through the 56 short stories starring Holmes, in which Doyle perfected the Holmes formula. Each story is written from the perspective of Holmes' side-kick, Dr. Watson, and can be read independently. It's in these short stories that Doyle excels.

Originally written as five separate collections of about a dozen stories each, the best and most popular collection is the first, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1892), which contains top classics like "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Red-headed League", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Blue Carbuncle", and the story universally regarded as the most popular short story in the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, "The Speckled Band". Although not quite as popular, the second and third collections are still very good. "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (1893) has excellent stories like "Silver Blaze", "The Stock-broker's Clerk", and "The Musgrave Ritual". "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (1905) is arguably even better, including favorites like "The Empty House", "The Dancing Men", "The Prioriy School", and "The Six Napoleons". The last two collections, "His Last Bow" (1917) and "The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes" (1927), did not quite live up to the same standards as their predecessors, but are still worth reading.

The good news is that in these two volumes published by Bantam Classics you get the works - all the stories Doyle ever wrote about Holmes. As a reader who enjoys a good mystery story, this remains one of my favourites, and with over 1500 pages of reading, is a worthy addition to any personal library! Although written in the early 20th century, Holmes' incredible deductions and brilliant detective work is timeless, and will continue to amaze and entertain readers well into the 21st century.
- GODLY GADFLY


Rating:
Summary: Elementary my dear fellow!
Review: This book should be considered a required part of living. I was 11 when i first got into Sherlock Holmes, having found an old book in the attic, an original hardcover containing 4 stories and beautiful illustrations. I then pestered my mum for the omnibus of Sherlock Holmes which I read in 2 months (I was 11 after all) I didn't understand a lot of the words so i had my trusty pocket dictionary by my side. I couldn't ask my mum, she's a hairdresser. Even though i was on a little Spanish-speaking island called Tenerife, whenever I read the exciting tales of Holmes and his faithful friend Watson I was transported back to Victorian England and on the chase!
Now I'm 18, having visited the Sherlock Holmes museum in London and read sir Arthur Conan Doyles' other works, including theatre plays and parodies I can consider myself a complete Connoisseur.
If the only Holmes you know has been the televised version you don't know what you're missing. Get this book now!!!
But I worn you, its addictive reading so you might get a few shoes thrown at you to snap you out of it.


Rating:
Summary: PRINT WAY, WAY TOO SMALL!!
Review: All the stories of Sherlock Holmes are crammed onto 472 pages (without the T of C), each page measuring 10.7" by 7.5". My first impression, on opening the book, was that a gray mist had been sprayed on each page. Looking closer, I realized the gray stuff was the text. I will not subject myself to this sort of eye strain, and suggest you don't either.

The previous edition was over 1,100 pages. The Amazon preview pages for this volume loaded so slowly I gave up trying to see them, and wasted my money on this illegible copy. Don't buy it, would be my recommendation. Try to find the earlier, green-covered book, with larger print and over twice as many pages.

Rating:
Summary: The print IS too small!
Review: The book is oversized but I agree with the previous reviewer that the print is too small--luckily, I found "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes" edited by William S. Baring-Gould at a used bookstore and is the BEST complete Sherlock Holmes collection I have EVER seen and the supplemental material is extensive and staggeringly wonderful--try to find that one (it will probably be in 2 volumes)in the used book section of this site...

Rating:
Summary: The game is afoot!
Review: The greatest detective in all of literature is between the covers of this excellent edition of the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes. Of all the editions out currently out there, the Doubleday hardcover version is by far the best. With 1122 pages, it's a hefty tome, but packed between the covers, in an edition that won't give you eye-strain to read, are all four full-length novels and fifty-six short stories, plus an excellent introduction by Christopher Morley. This is the version to get.

There has never been anything quite like Sherlock Holmes; he's in a class by himself. We meet him first in his late twenties, just starting a career as the world's only consulting detective, when he's introduced to his invaluable chronicler Dr. Watson. What is Holmes without Watson? He's not nearly as interesting alone; Watson is an absolute necessity. Holmes needs Watson's obtuseness as a foil for his own razor-sharp brilliance. In some of the later volumes, Holmes narrates a couple of his own cases. They fall flatter than a pancake. Let Holmes stick to what he knows; we must have Watson to show him to best effect.

There are so many great stories included in this volume that probably no two people's list of personal favorites will match; my own are "The Red-Headed League" and "The Copper Beeches" from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"; "The Yellow Face", "The Naval Treaty" and "The Final Problem" from "Memoirs", "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" and "The Second Stain" from "The Return", and "His Last Bow" from the volume of the same title. The incomparable "Hound of the Baskervilles" rates as my favorite long novel. Conan Doyle not only gave us some wonderful tales, but some unforgettable secondary characters as well: the pea-brained detectives Gregson and Lestrade; brother Mycroft, even more brilliant as Sherlock and even more eccentric; and the scruffy gang of street kids known as the Baker Street Irregulars.

Holmes himself is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters in all fiction. Why doesn't he have (or seem to want)a life outside of solving crimes? We know he has an off-and-on cocaine problem, not to mention some peculiar habits, such as shooting holes in his parlor walls to spell out VR (Victoria Regina) in bullet pocks (why his landlady didn't throw him out is never explained), and except for the inscrutable Irene Adler, he seems to have a marked aversion towards women. Well, maybe it's just as well that his whole life was detecting and solving crimes, else how could he have been involved in so many delightful adventures?

As Morley says in his introduction to this volume, we should be grateful to those ophthalmic patients who kept missing their appointments with Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, leaving him with enough spare time on his hands to write these stories. In the lanky figure of his consulting detective, Conan Doyle created one of the most popular characters of all modern fiction. There is no more compelling crime-buster, and never has been, and probably never will be, than Sherlock Holmes.

Rating:
Summary: Doyle's Legacy
Review: Of all the memorable characters in literature, Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is justly one of the most famous (rivaled by only a small handful of others). In the Complete Sherlock Holmes, you find this peculiar, proper, analytical, brilliant consulting detective. You also meet his equally famous boswell, Dr. Watson, and unforgettable criminals, plots and deductions. There are four novels and fifty-six short stories. Many of them are masterpieces. A few, especially some of the later works, are dated and disappointing (thus only four stars). But do not be too concerned. After you read this series, you will see why the pipe smoking genius of Baker Street has fans throughout the world. Highly recommended.