Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable listening for the Sherlock Holmes Fan!
Review: These Sherlock Holmes' are part of a 10 year project by the BBC to dramatize all Sherlock Holmes novels and stories. Starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael William as Dr. Watson, they are enjoyable listening for Sherlock Holmes fans! Volume 2 features The Musgrave Ritual, The Relgate Squires, The Crooked Man and The Resident Patient.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing production quality and character portrayal.
Review: This audio production is extremely disappointing.
Most glaring is the fact that the actors portraying Holmes and Watson possess very similar voices, making it impossible to tell which one is talking unless identified by name--a major distraction.
Second, Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as a young and eager man; more annoyingly, he is clearly impressed with himself. Holmes is not the brooding, dark character I have come to enjoy both from the books themselves as well as the superb television portrayal from the BBC series.
I really thought a Sherlock Holmes audio tape would be a "no-brainer", but I could not bring myself to listen after the first story (Silver Blaze)
Rating:
Summary: Reichenbach Fall...
Review: This is a good collection of Sherlock Holmes shorts. The first offering is what is generally considered one of the best stories in the entire Holmes canon: Silver Blaze. "The Musgrave Ritual" is very cool also, but of course, they're all good. This collection also houses the infamous short "The Final Problem" where Doyle originally tried to kill Holmes. So popular a character was Holmes (even then) that after the story was released there was a riot in the streets of London, so mad were the people at Holmes's death. Needless to say, Doyle brought Holmes back. Imagine if he hadn't...
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book!
Review: This is the perfect follow up to Klinger's annotated "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." It is exhaustively researched, beautifully printed, and tastefully illustrated. The scope of the annotations are awesome, and truly enhance the appreciation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Both die-hard fans and casual readers will absolutely love this book!
Rating: 
Summary: The essential second volume
Review: This work is the second volume of the Library and is a newly-annotated version of the "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the second twelve short stories). The annotations are a guide to the Victorian era and the hundreds of scholarly works that study the lives and times of Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson, M.D. Sidney Paget illustrations are included."Sherlock Holmes Detective Magazine" named the first volume as the best Sherlockian book of 1998.
Rating:
Summary: THE definitive Sherlock Holmes -- a pleasure to read!
Review: What a wonderful surprise it was to come across Leslie Klinger's outstanding annotated versions of the Sherlock Holmes stories on Amazon! Klinger's notes are extremely helpful and informative (not to mention entertaining), and the copious illustrations by Paget are a great addition as well. This (and the other volumes, of which Adventures, Hound of the Baskervilles, and Study in Scarlet have been published to date) are a worthy successor to William Baring-Gould's justly acclaimed annotated Holmes from years back, and are, in opinion, a better value and more enjoyable read than the rather dry Oxford editions. If you are new to Sherlock Holmes, this may not be the most economical way to pick up all of Conan Doyle's work. But if you are a long-time Holmes fan, or just want to experience the Holmes stories in a deeper and more informed way, I can think of no better purchase than this. Very highly recommended!!!
Rating:
Summary: THE definitive Sherlock Holmes -- a pleasure to read!
Review: What a wonderful surprise it was to come across Leslie Klinger's outstanding annotated versions of the Sherlock Holmes stories on Amazon! Klinger's notes are extremely helpful and informative (not to mention entertaining), and the copious illustrations by Paget are a great addition as well. This (and the other volumes, of which Adventures, Hound of the Baskervilles, and Study in Scarlet have been published to date) are a worthy successor to William Baring-Gould's justly acclaimed annotated Holmes from years back, and are, in opinion, a better value and more enjoyable read than the rather dry Oxford editions. If you are new to Sherlock Holmes, this may not be the most economical way to pick up all of Conan Doyle's work. But if you are a long-time Holmes fan, or just want to experience the Holmes stories in a deeper and more informed way, I can think of no better purchase than this. Very highly recommended!!!
Rating:
Summary: Grab These While You Are Still Able
Review: What can we say about the literary icon Sherlock Holmes that hasnt already been? Very little, so we therefore redirect our evaluations towards the unending line of dramatizations that even today are still being released. In my humble opinion, these are the best efforts, certainly in pure audio format, of these immortal tales ever to be produced. Merrison may at first bug you as he did me. We are used to a more booming authoritative Holmes. Merrison has a decidedly very small and nasally timbre to his voice. But his incredible acting abilities will quickly win you over. His absolute command of the situations and his sadly all too sparsely employed dry humor; make him as formidable a Holmes as any who have attempted the role. Contrast to Jeremy Brett's somewhat effeminate and decidely dark interpretation of the great detective, Merrison offers a much more genial and personable version, yet one that is no less impressionable than any of his predecessors. But it's the late Michael Williams to me, however, who finally after 100 years of fruitless attempts by actors, displays a true understanding of the character of the narrator, John Watson, and in doing so, makes these productions such a resounding triumph. Watson is all too often seen as a boob, ala Nigel Bruce. Or when not, he is played as dry humorless tagalong. These stories, through Williams's depictions, offer us at last an interesting and complex Watson. As Doyle no doubt intended him to be. Clearly no match for his constant companion intellectually, but as the absolute invaluable assistant to Holmes. Gone are such ponderings as "Why would a genius keep company with such a fool?" Or "Why would such an interesting multi faceted eccentric, befriend a lifeless, vapid man of medicine?" As in all BBC productions, the supporting casts and sound effects, provide true listening enjoyment in the spirit of the golden age of radio.
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