Genre: Mystery/crime

Addition: Paperback (own copy)

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

This is a series of short stories about a detective Sherlock Holmes, and his assistant, Dr. Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including ‘The Red-Headed League, ‘ ‘The Blue Carbuncle, ‘ and ‘The Speckled Band.’

This is my first Sherlock Holmes book, and it will certainly not be my last. This is a collection of short stories, and I found it a great introduction to Doyle’s writing and the characters of Sherlock and Dr. Watson. Every story is no more than 25 pages long and is fun to read and engaging. The stories do not follow any particular order and one could easily dip in and out of this book or read the stories in their own desired order.

I liked all the stories, but probably The Blue Carbuncle which I did find fairly amusing. A man hid a stolen blue gem in a turkey before Christmas, and when the turkey was given to the wrong person he went a bit crazy! I did find myself laughing. Doyle is a clever, fun writer and Sherlock is intelligent, a bit bizarre and humorous.

I didn’t find this a quick read – I believe this is because of the old-fashioned language and structure. It took me a little while to adjust, however this was not a problem – I find this is the case with classics as well. It is worth pursuing and the stories are fantastic. There is adventure, mystery and humour. I don’t think I worked out any of the mysteries as this is not my usual genre, but I loved reading these stories and have even lent out my copy so others can share this enjoyment. I cannot wait to read more!

Just as an aside, if you are in the UK you definitely should check out the BBC’s Sherlock series:

The film Sherlock Holmes is amazing too:

This is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. It is easy to join in, just follow these guidelines:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Page 283 – from the story The Beryl Coronet

“The name was indeed well known to us, as belonging to the senior partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass?”

I hope you enjoyed that! Please do leave a comment so I can go read your spoiler

This novel sees Val Andrews writing a Sherlock Holmes mystery. In this book Holmes comes out of retirement and solves a murder in Brighton. A woman has gone missing and a man has mysterious turned up at the Royal Pavilion but there are no signs of forced entry. The police are clueless and as a bet Watson agrees Holmes could solve the investigation.

I think Andrews was very brave for writing a Sherlock Holmes novel. They are very famous and Conan Doyle was an excellent writer. Although this is not up to Doyle’s standard, it was not a bad book. It was a good storyline with twists and surprises and I liked how Andrews wrote the characters. It didn’t have the subtle humour I have found in the original books but as far as he could Andrews has been true to the characters.

I think I will probably stick to the original Sherlock Holmes novels this was not a bad read and not a bad attempt at another Holmes sequel.

3/5