"The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" by A. Conan Doyle

I DID IT!  I read the entire Sherlock Holmes Canon in less than twelve months.  I began back in March of 2013 with A Study in Scarlet and read each novel and collection of stories in order.  I'm so pleased to have finally read the entire canon!  There were only a few stories I hadn't read, all at the end of this book, but I hadn't read most of them in many years, and this was altogether a delightful experience.

Anyway, about this particular book.  I regret to say there are no outstanding stories here, though there are several enjoyable ones.  I liked "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" and "The Problem of Thor Bridge" best, and "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs" was undoubtedly my least-favorite, as it was basically a reworking of "The Red-Headed League."  

Two stories are actually narrated by Sherlock Holmes in this collection, "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane," and "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier," which is quite a departure from the rest of the canon.  Also, "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is told in third person.  It's entirely possible that several stories here were not written by Doyle at all, but merely approved by him and published under his name.  Certainly, facts, turns of phrase, and characterizations in "Mazarin" and "The Adventure of the Three Gables" in particular don't line up with the rest of the canon.

As I mentioned above, I had never read "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane," "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger," "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place," or "The Adventure of the Retired Colourman."  This is because the last time I tried to read through the whole canon, back in high school, I got as far as "The Adventure of the Creeping Man" and was so weirded out by images in it that I never read any farther.  This time around, I did find that story creepy, but not too disturbing.

All in all, I'm glad to have read the entire canon at last, and to have read it all in one year like I intended, but The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes is not a collection I'll be rereading any time soon.

Particularly Good Bits:

"He has breeding in him -- a real aristocrat of crime, with a superficial suggestion of afternoon tea and all the cruelty of the grave behind it." ("The Adventure of the Illustrious Client").

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for themes of murder, violence, and suspense.

This is my second book read and reviewed for The Classics Club.

"His Last Bow" by A. Conan Doyle

Now that I've finished this, I only have one collection of Sherlock Holmes stories left to read (The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes), and then I will have read the entire canon in twelve months.  I started back in March of 2013, so as long as I don't take more than six weeks to read the next one, I'll have achieved my goal.

But anyway, about His Last Bow.  I feel that, on a whole, the stories in this are rather better than in the previous collection, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.  Certainly it has more that I quite enjoyed.  I don't know if Doyle had regained some of his joy for the characters or genre, or if I was just more in the mood to like them.  But I really liked "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" and "The Adventure of the Red Circle," and although both "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" and "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" are gruesome and grotesque, I quite liked them as well.  "His Last Bow" was also enjoyable for its change of pace and leap a few years into the future from the other cases.

I noticed a bit of a change in Holmes and Watson in this book.  Holmes seems weary of the world and its brutalities, and Watson seems tired of Holmes' eccentricities at times.  Holmes also is much more of a law unto himself -- he goes burgling in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans," and he lets a murderer go free without pointing the police toward him at all in another story.  In the past, he'd let a few criminals go, it's true, but he seems a bit more cavalier this time.  Or maybe just tired of doing all the thinking for the police?  He says, "I think you must agree, Watson, that it is not a case in which we are called upon to interfere.  Our investigation has been independent, and our action shall be also.".  It's true that the police didn't bring the case to his attention, but not called upon to interfere?  Holmes is meting out his own justice now, it seems.

At any rate, it's an enjoyable set of mysteries.  Spending time with my dear 'friends' Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is always pleasant.

Particularly Good Bits:

"My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built."  ("The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge")

"What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes solemnly as he laid down the paper.  "What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear?  It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.  But what end?  There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever."  ("The Adventure of the Cardboard Box")

"Education never ends, Watson.  It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last."  ("The Adventure of the Red Circle")

"Besides, on general principles it is best that I should not leave the country.  Scotland Yard feels lonely without me, and it causes an unhealthy excitement among the criminal classes."  ("The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax")  (This may be my favorite Sherlock Holmes quote ever.)

"Good old Watson!  You are the one fixed point in a changing age."  ("His Last Bow")

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG for dangerous situations, violence, exotic drugs, and suspense.

This is my first book read and reviewed for The Classics Club.

"A Slight Trick of the Mind" by Mitch Cullin

This is not a happy book.  I didn't like it very well.  I found it quite depressing, to be honest.  I'm not saying it's a bad book, because it's not.  It's perfectly readable, and other people might really like it.  There's a movie version in the works, starring Ian McKellen, which is how I first heard of this and why I read it.

Anyway, A Slight Trick of the Mind is about an aging Sherlock Holmes who is slowly losing his memory.  He's in his nineties and succumbing to the ravages of age, just like anyone else.  He's living in Sussex, tending his bees, mentoring his housekeeper's son, and trying to finish writing up an account of a case he worked on back in London decades ago.  He also spends time reminiscing about his recent trip to Japan, and the author weaves those three sections of his life together to form a cohesive whole by the end.

But, like I said, I didn't like this book.  Seeing a character I have loved for twenty years as a frail, failing old man was very hard for me, and I will not read this book again.  

First Line:

Upon arriving from his travels abroad, he entered his stone-built farmhouse on a summer's afternoon, leaving the luggage by the front door for his housekeeper to manage (p. 3).

Particularly Good Bits:

His ears registered the low, concentrated murmur of the hive -- the sound of which, in that moment, refused to summon his isolated, content years cultivating the beeyard, but, rather, conveyed the undeniable and deepening loneliness of his existence (p. 186).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for themes of death and loss.

"The Valley of Fear" by A. Conan Doyle

Sigh.  This book is not one of the greatest mysteries ever written.  The first half is still enjoyable, as spending time with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is never tasking.  But the second half is all flashback concerning other characters entirely.  The format of flashback-that-explains-everything annoyed me a bit in A Study in Scarlet, but here it feels downright contrived.  I get the impression that Doyle wanted to write an adventure story about lodge members in America, but he had people clamoring for more Holmes stories, so he came up with a way to turn the one into the other.  I have no idea if that's really what was going on when he wrote this, but that's how it strikes me.

The mystery of the first half is a sort of locked-room mystery involving the murder of a well-liked American living in Britain.  Parts of it reminded me a lot of Laura by Vera Caspary, and others made me think of an earlier Holmes story, "The Golden Pince-Nez."  The flashback is all about who wanted to murder that man and why, and it deals with a bunch of murderous members of a band of "freemen" who terrorized a coal mining community in America.  

While only the first half involves Sherlock Holmes, the second half is a good adventure story, with some interesting characters and lots of action.  So it's not by any means onerous to read.

 
Particularly Good Bits:

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius (p. 238).

"It is, I admit, mere imagination; but how often is imagination the mother of truth?" (p. 274).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for violence.

"The Return of Sherlock Holmes" by A. Conan Doyle

There are thirteen stories in this book, which begins with Sherlock Holmes rising from the dead, in a way.  In "The Adventure of the Empty House," Holmes returns (and nearly gives Watson a heart attack) and explains that he didn't die at Reichenbach Falls after all.  Whew.  

Reportedly, Doyle had killed off Holmes because he was tired of the character, and only revived him because he either needed money or he couldn't resist the public pressure... there are different theories, and you can Google for more info if you're so inclined.  Regardless of why he brought Holmes back, Doyle clearly didn't have the same level of joy for the stories anymore.  The plots are weaker, and some of them are kind of recycled from previous stories.  But some of them are quite good, and they're all still enjoyable.  My favorites in this collection are "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" and "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter," probably because they're more original than some of the others.  I also have a fondness for "The Adventure of the Dancing Men," though not for the ending.

Particularly Good Bits:

No. 131 was one of a row, all flat-chested, respectable, and most unromantic dwellings.  ("The Adventure of the Six Napoleons")

Outside the wind howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely against the windows.  It was strange there, in the very depths of the town, with ten miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London was no more than the molehills that dot the fields.  ("The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez")

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG for dangerous situations, violence, and suspense.

"Death in the Air" by Shane Peacock

Since I enjoyed Eye of the Crow so much, I decided to try the second book in Peacock's Boy Sherlock Holmes series.  I didn't like Death in the Air quite as well, but on the other hand, I did stay up late one night to finish it, which I very rarely do.  And I'm not sure why I didn't like it as well, as this book has a taut plot, good dialog, an impenetrable mystery, and good character development.  It does have a slightly more episodic flavor to it, and lacks that central tie of crows that the first had, so I think that's probably why I liked the first better.  But I'll definitely be reading more of this series!

Death in the Air begins when a famous trapeze artist falls to his death during a performance, landing almost at Sherlock's feet.  Sherlock has been honing his observational skills, and he notices several things that make him believe the daring young man on the flying trapeze was murdered.  He sets out to prove this, aided by a kindly apothecary who has semi-adopted him now that Sherlock no longer has a home.  Once again, we meet up with his semi-rival Malefactor and his almost-friend Irene Doyle, though they are less central to this case.

Peacock makes some shrewd character observations, particularly about Sherlock Holmes.  At one point, Irene Doyle says, "You have no interest in most people, it seems to me, other than those whom you can put in jail in order to make you feel better about yourself" (p. 109).  While I'm not saying that the original Sherlock Holmes has self-hatred issues exactly, it's definitely something to turn around in my mind for a while, see how it fits with him.

Once again, there were a few things that were a bit too cutesy for my taste, for instance, when his new mentor tells him, "Should you go again... the Force should be with you!" (p. 180).  The character's referring to the police force, but it's an obvious Star Wars reference that made me roll my eyes and jerked me out of the story.

So, not a perfect book, but an enjoyable one.

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG for some violence and some language.

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" by A. Conan Doyle

This is my favorite Sherlock Holmes mystery.  It's beautifully written and masterfully plotted, and I consider it the pinnacle of Doyle's Holmes stories.  It's also the first one I ever read, which might make me a teensy bit prejudiced in its favor.

(This review contains spoilage.  Stop here and read the book first if you want.)

The story, in case you don't know, concerns a legend about a spectral hound that haunts the aristocratic Baskerville family, killing them or scaring them to death.  When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead outside the ancestral hall in Dartmoor, with the footprints of a gigantic hound beside him, his friend Dr. Mortimer consults Sherlock Holmes about whether the last of the Baskervilles, Sir Henry, should come from America and take over the family estate.  Holmes scoffs at the idea of a supernatural hound, but sends Dr. Watson to Baskerville Hall to observe and report whatever happens, and also to protect Sir Henry.  Holmes says he's too busy and has to stay in London, and so he's actually not in the majority of this book, though his presence looms over everything, much like the supposed presence of the ghastly hound.

I think what I like best about this book is the way the hound is a mirror image of Holmes himself.  Holmes and the hound both spend most of the book out of sight, hiding on the moor.  The hound is kept in an abandoned mine, while Holmes hides in an abandoned stone-age hut.  The idea of the hound and its supernaturality frightens the local people, and even Watson and Sir Henry Baskerville, while the idea of Sherlock Holmes and his keen investigative powers frightens the villain.  Once the hound is on the trail of a person, almost nothing stops it from reaching its foe, and once Holmes is on the trail of an evildoer, nothing stops him (usually).  Once we see the hound, it's even described with words like "gaunt" that Doyle also uses to describe Holmes.

I also love the atmosphere that Doyle evokes:  the mists and fogs of the moor, the loneliness of Baskerville Hall, the solemn solitude of everyone who lives there.  I would love to visit the moor some day, just to know exactly what it's like.

Particularly Good Bits:

"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."  (p. 593)

That cold, incisive, ironical voice could belong to but one man in all the world.  (p. 663)

A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen.  Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame.  (p. 684)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for suspense and scary images.

"The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" by A. Conan Doyle

This collection of 11 Sherlock Holmes stories does not contain any of my favorites, unlike The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  Still, I quite like "Silver Blaze" and "The Naval Treaty."  But I think I've only read Memoirs once before, as it ends with "The Final Problem," and I kind of avoid that one.  Even though I know the outcome of that tussle at Reichenbach Falls, the story still makes me sad.  When I got to it this time through, I actually put off reading it for more than a day.  But I'd never get to The Hound of the Baskervilles if I didn't finish this, so I made myself read it.

I don't actually have a lot to say about this book.  Eleven confounding mysteries, lots of great moments where Holmes gets to be brilliant and Watson gets to be brave.  Very enjoyable and readable.  Maybe I'm just not in a loquacious mood today.  Maybe I'm still bummed from "The Final Problem."

Particularly Good Bits:

"Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms."  ("The Greek Interpreter")

"You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson."  ("The Naval Treaty")

"...it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you."  ("The Final Problem")

If This Was a Movie, I Would Rate it:  PG for dangerous situations, violence, and suspense.

"The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" by Nicholas Meyer

Of all the non-canonical Sherlock Holmes adventures I've read over the years, this is the first one that made me go, "This guy gets it!  These really act, talk, and think like Holmes and Watson!"  Meyer deftly avoids the caricatures that many non-canon stories present, giving them even more depth and realism than some of the original stories did.  Also, he has Watson quote Hamlet several times, and I love that not just cuz I love Hamlet, but because Holmes quotes it several times in the original stories, and so that's a great carry-over.

Meyer's conceit is that Watson wrote this while in his eighties, after Holmes and everyone else involved had died.  It's an approach that works really well, as it lets Watson address some of the more common criticisms of the original.  You know, how many times he was married and the way he sometimes behaves less than intelligently, things like that.

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution is one of my favorite titles ever.  Yes, it tells you from the start that it's going to revolve around Holmes' cocaine habit.  But I especially love that the word "solution" applies not only to the mixture of 7% cocaine and 93% water he uses, but also to finding a solution to his drug problem.  Because, by the time this story takes place, it is definitely a problem.  Meyer takes Holmes' habit to its logical conclusion:  full-on addiction.  Holmes can't do without the drug anymore, and it's causing him all kinds of trouble.  Thanks to it, he's convinced that there's one man controlling all of London's more audacious criminals, a mastermind, the arch-nemesis he's always craved.  A man named Professor Moriarty.

Yeah, Moriarty.  Most over-used villain of pretty much all time.  I have this pet peeve about Moriarty, because it feels like every single person who wants to write a story about Holmes uses Moriarty as the villain.  From Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) to Sherlock Holmes:  A Game of Shadows (2011) to The Beekeeper's Apprentice to this, it's always Moriarty, Moriarty, Moriarty.  And I get it, I do.  Moriarty was his only true match.  Moriarty was Holmes' foil.  Everyone knows who Moriarty is, so you instantly have anti-Moriarty sentiment to rely on.  But come on, people!  Holmes did have other worthy adversaries.  (And don't get me started on Irene Adler -- she's horribly overused too.)

But Nicholas Meyer does something wonderful here.  He turns the idea of Moriarty the Criminal Genius on its head.  And I'm not gonna say more than that, because this is a cool book and I hope you read it.  But he twists the Moriarty thing in a new and nifty way, and I like it.

So anyway, Watson decides he has to save Holmes from himself.  And the only way Watson can think of to do that is to take Holmes to this doctor in Vienna who's discovered a way to cure people of cocaine addiction.  How he gets Holmes there is a great deal of fun, so I won't go into that here, but I will spoil one thing and tell you that doctor's name:  Sigmund Freud.

Are you rubbing your hands together and laughing soundlessly in a hearty fashion at the possibilities presented here?  Cuz that's what I do every time I think about this book.  It's just such a brilliant idea, and Meyer pulls it off in every way possible.  Love it.

There's also a movie version starring Alan Arkin as Freud and Nicol Williamson as Holmes and Laurence Olivier as Moriarty, and it's great fun too, but I like the book better.  Because the book really delves into Holmes and Watson's inner selves, into the way they really feel about each other.  The exasperation at each others' foibles and the appreciation for each others' talents.  The way Watson stands in awe of Holmes' intellect, but thinks he needs to be more human.  And the reasons why Holmes turned to detective work in the first place.

Okay, I'm just going to shut up now and tell you to find and read this, if you're at all a Sherlock Holmes fan.

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG-13 for drug usage.

Guest Post on The Book Chewers

Hey, guess what?  I'm the guest blogger on The Book Chewers today!  Go here to read my post about my three favorite non-canonical Sherlock Holmes books.

"Eye of the Crow" by Shane Peacock

This is the first in a series about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes," a series I didn't know existed until I stumbled on the final book at the library a few weeks ago.  Sometimes I'm okay with starting a series out of order, but starting with the last book seemed just too wrong, so I requested this one through the library's website and figured if I liked it, I'd read the rest in order.

I liked it.  I can't wait to read more.  Totally, completely awesome as a Holmes story and as a YA coming-of-age book.

Eye of the Crow involves a thirteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes, and it's very different from the other versions of the character's childhood that I've read or seen.  Usually, he's the son of a respectable, fairly well-to-do family, and thoroughly British.  Here, he's half-Jewish and poor.  And, as a character, he's much more interesting as a result.  He has so much more to work against, so many more obstacles, not just in this story, but in his life ahead.  And it jives with the canonical Holmes too -- that disdain he sometimes shows for the wealthy?  His willingness to bend the law to help lowly transgressors go straight?  His obsessive knowledge of London's every cranny?  I could see all those coming for this poor boy with the brilliant mind.

Because Holmes is already becoming brilliant in this book.  Fumbling a bit, finding his footing in the world of mysteries and detection, but already keen of mind and instinct.  

Okay, so anyway, the plot revolves around an unidentified young woman's murder, and the subsequent arrest of what Holmes believes to be the wrong person.  He sets out to right this wrong, and finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a world of ruthlessness he was little prepared for.  People he cares about get hurt.  People he cares about die.  But he solves the mystery nonetheless.

I do have one quibble with this book, and that's the use of too many names connected to the Canon.  Having Inspector Lestrade's father also be a police inspector was fine, made great sense.  But tossing in other familiar names, like Irene (though not Adler) and Doyle and Dupin... it just got kind of cute, like a game of "Guess who I'm referring to here?"  But that wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying the story or wanting to read the rest of the series.

Particularly Good Bits:

Violins are sad; they are strong; they tell the truth.  (pg. 45)

Reading is like an addiction to him:  he craves it the way desperate folks in the Lime House opium dens in the East End need their drug.  (pg. 95)

He yearns for the time, just a week or so ago, when he was nobody.  (pg. 120)

She also knows she shouldn't try to comprehend this remarkable boy, that that is the way to be his friend.  One understands him by not understanding, by trusting his mind.  (pg. 128)

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG-13 for violence.

"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by A. Conan Doyle

I've read this collection of Doyle's first short Holmes mysteries at least three times before this.  I've read many of the stories more often than that, as quite a few of them are among my most favoritest Holmes adventures.  Still, there were two that I didn't really recall at all!  Those were "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" and "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet."  I don't know why.  Curious, no?

But anyway, these are twelve of the finest short mysteries ever penned.  Magnificent.  Terrific stuff, full of intrigue and menace and brilliant deductions.  And excellent writing, nothing draggy or drab at all.  Really, even if you don't care much for mysteries, try one or two of these stories just for the pure deliciousness of it all.

My favorites, in no particular order, are:

• "A Scandal in Bohemia."  Yeah, the one with Irene Adler, aka The Woman.  Great fun.
• "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle."  I used to read this every Christmas, and have bits of it memorized.
• "The Adventure of the Speckled Band."  Exceedingly creepy.  Makes me shiver just thinking about it.
• "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches."  Parts almost foreshadow The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Also quite creepy. In a good way.

What I'd never noticed before is how many of these do not involve murder, or even the threat of murder.  These days, if no one's been killed (or in danger of being killed), audiences get bored.  Or at least, authors seem to worry about that.  Think of all those police forensics shows on TV -- every episode of every show begins with some innocent person stumbling over a dead body.  But six of these twelve stories don't have any death in them at all, not even a body that's presumed dead and later found alive!  And still, they're engrossing.  

(My dad has a gorgeous set of the complete Sherlock Holmes canon, and I took the liberty of doing a quick photo shoot with one volume while at my folks' a couple weeks ago, hence all the lovely pictures.)

EDIT:  I forgot to include my favorite lines!  Here they are.  Silly me.

Particularly Good Bits:

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence."  ("The Red-headed League")

"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he answered, laughing.  ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery")

"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he.  "It makes you quite invaluable as a companion."  ("The Man with the Twisted Lip")

"I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner."  ("The Man with the Twisted Lip")

"My name is Sherlock Holmes.  It is my business to know what other people don't know."  ("The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle")

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG for dangerous situations and suspense.

"The Sign of Four" by Arthur Conan Doyle

I always get the title of this book wrong and think it's The Sign of the Four.  Probably because, to me, that has a better rhythm to it.  But not my book, so I don't get to title it (alas).

Anyway, this is the second novel starring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.  In it, Miss Mary Morstan seeks Holmes' advice about a mysterious summons she's received.  Watson is smitten by her at their first meeting, and my goodness, that man is a fast mover!  }Spoiler alert!{  By the end of the story, he's asked her to marry him!  And they've known each other for, what, two weeks or something?  Goodness.  But, as a friend of my grandma's once said to me, "When you know, you know."  I guess they knew.

I don't really have a lot to say about this book.  I don't like it as well as A Study in Scarlet or The Hound of the Baskervilles, or even as well as some of the short stories.  It gets a bit long-winded at the end again, like the first novel, with the bad guy taking page after page to relate his history and just why he did what he did.  And I get it mixed up with "The Musgrave Ritual" a lot when I'm trying to remember various Holmes stories.  Still, it's a lively tale, never boring even when it meanders at the end, and the mystery is quite perplexing.  Plus, it introduces Sherlock Holmes' cocaine habit.  Introduces it in the very first paragraph, in fact, which seems bold now, but remember, cocaine and opium weren't illegal (or understood) back then.  Still, Watson clearly disapproves.

Also, I was struck by the fact that Holmes (and Doyle, of course) knows Hamlet enough to near-quote it.  At the end of chapter one, he says, "Was ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world?"  How can that not be an allusion (intentional or not) to this Hamlet line:  "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world" (Act I, Scene 2).

Particularly Good Bits: 

"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"

So swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defence.

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG for a murder and other descriptions of violence.

"A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle

This is the very first Sherlock Holmes story ever written.  In it, we get the superlative delight of seeing Holmes and Watson first meet, rent the iconic apartment on Baker Street, and get acquainted.  We learn a bit about Holmes' eccentric brilliance, Watson's steadfast dependability, and Mrs. Hudson's long-suffering patience.  And we get to see Holmes solve a baffling murder case.  Great fun!

Now, I think this novel is wonderful, but there's this long digression in the middle that smacks of filler.  I think that five chapters detailing events years and years before could have been summed up in a couple of pages.  It's supposed to make us sympathetic with one character, but I think that could have been accomplished equally well by having him just tell his story to his listeners in a more natural way.  Yes, it's usually better to "show" rather than "tell," but it's also true that brevity is the soul of wit, and I spent those five chapters thinking, "Well, this is interesting, but can't we get back to the real story?"  Like I said, it felt like filler material written to beef up a too-short story.

But please don't think that I dislike the book!  I don't -- I like it ever so much.  It's tightly plotted, the characters and dialog are superb, and of course, the deductions are amazing.  But I think that some of his later stories are paced much better.  It's great, but not brilliant.  However, the first time I read it, as a preteen, I thought it was wonderful.

Particularly Good Bits:  "...where there is no imagination, there is no horror."

"What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence," returned my companion, bitterly.  "The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done?"

If this was a movie, I would rate it:  PG.  There's a murder, after all, but it's not particularly gruesome.