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Book Review

Book Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Book Review - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Author:  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Series:   Sherlock Holmes: Book 3

Publisher: George Newnes

Genre:  Crime, Mystery, Detective Fiction

First Publication: 1892

Language:  English

Major Characters:  Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson, Inspector Lestrade, Irene Adler

Setting Place:  late 19th century London

Narration:  First person

Preceded by: The Sign of the Four

Followed by: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and 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’. Although Holmes gained a reputation for infallibility, Conan Doyle showed his own realism and feminism by having the great detective defeated by Irene Adler – the woman – in the very first story, ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes collects the first twelve Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in The Strand magazine throughout 1891-1892. The first story in the collection, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” is the story that made Holmes and his creator a household name.

What this collection offers is a great look into the character of Holmes as a master of solving what seems to be the unsolvable: puzzling crimes, murders, mistaken identities and generally mysterious circumstances. Doyle really sets the bar and precedent for the detective genre with Holmes as his lead. Many mysteries in contemporary film and book have been influenced in some manner by Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

“As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.”

Some of the highlights in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle:

In “A Scandal in Bohemia”, Sherlock Holmes employs disguises in attempts to find a photograph that could ruin the potential marriage of the King of Bohemia. This story has a light mood and it is enjoyable to see Holmes battle wits with Irene Adler.

“The Boscombe Valley Mystery” has Holmes trying to prove the innocence of James McCarthy, whose father was found dead under odd circumstances. Holmes goes to Hatherly Farm, the scene of the murder, to investigate.

“The Man with the Twisted Lip”—Holmes and Watson try to discover the whereabouts of Neville St. Clair, who has disappeared without a trace after last being seen in, of all places, an opium den. Many signs point to a mysterious and deformed beggar as the lead culprit. Holmes’ investigation takes them into the dangerous East End opium den.

“It’s a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brain to crime it is the worst of all.”

I enjoyed “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” the most. It is a closed-room mystery at hand for Holmes to solve, as one woman’s sister dies under the most unusual and remarkable circumstances. With seemingly no explanation for the murder and no real clue as to a suspect, Holmes and Watson go to the room where the murder happened. The suspense and tension in the dark room towards the conclusion was top notch.

Also included: “The Red-Headed League”, “A Case of Identity”, “The Five Orange Pips”, “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”, “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb”, “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor”, “The Adventure of Beryl Coronet”, and “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches.”

Holmes’ methods of deducing are almost always fascinating and entertaining. He is an astute and keen observer of human behavior, and pays attention to every detail in his surroundings. Watson makes for a great sidekick and ally to Sherlock Holmes, and his narration really makes these stories tick and work in a way that would be much less effective with an outside narrator.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle is a wonderful collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, some of the most popular out there. A collection like this is the best way to start reading Holmes. Sherlock Holmes’ fans will want to also check out A Study in Scarlet as well as The Hound of the Baskervilles, full length novels.

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The Essential Guide to Reading the Sherlock Holmes Books

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The essential guide to reading the sherlock holmes books.

The Essential Guide to Reading the Sherlock Holmes Books

Everyone’s heard of the famous British detective, many have seen one of the thrilling TV/movie adaptations, but not everyone’s read the original Sherlock Holmes books. Trust us — it’s worth it.

The fact that there’s so many Sherlock Holmes books (novels as well as short story collections) can be confusing, with newcomers wondering which order they should read them in. The books were also not written in chronological order in terms of plot, and reading them in the order of publication doesn’t help much either. So if you’re new to the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, we’re here to suggest a reasonable order to read them in that should keep things from getting too confusing!

We’ll explain our reasoning below, but without further ado, here’s the order of Sherlock Holmes books we recommend:

1. A Study in Scarlet

2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes  

3. The Sign of Four

4. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

5. The Valley of Fear

6. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

7. The Return of Sherlock Holmes

8. His Last Bow

9. The Hound of the Baskervilles

1. A Study in Scarlet (1887, novel)

The first one’s a no-brainer. A Study in Scarlet was the first Sherlock Holmes book to be published, in 1887! So if you’re here because of BBC’s Sherlock , take a second to mentally lose the smartphones, cars, GPS systems ... and, well, we hate to say it, but Benedict Cumberbatch will have to go too. This novel introduces readers to the original, late-Victorian Sherlock and Watson; it’s the first time the two characters meet, and the book cleverly establishes the dynamic between the duo (partly through masterful dialogue ), with Watson, as narrator, standing in for the reader as he tries to understand Sherlock’s superior mind. The two settle in together at the now-famous fictional apartment at 221B Baker Street in London, and work on a demanding and complicated murder case involving a wedding ring, some pills, a pipe, several telegrams, and a mysterious inscription reading “RACHE”...but you’ll have to read the novel if you want to connect the dots — or, as Sherlock says, unravel the “scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life.” The second half of this novel follows a flashback tale that may seem somewhat off-putting, and is the reason some readers recommend starting with a short story collection, but we still think it’s important for the reader to be introduced to the duo in a chronologically accurate way. So hang on in there for the second half — it’s definitely worth persevering, so you can move on to the next book.

🕵️ Fun fact: A Study in Scarlet is the book that first established the magnifying glass as a tool used by detectives to solve crimes! 🔎

2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892, short story collection)

The stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes are a fantastic way to deepen your understanding of Sherlock’s fascinating personality. The first story in this collection, ‘A Scandal in Bohemia,’ featuring a certain someone called Irene Adler. It was also the story that began the Sherlock fandom, despite not being the first published tale about the detective. For that reason, we think it’s important to deviate slightly from the chronology of publication, in order to get a strong sense of the detective’s intriguing methodologies and attitude. With stories averaging around twenty pages, this is a volume you can dip in and out of whenever you need that satisfying spark of intelligence that Sherlock Holmes never fails to deliver.

3. The Sign of Four (1890, novel)

To return to the order of publication, the second novel in the Sherlock Holmes books canon, The Sign of Four , is where Sherlock’s drug use is first depicted and where readers finally begin to see the man behind the detective. This is also the novel where (130-year spoiler alert) Dr. Watson’s future wife, Mary Marston, appears. In this darkly atmospheric book of strange London alleys, a mysterious annual package of pearls, and a vanished father, readers are in for a thicker, more complex plot than short stories can supply!

🕵️ Fun fact : This novel was first published in Lippincott’s Monthly magazine, a literary magazine that also published Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray in the same year. Other authors featured in Lippincott’s include Willa Cather and Rudyard Kipling — quite the magazine!

4. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (1927, short story collection)

Okay, we’re really breaking with the order of publication here, but we think this book is best read before the complicated interconnectedness of The Memoirs and The Return (details below), even though it was the last to be published. In The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes , the reader can enjoy a selection of straightforward detective adventures pursued by Holmes and Watson, which can stand autonomously. Two of these stories are actually narrated by Sherlock himself, which makes for an exciting reading experience!

A final note, if you’re trying to be selective and aren’t able to read the entire Sherlock canon: this is often considered the weakest Sherlock Holmes book, with the author seeming tired of the detective by this point in his career. If you leave something out, this should probably be it. This weakness is another reason we recommend not reading this book last even if you’re reading things in order of publication, as it sadly tends to be pretty anticlimactic!

5. The Valley of Fear (1915, novel)

Within the chronology of the Sherlock Holmes books, The Valley of Fear takes place before The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes , despite its later publication, since Sherlock states he has never met James Moriarty before. A book cipher message is followed by a mysterious murder at a manor house and a set of strange but promising clues. This novel is one of the most satisfying Sherlock books, and its detailed and well-planned plot is able to convey Holmes and Watson’s detective procedure with a sustained suspense that Conan Doyle doesn’t have the room for in some of his shorter works. Add to that the intrigue of secret societies, and The Valley of Fear is rightly shown to be a simply irresistible tale.

🕵️ Fun fact : The novel is loosely based on the real James McParland and his success against the Molly Maguires secret Irish society — though we would advise you not to Google this stuff before reading the book!

6. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894, short story collection)

Did you know that Arthur Conan Doyle was so tired of writing Sherlock Holmes books that he killed the beloved detective off in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes , but then had to find a way to bring him back to life due to fan outrage? Yep, that’s right; Conan Doyle had written to his mother that Sherlock “[took his] mind from better things.” Though she was horrified and urged him not to do it, he went ahead with it anyway in the last story of this collection, ‘The Final Problem.’ But that’s not the only reason to read this collection — the Memoirs is also where Sherlock’s archenemy Professor James Moriarty and brother Mycroft are introduced to the readers, in ‘The Final Problem’ and ‘The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter’ respectively. 

🕵️ Fun fact : Later, Conan Doyle stated the following: “I have had such an overdose of him that I feel towards him as I do towards paté de foie gras, of which I once ate too much, so that the name of it gives me a sickly feeling to this day.” The 20,000+ people who cancelled their subscriptions to The Strand magazine (where these stories were published) as a result of Sherlock’s death were not happy. It is safe to assume the magazine staff was not happy either.

7. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905, short story collection)

With The Return of Sherlock Holmes , Conan Doyle “revived” the popular detective — no zombie stuff, don’t worry. He found a way to explain the ending of Memoirs to his readers’ satisfaction, and so the legend continued, set three years after Sherlock’s apparent death. As usual, Dr. Watson is on the reader’s side: just as baffled by Sherlock’s reappearance, he facilitates the clarification of events. The duo finds itself returning to the area near their old Baker Street apartment, though things are not as they were before… Their humorous dialogue, however, is back and as strong as ever!

8. His Last Bow (1917, short story collection)

His Last Bow is the last book in the chronology of Sherlock’s life, but not the last to be published, despite an assurance by Watson that Holmes had retired and would not permit him to write any further books (remember, The Casebook is set in the past). Reaching the public while the First World War was still unfolding, His Last Bow features a final story by the same title where Sherlock and Watson are part of the British intelligence efforts. Their war service includes catching foreign spies and feeding Germany confusing and unreliable intelligence; gone are the days of the duo’s iconic detective work. For this reason, we suggest that you do not end with this book, despite the chronological closure it provides.

9. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902, novel)

The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first book Conan Doyle published after he initially killed Sherlock, and it’s set before the events of that story. This novel is widely considered the best of the Sherlock Holmes books — so we’ve saved the best for last. In Devon’s moors, Charles Baskerville is found dead with a horrified expression, prompting speculation that an old folk story about a demonic hound haunting the area might be true. Sherlock is called to investigate, and so begins this darkly Gothic novel, complete with marshes, suspense, candle signals from nightly windows, and impenetrable fog. Chilling, immersive, and incredibly satisfying, this truly frightening novel will not disappoint. Expertly blending suspense, mystery, and supernatural horror , The Hound of the Baskervilles is an extraordinary literary achievement.

🕵️ Fun fact : The inspiration for this novel came in part from the real legend of Squire Richard Cabell in Devon. The squire was famously immoral and considered evil by the community, and his tomb was said to be visited at night by the ghosts of a pack of hounds that would howl near his grave. Not exactly tourist attraction material!

If the nine original books in the Sherlock Holmes canon still aren’t enough, worry not. Sherlock’s afterlife is still going strong, and now that the character has entered public domain, many Sherlock Holmes books continue to be written even now. So if you’re still thirsty for more, here’s a few recommendations:

10. Shadows Over Baker Street , eds. Michael Reaves and John Pelan

Shadows Over Baker Street is a short story anthology edited by Michael Reaves and John Pelan. Here, twenty contemporary writers (including Neil Gaiman!) contribute a story where Sherlock must solve a mystery in the world of H. P. Lovecraft . These creepy and atmospheric tales are the perfect fusion of the mathematical world of logical deduction and the supernatural world of horror.

11. The House of Silk and Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz, author of the popular Alex Rider series, was authorized by the Conan Doyle estate to write some new Sherlock Holmes pastiche. This has taken the form of two novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty . In the former, which is set in 1890, Sherlock is hired by an art dealer, whose art business has been in trouble with an Irish gang — but as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that the detective has chanced upon a loose thread of a formidable global conspiracy. The latter novel, set after the events of ‘The Final Problem,’ sees detective Frederick Chase team up with Inspector Jones to pursue an emerging criminal mastermind hoping to take Moriarty’s place. Fast-paced, suspenseful, and immensely satisfying, these novels are a wonderful opportunity to re-enter the world of Sherlock Holmes.

12. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

The first in a long and very popular series, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice sees a retired Sherlock meet teenage detective talent Mary Russell. The young American’s life is changed when she becomes the detective’s pupil. The book follows the pair from the Sussex Downs to Oxford, Wales, Palestine and back, as they realize they’re facing an opponent more formidable than either of them had anticipated.

13. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution sees a retired Sherlock Holmes, referred to only as the “old man,” decipher the meaning of a parrot’s listing of seemingly random German numbers. The parrot belongs to a young German-Jewish refugee boy (the novel is set in 1944), and the bird abruptly disappears as soon as interest in his mumbling begins to grow. Add to that the classic murder ingredient, and Sherlock Holmes has another mystery cut out for him. This suspenseful novella is guaranteed to please Sherlock fans with the clever, funny mystery it poses.

And that’s it! With so much to choose from, we hope your Sherlock needs will be met, and that you’re ready for the incredible journey that lies ahead of you. Put on your deerstalker hat (a detail, by the way, that never appeared in the original text, only the illustrations ), grab your pipe, and let’s go!

Hungry for more? Check out this list of the 30 best mystery books of all time !

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Book Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson have captivated audiences for generations. This collection of twelve short stories is fantastic. From stolen jewels to mysterious circumstances and brilliant crimes, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes has it all. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is full of mesmerizing deductions and wonderful short adventures. I highly recommend this collection of short stories for every Sherlock Holmes fan and anyone searching for great mystery novels or short stories.

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The Best Fiction Books » Mystery

The best sherlock holmes books, recommended by michael dirda.

On Conan Doyle by Michael Dirda

On Conan Doyle by Michael Dirda

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories and four novels starring his fictional sleuth. Michael Dirda – Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, writer and lifelong Sherlockian – gives us his personal choice of the best Sherlock Holmes books and tells us more about their creator.

The Best Sherlock Holmes Books - A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Best Sherlock Holmes Books - The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Best Sherlock Holmes Books - The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Best Sherlock Holmes Books - The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Best Sherlock Holmes Books - Arthur Conan Doyle by D Stashower & C Foley & J Lellenberg

Arthur Conan Doyle by D Stashower & C Foley & J Lellenberg

review of a novel by sherlock holmes

1 A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

2 the complete sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle, 3 the hound of the baskervilles by sir arthur conan doyle, 4 the lost world by sir arthur conan doyle, 5 arthur conan doyle by d stashower & c foley & j lellenberg.

Before we talk about the books you’ve chosen, I am intrigued about what goes on in the Baker Street Irregulars group, which you were inducted into in 2002.

The Baker Street Irregulars was founded in the 1930s by three brothers – Christopher Morley, who was a well-known literary journalist of the time, his brother Felix Morley, who was for a while the editor of my newspaper, The Washington Post , and their brother Frank Morley, who worked in publishing and once shared an office at Faber & Faber with that other great Sherlock Holmes fan, TS Eliot.

The Morley kids had grown up reading the Sherlock Holmes books and used to tease each other with questions about the most minor details in them. They decided to run a contest in the Saturday Review of Literature for people who had the same kind of passionate interest in 221b Baker Street, and from this contest there emerged a kind of literary society and dining club, which has being going strong for more than 75 years now. In it people play what is called “the Game”, which is founded on the premise that Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are actual historical figures and the stories historical records of their exploits. There are discrepancies in “the canon”, there are gaps, there are problems with chronology but Irregular scholarship will find a way to reconcile or make sense of them all.

Dorothy Sayers was a member of an equivalent group in England – The Sherlock Holmes Society of London . She always insisted “the Game” should be played without cracking a smile. You needed to take it seriously. Sort of. The Baker Street Irregulars continues to flourish, hosting an annual birthday banquet with lots of toasts and talks. Being an invested member of the group is a lot of fun, especially since my fellow Irregulars range from the retired chief technical officer for Apple to judges and lawyers and notable writers such as Neil Gaiman .

Let’s have a look at some of the books you are all such fans of. Your first choice is A Study in Scarlet, which describes how the famous detective pair, Holmes and Watson, met.

If you’ve never read any Sherlock Holmes books you really need to start with that one because it introduces this rather mysterious and romantic character. At the beginning, Doctor Watson tries to puzzle out the profession of his strange roommate at 221b Baker Street. He makes lists of what Holmes seems to know a lot about and what he doesn’t seem to know about at all – including the Copernican theory. In short, this is an introduction to a partnership and friendship that will be chronicled over 56 short stories and four novels. I think everyone needs to know the foundation of that relationship.

There have been so many different Sherlock Holmes films, which all depict Watson and Holmes differently. From your readings of the books how would you describe them?

Most of us grew up on Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in those old B movies of the 1930s and 40s. Nigel Bruce deliberately portrayed Watson as this bumbling dolt, which is very different from the Watson of the books, who is a soldier, doctor, battle veteran and an authority on “the fair sex”. Happily, the 21st century Sherlock produced by the BBC, with Benedict Cumberbatch as this very Aspergian Holmes and Martin Freeman as this vulnerable and engaging Watson, gives us a more accurate portrait of their relationship.

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Watson, we know from the books, marries at least a couple of times and is a much more admirable and humane figure than Holmes. Over time, the stories show how Watson gradually humanises this thinking machine. Agatha Christie – through the mouth of her own detective Hercule Poirot – asserted that Conan Doyle’s greatest creation wasn’t Sherlock Holmes but Doctor Watson.

Do you agree?

Not really, but we do get all our information about Holmes through Watson. He is our representative in this strange household. Just as in vaudeville you need a straight man as well as a comic, so in these wonderful stories Watson has to be Holmes’s straight man. Think of all those little scenes at the beginning of each story when the pair are sitting around the fire and Holmes will suddenly notice that a visitor has left a hat or a cane and will ask Watson to make some deductions about the owner. Watson gets everything wrong and Holmes is then able to wow his friend with astonishing inferences. In one case – they’re studying an old hat – Holmes runs through all these details and finally concludes with a flourish that it is obvious that the man’s wife has ceased to love him! That example comes from the short story “The Blue Carbuncle” , by the way. You need the give and take between the two men to make the stories work. I once read that in vaudeville it was often the straight guy who got paid more than the comic because that’s the tougher job. He has to set up the jokes in just the right way. It is really hard to find a good straight man, and Watson is one of the best.

Good point. Next up on your list of the best Sherlock Holmes books is the short story, The Adventure of the Speckled Band. You can buy it on its own or read it for free online , but if you’re committed, you could also buy it as part of the Complete Sherlock Holmes . It’s described as a locked room mystery – what is that?

It is essentially an impossible crime. A victim is found murdered in a locked room and there are no obvious entrances or exits from it. How was the crime committed? How did the murderer escape? Seemingly only supernatural means can explain this impossible situation. But a detective like Sherlock Holmes will figure out how it all really happened.

The Speckled Band is also a kind of gothic story. You have a wonderful villain in Dr Roylott, and you have the isolated home, the mysterious sounds and habits of the household. Most Sherlockians, if they had to pick just one story to represent the canon, would choose this one. For many years, it and The Red-Headed League were the two adventures most often reprinted in school textbooks.

It has a superbly eerie atmosphere and it gives you all kinds of details about Sherlock Holmes and Watson. As a story, everything in it comes together perfectly.

We can’t discuss Conan Doyle without mentioning his most famous Sherlock Holmes book, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first grown-up book I ever read. I can remember buying the novel as part of a school book club and waiting until just the right November evening to read it, one when my sisters and parents would be away. It was literally a dark and stormy night and I pulled all the covers down from my bed and turned off all the lights in the house except one and read the pages absolutely wide-eyed.

When you come to the end of that second chapter, there is this particularly brilliant exchange when Doctor Mortimer describes the death of the latest Baskerville and mentions that there were footprints seen near the body. Holmes turns to Mortimer and says, “A man’s or a woman’s?” and Mortimer delivers the greatest reply in 20th century literature, “Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!” I shivered with pleasure and realised that life didn’t get much better than that. After I finished the book, I went to the library and found the complete Sherlock Holmes stories and devoured those.

Eventually I went on to learn that Conan Doyle wasn’t just the creator of Sherlock Holmes but that he was really a multi-talented writer. He also wrote wonderfully evocative ghost stories and historical fiction . He has these rather swashbuckling tall tales told by a Napoleonic cavalryman, Brigadier Gerard. I recommend them.

Still, The Hound of the Baskervilles was the book that persuaded Conan Doyle to bring back Holmes in a serious way. You know that he killed off the detective at the end of the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and people thought for several years that their beloved Sherlock was dead after the tumble with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. But eventually Conan Doyle bowed to audience pressure and came out with The Hound of the Baskervilles, though he insisted that this was a pre-Reichenbach adventure. But the book was so fabulously popular – it was the Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter of the day – that ultimately Conan Doyle was offered so much money he couldn’t refuse to produce more Sherlock Holmes stories.

Despite its popularity, is there anything that you don’t like about it?

I would say the only real flaw lies in the middle of the novel, where there is a long period in which Holmes isn’t around and we are only following Doctor Watson’s adventures at Baskerville Hall. But the idea of this hound from hell really gives the story an air of the uncanny that readers love. The curse of the Baskervilles, played out over the generations and still in modern times, is especially brilliant – as is Holmes’s discovery of the truth.

As you mentioned, Conan Doyle wrote other novels that don’t feature Sherlock Holmes. One of them is The Lost World .

One of the aims of my little book On Conan Doyle is to urge people to explore Conan Doyle’s many wonderful non-Sherlockian works. Certainly the one that most people should start with is The Lost World . It introduces Professor George Edward Challenger, a self-important but wonderfully funny and committed scientist who discovers a plateau in a South American jungle where dinosaurs still roam the earth. This is based on some actual historical explorations that were going on at the time. The novel obviously inspired Jurassic Park . It is one of the great classic versions of a lost civilisation.

Challenger is a larger than life, humorous character, and I stress repeatedly that Conan Doyle is often very funny. He himself, unlike many writers, was something of a man of action – a great sportsman who skied, climbed and hiked, and a man who served on a whaler as a ship’s doctor and attended the wounded during the Boer War.

So why do you think that Sherlock Holmes books are so much better known?

Sherlock Holmes represents an intellectual ideal. He’s a man who lives purely by his wit, who kowtows to no one and who disdains the conventions of society that most of us have to observe. When you read these books at 11 or 12, it’s clear that Holmes lives an ideal boy’s life. His best friend is his roommate. He has a mother figure to serve hot meals when he is hungry. He can shoot his gun inside his house, he can be as messy as he cares to be, he gets to wear lots of disguises and he can go out and have great adventures fighting the bad guys. Beyond that, as I said earlier, he is susceptible to all kinds of interpretations. He is the Hamlet of detective fiction.

Finally you have chosen Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters , edited by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley.

Particularly after he became famous, Conan Doyle thought of himself as a public intellectual and he wrote many letters to The Times protesting about atrocities in the Belgian Congo, arguing for divorce law reform, and trying to right the wrongs of people unjustly incarcerated. Arthur and George , Julian Barnes ’s novel previous to his Booker Prize winner, was about Arthur Conan Doyle in one of these cases.

Some of that public intellectual side of Conan Doyle comes across in these letters, but they are also highly personal and reveal a really endearingly winning personality. Conan Doyle is funny, witty, concerned with his family life, and he writes very entertainingly about all sorts of subjects. Above all, with its abundant annotation, the book offers a good survey of Conan Doyle’s career and some of his many interests.

How did it help you with your research for your book?

To write my own book I read almost all of Arthur Conan Doyle . There were a few of his books I didn’t get to – some of the spiritualist tracts, for instance, that he wrote in his later years. I drew on the letters, of course, but also his essays and memoirs, the Sherlockian scholarship of the Baker Street Irregulars, various biographies. I naturally touch on the many films and stage plays and pastiches that employ the great detective.

In short, I aimed to distil a lot of information about Conan Doyle’s writings and the full range of Sherlockian activities into an easy-going, highly personal short book. If I have any talent at all as a writer, it lies in conveying real enthusiasm about the authors I love. I certainly hope people enjoy my book for itself but also use it as a means to better appreciate the Sherlock Holmes stories and as a gateway to Conan Doyle’s other work.

December 7, 2012

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Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and longtime book columnist for The Washington Post . He is the author of several collections of essays as well as the memoir An Open Book . A lifelong Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle fan, he was inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars group in 2002.

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Book Review: “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes had already appeared in two novels, but his popularity did not really take off until the brief “adventures” collected in this book began to appear in monthly issues of The Strand Magazine , from 1891 to 1892. And though there are two novels and three volumes of short stories still to come, these 12 mysteries include some of Holmes’s most memorable and celebrated cases. Few of them are concerned with actual murder or even actionable crimes, and Holmes doesn’t always get his man (or woman). But they are Holmes all over, the Sherlock you sure love, fascinating us (even when his cases don’t) by his keen observation, quick deduction, and encyclopedic recall of the history of crime—so that he can often solve in moments a case that keeps Scotland Yard guessing for days.

In “A Scandal in Bohemia,” the King of Bohemia (which Conan Doyle seems to confuse with Scandinavia) hires Holmes to help him neutralize a threat to his marriage plans. It seems His Majesty has been foolish enough to allow another woman to possess a photograph of the two of them. In the Holmes canon, this is actually the only appearance of “ the woman,” as Holmes describes her: Irene Adler, celebrated as the only woman who ever outwitted him.

“The Red-Headed League” is a comic tale about a stingy pawnbroker who suspects he has been had. It turns out that the harmless scam of which he is the victim is only part of a plot to play much dirtier trick. In “A Case of Identity,” Holmes is hired by a near-sighted spinster to solve the disappearance of her fiancé. In “The Boscombe Valley Mystery,” Holmes helps Inspector Lestrade prove the innocence of a young man who has been arrested for the murder of his father. “The Five Orange Pips” is the rare case in which Holmes fails to save the life of his client, who comes to him with a creepy story about three successive members of his family receiving a cryptic message before they died. Among the spooky secrets Holmes uncovers in this dark installment is a connection to that American institution, the Ku Klux Klan.

“The Man with the Twisted Lip” is a missing persons case in which a well-off businessman vanishes, almost before his wife’s eyes, from a room in which a lame beggar is found, along with some blood and the victim’s clothes. Is it murder? Or could there be something even stranger going on? “The Blue Carbuncle” is a case of a stolen jewel, which comes Sherlock’s way in the gizzard of a Christmas goose found lying in the street. His powers of detection are never shown more vividly than in “The Speckled Band,” in which a villain hatches a diabolical plot to murder his twin stepdaughters.

In “The Engineer’s Thumb,” Holmes helps a confused young man track down the gang of forgers who tried to use him as an unwitting accomplice, and then tried to kill him. “The Noble Bachelor” concerns a bride who, ten minutes after the start of her wedding breakfast, steps out of the room for a moment and is never seen again. In “The Beryl Coronet,” a banker fears his son has plundered a national treasure, and hires Holmes in the hope of recovering the lost gems. And finally, “The Copper Beeches” has to do with a governess who suspects that her employers are involving her in something sinister and dangerous.

These mysteries are very straightforward, simple, easy to enjoy. They follow a clear formula that has worked for millions of readers these 120-odd years. Sometimes Holmes solves them by spotting a clue that no one else noticed. Sometimes it is his knowledge of human nature, and of similar cases in the past, that does the trick. Again and again, the truth is revealed when Holmes asks someone the right question, or puts the right advertisement in the newspapers, or sets a trap into which his quarry cannot resist falling. Of course, Holmes isn’t always right. His deduction, for example, that the whole world would someday become one nation under the combined flag of the US and the UK, now rings somewhere between “spooky” and “unintentionally funny.”

But hey, Conan Doyle was a spooky customer. He believed in Spiritualism, which is why this book was briefly banned in the USSR. Spookiness works sometimes. It doesn’t hurt when you are an author of detective thrillers and science fiction novels. Eerieness and suspense were his friends. His best work, both generally and in the Holmes canon, was yet to come in the haunted pages of The Hound of the Baskervilles . But in this book, he already makes an excellent start. This is classic Sherlock. It’s attention-grabbing fun. And it is followed immediately by a second year’s worth of monthly Holmes tales, collected in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes .

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Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz – review

A sequel authorised by the Conan Doyle estate has the deduction and the action, but does it scratch the Holmesian itch?

I f we were to ask the great detective himself what makes him great, he would no doubt cite his superior powers of observation, deduction and ratiocination. Sherlock Holmes’s signature display of virtuosity, after all, is to read volumes about an acquaintance’s history and circumstances from tiny details of his or her appearance: a frayed cuff, a soiled hat band, a particular type of tobacco ash (one of 140 catalogued in his famous monograph) clinging to a lapel.

But go back to Arthur Conan Doyle’ s stories and you may be surprised by how often the solution to one of Holmes’s cases hinges on trickery: disguises, ambushes and traps. Granted, such gambits – and the deployment of trusty Watson’s service revolver – make for more exciting storytelling than a man peering through a magnifying glass, but, still, it is striking how few of the tales are actually meticulous procedurals instead of ripping yarns. Conan Doyle, who dashed off stories about Holmes to fund his more serious-minded historical novels, was notoriously sloppy with the very minutiae that his immortal creation specialised in decoding.

Besides, do we really enjoy Sherlock Holmes mysteries for the mysteries themselves? This is a question that comes up a lot when reading Anthony Horowitz’s sequels-cum-pastiches. He is the only novelist authorised to write Holmes stories by Conan Doyle’s estate: the first he produced, The House of Silk , was very popular and a solid piece of work – well constructed, skilfully executed and persuasively tinged with that alluring sooty flavour of 1890s London. His second, Moriarty , is much the same, but bolder in its ambitions.

Moriarty is a Holmes novel without either Holmes or Watson. The two main characters – our narrator, an American private detective named Frederick Chase, and Athelney Jones, a detective inspector from Scotland Yard – meet over a corpse found in the brook fed by the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, shortly after the famous and allegedly fatal confrontation between Holmes and his arch-enemy. The corpse bears the name of the novel’s title character, but the two men have another fish to fry: Clarence Devereux, an American mastermind seeking to take Professor Moriarty’s place at the centre of London’s criminal web.

Jones appears as a minor character, the stock bumbling policeman, in the Conan Doyle story “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” . As Horowitz imagines it, the humiliation of being shown up by Holmes has spurred Jones on to master the art of detection, and Chase, who has tracked Devereux from the States, is more than willing to serve as his Watson. “I am dogged in my approach,” he modestly tells the detective inspector. “And it is this, more than anything, which has led me frequently to success.” Jones and Chase fall into the personas Conan Doyle created like asteroids submitting to the gravitational pull of the sun. “London needs a new consulting detective,” Chase tells Jones, as they fantasise about setting up an establishment near Baker Street and “finding a Mrs Hudson to look after us”.

Many Conan Doyle fans and acolytes have written fictional speculations about the three-year period after the Reichenbach Falls incident, a time referred to in as the Great Hiatus. So what does Horowitz bring to the table? As with The House of Silk , this novel is a gorier and more sombre vision of late Victorian London, freer than Conan Doyle ever was to acknowledge the sordid realities of human nature and urban life. When Chase checks into a cheap hotel on the Embankment and rubs the grime from the window to gaze out at a coal ship sailing down the river, it is as if he has brought a noirish sensibility with him from the New World. This sensibility is accompanied by a villain who hisses things like, “You will die for this … it will be slow” – and means it.

Moriarty is a sound mystery novel, with traps, disguises and a good if not exactly unprecedented twist, but whether it scratches the Holmesian itch is another matter. It is a remarkably melancholy affair. There is none of the “air of irresponsible comedy, like that of some father’s rigmarole for his children” that the critic Edmund Wilson praised in the Holmes stories, or the sheer, campy brio that distinguishes Conan Doyle’s detective fiction from its latter-day descendants, that sensation of events taking place in an eternal realm of games. Isn’t this quality, more than anything else, what the great detective’s fans return for, over and over again? Jones and Chase like to quote Holmes and Watson, and they deliberately model themselves on the immortal duo, but they inhabit a fallen world. The pleasure to be found in Moriarty is real enough, but perhaps a little too real to be truly Holmesian. It has the detection, the deduction and the action, but I did miss the fun.

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A Sherlock Holmes Tale That’s Hardly Elementary

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By Janet Maslin

  • Dec. 15, 2010

“Perhaps the greatest of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries is this: that when we talk of him we invariably fall into the fancy of his existence,” T .S. Eliot wrote in a 1929 review of “The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories.”

For an extreme example of what Eliot meant, consider “The Sherlockian,” a new novel predicated entirely on Holmes worship, Holmes mimicry, Holmes artifacts and assorted other forms of Holmesiana. Its smart young author, Graham Moore, has done much more than fall into the fancy of Holmes’s existence. He has fallen down a Holmes well.

He’s going to take a lot of readers with him too. Thanks to the sly self-awareness that keeps “The Sherlockian” smart and agile, it’s possible to enjoy this book’s laughable affectations and still be seduced by them. This is a novel by, for and about Holmes-quoting mystery nuts, and it understands what makes them happy. Red herrings, exclamations of “Elementary!” and the assurance that life’s problems have logical solutions are at the core of Mr. Moore’s world view.

review of a novel by sherlock holmes

After a prologue involving Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes’s creator, who will take up half the space in “The Sherlockian” assisting on a Scotland Yard investigation, Mr. Moore tosses his story right into the midst of the Baker Street Irregulars. They are fondly described here as a group of Holmes fans equipped with pipes and deerstalker hats, assembled at the Algonquin Hotel in New York and quacking like a bunch of ducks in heat at the prospect of a real-life murder in their midst. “Just to be clear,” somebody later asks this crew, “is there one of you people who doesn’t have obsessive-compulsive disorder?”

Harold White is a bedazzled new inductee into the group. And before he can say “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” Harold is swept up into a mystery that will force him to do a latter-day Holmes imitation. It must be pointed out that Harold works at a film studio vetting scripts, because he is so well read that he can fend off any plagiarism claim by finding similar story lines in the public domain. By some mysterious means that Mr. Moore never gets around to investigating, Harold’s story in “The Sherlockian” is set up like a movie scenario and owes at least as much to “The Da Vinci Code” as it does to “The Sign of Four.”

So it needs a girl, a murder and a holy grail, not necessarily in that order. The grail this time is a lost diary of Conan Doyle’s, the turn-of-the-century volume that explains why he resuscitated Holmes eight years after throwing him over the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarty and leaving both of them for dead. In a prologue of sorts, Conan Doyle makes a brief 1893 appearance and explains why he wants the hated Holmes (“My Mam speaks as if she’s Holmes’s mother, not mine”) out of his life.

The 2010 murder in “The Sherlockian” is, like a lot of things in this interestingly researched book, based on something authentic. Mr. Moore extrapolates from the 2004 death of Richard Lancelyn Green, a real-life Sherlockian who claimed to have found the lost diary and was garroted with a shoelace, to stage a similar, fictitious crime. In the novel a Holmes scholar named Alex Cale claims to have found the diary and then suffers death by shoelace while the Irregulars’ convention is under way. And presto! Harold must start thinking, acting and talking like Holmes to find the missing diary and solve the crime.

Mr. Moore interjects a young woman named Sarah into the story, mostly because he has to. Sarah says that she’s a reporter covering the convention, that Harold will make a nice hook for her article, and that she must thus join him in globe-trotting in order to witness his adventures. This makes her the least credible character in a book that crosscuts between Harold in the present and Arthur — as Conan Doyle is called here — in 1900 and gives Arthur a sidekick too. Arthur is accompanied by his friend Bram, an aspiring writer who is as obscure as Arthur is famous, since nobody cares about Stoker’s Transylvanian “Count What’s-His-Name.” Feel free to enjoy the fact that there will be a Count Chocula more than 100 years later.

The passage of time between Arthur’s era and Harold’s actually lends some gravitas to the fun and games “The Sherlockian” provides. Harold thinks wistfully back to the relative simplicity of Conan Doyle’s time (even though Mr. Moore’s historical research makes it clear that Conan Doyle faced plenty of real problems). “It’s funny,” Harold says, once the plot takes him to England. “I’m so much more familiar with Britain a hundred years ago than Britain today.”

And every time the book’s 21st-century chapters refer to new technology, they contrast sharply with late Victorian glamor. “The old centuries had, and have, powers of their own,” writes one Sherlockian, “which mere modernity cannot kill.” Mr. Moore sustains this theme so faithfully that his book’s last chapter, about the arrival of so-called progress on Baker Street, is its most affecting one.

So “The Sherlockian” manages to make a journey from the ridiculous (Harold White, instant detective?) to the sublime. And it is anchored by Mr. Moore’s self-evident love of the rules that shape good mystery fiction and the promises on which it must deliver. As the book’s characters say outright, all the relevant details must be woven into the story. There can’t be too many needless ones. Progress must be logical. The author must understand, as Arthur demonstrates during the course of this novel, that “the requisite pedantry of detective work” does have its obsessive-compulsive rewards.

And the author must make a promise to his readers. It is a vow that is made explicitly by Arthur during “The Sherlockian” but is honored in this book by Mr. Moore too. “I am going to take care of you,” Arthur avers. “I know it seems impossible now, but it will all work out. You cannot see where I’m going, but I can, and it will delight you in the end.”

THE SHERLOCKIAN

By Graham Moore

350 pages. Twelve. $24.99.

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Sherlock Holmes Books by MX Publishing

Publishers Weekly Reviews - The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories

Posted by Steve Emecz on July 10, 2023

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories has reached thirty-nine volumes and just keeps breaking records - the most new stories (over 800), the most participating authors (over 200), etc - but its the quality of the reviews that is the most rewarding.    

There are a staggering 23 positive reviews from Publishers Weekly - a record - here are links to them all (nineteen are starred reviews).

We've launched the Sherlock Holmes Book Club where fans can three paperbacks every quarter.

Contributors include Lee Child, Jonathan Kellerman, Lyndsay Faye, Les Klinger, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and many more.

review of a novel by sherlock holmes

"Mind-bending puzzles are the highlight of Marcum’s fully satisfying 34th anthology, which again demonstrates that multiple authors are capable of giving Sherlock Holmes and Watson innovative mysteries to tackle while staying in character. In Will Murray’s “The Mystery of the Spectral Shelter,” the sleuths’ cabdriver asks for help with a bizarre encounter: on visiting a shelter built to give drivers some respite he found a man who seemed frozen in place. When he tried to return on another day, there was no trace of the structure he previously visited. In Marcia Wilson’s “The Monster’s Mop and Pail,” Holmes finds a vital clue in what’s missing: the locked room containing a man murdered by an unknown method has a mop bucket filled with water, but no mop. In Arthur Hall’s “The Adventure of the False Confessions,” Holmes explores why men who could not have committed the crimes they admitted to confessed, using identical language. Marcum’s inventory of canonical pastiches shows no signs of being exhausted any time soon."

Volume XXXIV Review

"Might one of the major tragic accidents of Victorian England actually have been a crime? Why has the owner of a small furniture van disappeared? Those are just two of the puzzles Sherlock Holmes tackles in yet another stellar anthology of 21 short pastiches that effectively mimic the originals. Terry Golledge (1920–1996), whose stories were unpublished during his lifetime, stands out with two entries, “The Grosvenor Square Furniture Van” and “The Case of the Woman at Margate,” both based on Dr. Watson’s references to unpublished investigations. The latter is an exemplar of cleverly building on the slimmest of narrative reeds—a single sentence about the absence of powder on a woman’s face. John Lawrence’s “The Princess Alice Tragedy” delves into a real-life 1878 collision on the Thames, which caused the sinking of a paddle steamboat. Hundreds of its mostly lower-class passengers, out for a day’s excursion, perished; a man whose wife and five daughters drowned asks a young Holmes to look into what happened. As the recent discovery of Golledge’s work shows, Marcum’s diligent searches for high-quality stories has again paid off for Sherlockians.   

Volume XXXI review

"A locked-room mystery without bloodshed and a seemingly motiveless serial killer tale highlight Marcum’s impressive 28th anthology, featuring 18 pastiches from early in Sherlock Holmes’s sleuthing career....All entries adhere to the spirit, language, and characterizations of Conan Doyle’s originals, evincing the deep pool of talent Marcum has access to. Against the odds, this series remains strong, hundreds of stories in."

Volume XXVIII review

"The gifted authors of the 19 pastiches in this superior MX Sherlock Holmes anthology eschew murder in favor of lesser but still baffling crimes such as blackmail and kidnapping. In one of the standouts, Marcum’s “The Sunderland Tragedies,” a desperate mother fears her young daughter has been abducted by the girl’s birth father; a horrific tragedy that claimed many children’s lives gives the tale the kind of emotional depth Conan Doyle’s emulators often lack....

Volume XXV review

"How can a piece of parsley supply a vital clue to a detective? The answer is supplied in one of the 21 short stories in MX’s excellent 24th anthology of tales emulating Conan Doyle’s originals, all inspired by Dr. Watson’s teasing mentions of investigations he never published. In Jayantika Ganguly’s “The Adventure of Parsley and Butter,” Holmes is consulted by a prominent attorney who has survived five attempts on his life, but is unable to forestall another attack... Marcum’s expertise at selecting high-quality pastiches remains impressive. 

Volume XXIV review

"Marcum’s outstanding 23rd anthology features 11 sets of paired stories that each interprets a cryptic canonical reference differently. The highlight is a superior integration of the fictional worlds of Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker, “The Adventure of the Tired Captain,” by Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Leverett Butts, in which Holmes is consulted by the father of one of the characters who didn’t survive the plot of Dracula, who’s desperate to know the fate of his child...Marcum’s well of talented authors able to mimic the feel of the canon seems bottomless. 

Volume XXIII review

"Marcum’s superlative 22nd Sherlock Holmes pastiche anthology features 21 short stories that successfully emulate the spirit of Conan Doyle’s originals while expanding on the canon’s tantalizing references to mysteries Dr. Watson never got around to chronicling...again demonstrating the creativity of the writers Marcum has recruited. This will whet the appetite of many Sherlockians."

Volume XXII review

"One of Conan Doyle’s most tragic creations, the eponymous “Veiled Lodger,” gets a believable and intriguing after-story in Mark Mower’s “The Unveiled Lodger”; Eugenia Ronder, the original veiled lodger, has rebuilt her life, but is troubled by a coded message she found on her property. In a clever twist, Michael Mallory makes Watson’s decision to reveal in print the location of his sensitive cache of untold tales essential to the plot of “The Adventure of the Doctor’s Hand.” This is another must-have for Sherlockians."

Volume XXI review

"Other authors offer intriguing takes on some of Watson’s tantalizing references in the canon to untold tales, including a baffling vanishing of a man who went missing after going to retrieve his umbrella and a gory death linked to a bizarre worm. Marcum’s reserve of high-quality new Holmes exploits seems endless."

Volume XX review  

"Matthew White demonstrates how a gripping and moving mystery not centered on violence can be crafted in “A Case of Paternity.” Other tales examine Watson’s relationship to religion, his opinion of the British Empire, and his experiences during the Afghan War. Marcum continues to burnish his reputation as a superior selector of quality new Holmes stories."

Volume XIX review

"The 16 pastiches in Marcum’s splendid 18th Sherlock Holmes anthology prove that creative authors can recapture the essence of Conan Doyle’s characters with an impossible crime or seemingly supernatural angle without relying on vampires or werewolves."

Volume XVIII review

"This is yet another impressive array of new but traditional Holmes stories."

Volume XVII review

"The 16 stories in Marcum’s excellent 16th pastiche anthology pit Sherlock Holmes against ghosts, werewolves, and various other monsters, offering clever, rational solutions to seemingly paranormal mysteries".

Volume XVI review

"This series shows no sign of flagging, welcome news for the many eager for more Holmes."

Volume XV review

“More than 300 pastiches later, this MX series shows no sign of running out of steam”

Volume XIV review

“Amazingly, Marcum has found 22 superb pastiches, almost all from unknown authors. This is more catnip for fans of stories faithful to Conan Doyle’s originals.

Volume XIII review

“Marcum continues to amaze with the number of high-quality pastiches that he has selected”

Volume XII review

“This is an essential volume for Sherlock Holmes fans”

Volume XI review

"Marcum continues to find new Sherlock Holmes adventures of consistently high quality”

Volume X review

“Sherlockians will rejoice that more volumes are on the way”

Volume IX review

“The imagination of the contributors in coming up with variations on the volume’s theme is matched by their ingenious resolutions”

Volume VIII review

 “Sherlockians eager for faithful-to-the-canon plots and characters will be delighted” 

Volume VII review

“This is a must-have for all Sherlockians”

Volume VI review

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A Book Review: Sherlock Holmes

Detective’s Work Comes to Life in Short Stories

A+Book+Review%3A+Sherlock+Holmes

Christina Cherniske , Staff Writer February 21, 2022

Book being reviewed: Sherlock Holmes: Classic Stories (Barnes and Noble edition)

By: Arthur Conan Doyle

Genre: Mystery

Pages (Paperback): 368

A few months ago I received this thick rubbery book for my birthday. Being a lover of the classics, I readily dove into the wonderful world of mystery Doyle had laid out for me. I have not entirely finished yet (I am very close!), but, because it is a collection of short stories and I know they were all exquisitely written, I believe I can review them. 

The stories center around the famous detective Sherlock Holmes operating  in London, England. With his extraordinary talents he solves a baffling range of mysteries and explains his reasoning with such simplicity it is rather hard to not be amazed at both Holmes and Doyle. His trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson, is the narrator giving detailed insights to the renowned detective’s habits making the stories even more enjoyable. 

What I like about the book is how it is clean, intriguing, witty, unpredictable and all together an unforgettable experience. I like how Sherlock (or Doyle really) takes the time to lay out step by step how the case was solved, and that there was plenty to puzzle through before he does that. You do have to try and decode Holmes’s refined English, but quickly the pieces click into place and it’s a smooth read.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on May 22, 1859. For seven years he attended the Jesuit boarding school in England where he rebelled against brutal punishment regularly. There he discovered he had a talent for storytelling and was often found with a group of students enraptured around him. Doyle did a variety of things throughout his life, he went back to school and became a successful doctor, wrote many novels, narratives and plays, toured more than 30 cities making speeches, took care of his sick wife Louise, and served in the Boer War as a doctor. His levels of success were different for each profession but he definitely made a lasting impact on literature and society.

Most everyone I know has heard the delightfully curious name of Sherlock Holmes, but not everyone has read the written mysteries to grow more intimate with the psychological schemes that go on inside Sherlock’s racing mind. He is a mystery himself,  but this book is a great introduction to mystery and the classics. 

Nowadays with the influx of digital and audio books, the increase in fantasy and fiction, the classics seem to be covered in more and more dust. Everyone’s taste is different of course, yet I believe everyone should at least pick up one thick Charles Dickens book, reach into a Jules Vern adventure, laugh with Jane Austen and dance with the Little Women of Louisa May Alcott. The classics are rich and are made up of so many ideas, fantastic writings, well told tales and lessons that if you really read them they shine like jewels on library shelves . They are all different ranging from Comedy’s to Historical Fiction, Thrillers to Romances. There is an author for everyone. 

The next time you spy a weather-worn book, pick it up. Be like Sherlock Holmes and grab every detail the author writes;  you might like it. 

Christina is a senior E.O Smith. She is into reading, playing piano, dancing, and writing for E.O's Newspaper. This is her fourth year a part of Panther...

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review of a novel by sherlock holmes

Review – The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Introduction to the memoirs of sherlock holmes, sir arthur conan doyle studied medicine at edinburg university. but had far more success as a writer than he did as a physician. doyle modeled his character sherlock holmes after his professor joseph bell who emphasized to his students the importance of careful observation. and drawing conclusions based on very little evidence..

memoirs of sherlock holmes, memoirs sherlock holmes, sherlock holmes memoirs

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a collection of 11 short stories, each about 20 pages in length, which were first published monthly in the Strand magazine from 1891 to 1893.

Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson is his biographer, who captures the detective’s life story through the cases that he has worked on. And the best way Watson does that is by accompanying Holmes while he solves his cases. So the stories are told through the eyes of Watson.

Continuous learning is a part of life. If you’re not a reader, you can find a synopsis of many books from Readitforme that you can listen to. Click the link to join. This is a great way to learn the latest thinking on many topics. And it is a great way to learn which books to buy and devour.

Have you read?

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Book Review

Looking for Creative Problem Solving Scenarios? Read More Mysteries

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: 11 Stories

review of a novel by sherlock holmes

  • Silver Blaze
  • The Yellow Face
  • The Stockbroker’s Clerk
  • The Gloria Scott
  • The Musgrave Ritual
  • The Reigate Squires
  • The Crooked Man
  • The Resident Patient
  • The Greek Interpreter
  • The Naval Treaty
  • The Final Problem

I found that I enjoyed the short stories where Sherlock Holmes was assigned a case and worked on it in the here-and-now far more than the cases that Watson reflected on – that’s my bias, because I have never liked flashbacks as a literary device, I prefer when stories are told in chronological order.

I got caught up in a few of the stories and found myself very upset with the characters in the story as it unfolded. For instance, in The Naval Treaty , Percy Phelps ’ uncle, Lord Holdhurst asks him to copy and keep secure a confidential naval treaty because it would be problematic if it gets into the wrong hands prematurely.

Holdhurst tells him that he should not begin copying the document until everyone has already left for the day. Phelps complies, but the copying of the document is taking a lot longer that he anticipated and he is now feeling very tired and sleepy so he decides to get some tea to stay awake.

Because he is alone in the building, he leaves the documents unattended on the desk to go in search of tea in another part of the building. When he returns, the naval treaty document is missing. I am so much into the story that I was asking,

“How stupid could you be? It doesn’t matter if you think you are alone, if you have to leave, secure the document first since it’s so important.”

I may have been a bit harsh with the character, but I had little tolerance for his stupidity. But it was quite clever how Holmes solved the mystery to show who stole the naval treaty and why.

In The Final Problem , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle kills off the Sherlock Holmes character , and I thought it was quite odd the way in which he did it. I know that each short story stands alone, but the author introduces the character Professor Moriarty . Moriarty is very evil, a criminal mastermind, and Holmes thinks that if he gathers enough evidence to get him arrested for life he could retire a happy and accomplished man.

The issue is that Moriarty is just as intelligent as Holmes and their deductive reasoning abilities are on par. The question I had is if this character was so evil, and just as smart as Holmes, why wasn’t he in some of the other stories included in the book?

I have read many Sherlock Holmes stories but that was years ago and I cannot remember if Professor Moriarty was in any of them. Perhaps I am going too deep into the book, but I think, at the very least, there should have been at least one other story in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes where both characters went head-to-head.

In most murder mysteries and detective stories, the authors provide clues in the story and readers discover the evidence the same time the detective discovers them so you have a great chance at foreshadowing, but in this instance, Holmes tells you what he sees as he uncovers the mystery, but Doyle doesn’t necessarily provide clues for you to make your own deductions.

However, even though you will not learn about problem solving from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes , you will learn about the art of reasoning. Holmes recognizes, and rightly so, that he will never have all the information he needs to solve a case. There will always be information gaps. The way he gets around that is to think things through carefully, and he often gains clarity about a situation by explaining it to another person.

That’s an important way for anyone to learn. And because Holmes is an astute observer, he sees many things that others don’t, and there are many instances in the book where his power of observation makes good teaching points for the reader.

Another good teaching point from the book is that Holmes is an active listener, and he knows the right questions to ask because of that. If something is not clear to him, he asks for clarification. These are good skills for any professional to possess.

And one of the things I really liked about the book was that, not all the stories were resolved in a complete manner where all the loose ends were tied up, because in real life, not all cases are solved completely. You have cold cases that are never solved, and you have partially solved cases.

If you need help and would like a program that’s already set-up to help you read more books, Join MoreReads: Blueprint to Change the World, click the link to buy .

Final thoughts on the memoirs of sherlock holmes.

review of a novel by sherlock holmes

The picture is of Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty fighting to the bitter end via Wikipedia.

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  • The Final Problem: A Review (smlaarg.wordpress.com)

About the Author  Avil Beckford

Hello there! I am Avil Beckford, the founder of The Invisible Mentor. I am also a published author, writer, expert interviewer host of The One Problem Podcast and MoreReads Success Blueprint, a movement to help participants learn in-demand skills for future jobs. Sign-up for MoreReads: Blueprint to Change the World today! In the meantime, Please support me by buying my e-books Visit My Shop , and thank you for connecting with me on LinkedIn , Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest !

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  • The Lantern's Dance: A Novel of...

The Lantern's Dance: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes

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Whether you are new to Laurie R. King's Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mysteries or are a regular, you will be in for a treat with her latest effort. Over the course of this series, King has created her own Holmes universe building on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. THE LANTERN’S DANCE is special in that it is full of Holmes’ history, and we learn much more about this iconic sleuth by the end of the book.

Mary Russell is on crutches from a badly sprained ankle during a prior adventure. She and Holmes are off to France to visit his son, world-renowned artist Damian Adler. Newcomers to this series surely will be asking themselves, Holmes has a son? Stay tuned for more on that!

"THE LANTERN’S DANCE is special in that it is full of Holmes’ history, and we learn much more about this iconic sleuth by the end of the book."

Russell and Holmes are met by a man wielding a shotgun who accompanies them to the house. But Damian and his family are not there. Apparently, they were forced to flee unexpectedly due to a personal threat. Thus we have our mystery, and Holmes goes off in search of Damian. Meanwhile, Russell and her bad foot remain at Damian's place. While exploring the empty house, she comes across crates of memorabilia in Damian's studio marked for Holmes' great-uncle, artist Horace Vernet. Much of this stuff is random, but Russell picks up a journal that will become quite eye-opening as she dives into it.

Let's take a step back for a moment. Fans of Holmes most certainly will remember his old paramour and sometime adversary, Irene Adler, who he met in the story "A Scandal in Bohemia." It turns out she carried a child belonging to Holmes and kept that fact hidden for many years. After her passing, Holmes connected with Damian, with whom he has a tenuous relationship at best. Still, family is family, and Holmes is worried about the safety of his son and grandchild.

The journal that Russell is poring over was written many decades ago by a young woman named Lakshmi, who is half-Indian. She was being raised by a new family in a small village in India, but her story is full of mystery and secrets that, upon solving, will begin to reveal information about her and her connection to the Holmes legacy. One item in particular that is being referenced constantly is a spinning lantern. When a candle is placed inside it and it’s spun around, various silhouettes are shown that each add a piece to Lakshmi's personal history and story.

Meanwhile, Holmes locates Damian safely and (after much prodding) learns of the facts behind the threat that drove him away. I will not reveal any details here as they most assuredly will connect to the revelations that Russell is simultaneously discovering in Lakshmi's journal. When Lakshmi's fate is revealed to Russell, she realizes exactly where this story fits into the Holmes legacy. And it's a whopper!

Though not your traditional Russell/Holmes mystery, THE LANTERN'S DANCE becomes a can’t-miss read for any Sherlock Holmes fan.

Reviewed by Ray Palen on February 17, 2024

review of a novel by sherlock holmes

The Lantern's Dance: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King

  • Publication Date: February 13, 2024
  • Genres: Fiction , Historical Fiction , Historical Mystery , Mystery
  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam
  • ISBN-10: 0593496590
  • ISBN-13: 9780593496596

review of a novel by sherlock holmes

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Njkinny's Blog

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Arthur Conan Doyle | Book Review | Mystery Short Story Collection

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle is a collection of twelve mystery short stories featuring the iconic British Detective Sherlock Holmes. First published in 1892, these mind boggling mysteries not only wowed readers but also brought fame and fortune to the author. So, read the book summary, book release date, genre, reading age, book quotes, Sherlock Holmes books reading order, and book review of “ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in this post below.

About The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle:

No. of Pages: 389

Book Release Date: October 1892 in The Strand Magazine

Genre: Classic Fiction, Mystery, Murder Mystery, Short Stories, Historical Fiction

Reading Age: 7 years and above

Can be read as a standalone? Yes

Buy From: AMAZON

Read the First Book that Introduced Sherlock Holmes: “A Study in Scarlet” by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle Book Summary:

This book is a collection of twelve short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend Dr. John Watson. The stories were originally published in Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1892, and later compiled into a book in 1892.

The twelve stories included in “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” short story collection and their summaries are:

“a scandal in bohemia” by arthur conan doyle.

The King of Bohemia hires Holmes to retrieve a compromising photograph from his former lover, Irene Adler, who has threatened to use it against him. Despite Holmes’ best efforts, Adler outwits him and escapes with the photograph.

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen…. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.”

“The Red-Headed League” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Jabez Wilson, a man with striking red hair, is offered a job by an unusual organization called the Red-Headed League. Holmes discovers that the League is a distraction meant to keep Wilson out of his pawnbroker shop, where criminals are tunneling in from a neighboring building.

“A Case of Identity” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Mary Sutherland seeks Holmes’ help in finding her missing fiancé, Hosmer Angel. Holmes discovers that Angel is a fictional character created by Sutherland’s stepfather, who wants to prevent her from marrying and taking her inheritance with her.

“The Boscombe Valley Mystery” by Arthur Conan Doyle

James McCarthy is accused of murdering his father in the woods of Boscombe Valley. Despite overwhelming evidence against him, Holmes is able to prove McCarthy’s innocence and identify the true killer.

“The Five Orange Pips” by Arthur Conan Doyle

John Openshaw receives five orange pips in the mail, a symbol of the KKK. He asks Holmes for help, but it’s too late to prevent his death. Holmes tracks down the KKK member responsible, but he too meets an untimely end.

“The Man with the Twisted Lip” by Arthur Conan Doyle

When Neville St. Clair disappears, his wife seeks Holmes’ help in finding him. Holmes discovers that St. Clair has been living a double life as a beggar and has been arrested for it, but he is eventually found alive and well.

“The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” by Arthur Conan Doyle

A valuable blue carbuncle goes missing, and a Christmas goose with the jewel inside is left behind. Holmes tracks down the owner of the goose and the thief, who had tried to hide the carbuncle in the goose’s crop.

“The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Helen Stoner seeks Holmes’ help when her sister dies under mysterious circumstances. Holmes discovers that her sister was killed by a poisonous snake sent into her room by her stepfather, who was trying to protect his inheritance.

“The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Victor Hatherley, a hydraulic engineer, seeks Holmes’ help when he loses his thumb in a mysterious accident. Holmes discovers a plot to steal his hydraulic press and helps Hatherley escape with his life.

“The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Lord St. Simon seeks Holmes’ help when his wife disappears on their wedding day. Holmes discovers that she had previously been married and that her ex-husband had kidnapped her.

“The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Alexander Holder, a banker, seeks Holmes’ help when the valuable beryl coronet he was holding as security for a loan is damaged. Holmes discovers that Holder’s son had taken the coronet to impress a woman and that it had been damaged by her angry stepfather.

when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

“The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Violet Hunter is offered a job as a governess at a remote country house, but the job turns out to be stranger than she had anticipated. Holmes helps her uncover a plot by the owner of the house to use her as a pawn in his scheme to gain his niece’s inheritance.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle Book Review:

Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.”

The book begins with “A Scandal in Bohemia,” where Holmes is hired by the King of Bohemia to retrieve an incriminating photograph from an actress who is threatening to use it against him. Other notable stories include “The Red-Headed League,” where Holmes solves a case involving a strange organization that pays men with red hair to work for them, and “The Speckled Band,” where Holmes helps a young woman who fears that she will be the next victim of a family curse.

Depend upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.”
Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details.”
  • Also checkout this classic mystery collection featuring “Indian Sherlock Holmes” “Byomkesh Bakshi” by Saradindu Bandyopadhyay

Conclusion:

All in all, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” is a timeless classic that continues to captivate readers of all ages. It has inspired countless adaptations, films, and television series, cementing Sherlock Holmes as one of the greatest literary detectives of all time.

Also, one of my absolute favourite books of all time and definitely one of my Top favourite Book Characters, I have read and reread Sherlock Holmes’ books innumerable times since the first time I read them as a kid. And they continue to wow me still. So, 5 out of 5 super shiny stars to this amazing piece of fiction, Njkinny recommends this classic book to all readers.

Come, Watson, come!” he cried. The game is afoot.”

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A feminist spin on a Sherlock Holmes mystery play

Fans of enola holmes will enjoy ‘the victorian ladies’ detective collective’ by the washington stage guild.

Sherlock Holmes’s martial arts prowess helped him fend off Moriarty. Katherine Smalls, one of the sleuths in “The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective,” has useful combat skills, too: fan fighting.

Early on in this diverting comic whodunnit — whose humor and theatricality are, admittedly, writ large — Smalls (a vibrant Debora Crabbe) demonstrates how to use a handheld cooling accessory as a weapon. She stabs with it. She pummels with it. She flourishes it in a flirtatious gesture that could double as a strike.

The Style section

Not unlike Smalls’s sly reinvention of fan etiquette, playwright Patricia Milton brings gleeful subversiveness to 19th-century mystery tropes in this play, which reimagines an Arthur Conan Doyle-style crime tale through a contemporary “she persisted” lens. With director Morgan Duncan hitting a pleasant tonal balance between suspense and jokiness in this Washington Stage Guild production, billed as an area premiere, the patriarchy gets needled; the red herrings multiply; and the game stays reliably afoot.

Scenic designer Megan Holden gives the show an atmospheric head start with the parlor set, complete with patterned wallpaper, a mantelpiece and that staple of detective-story entertainment: a crazy wall, bristling with tacked-up papers. The parlor is the hangout of Loveday Fortescue (Jen Furlong, exuding brusque energy) and Valeria Hunter (Laura Giannarelli, drolly flustered and preening), sisters who run a boardinghouse for single women in 1893 London. The siblings are involved in volunteer activities such as the Rational Dress League. (No more bustles!) Still, they have time on their hands.

So when the police fail to stop a serial killer who’s preying on actresses, the sisters and their boarder Smalls join forces to investigate. Along the way, they tangle with a theater-district bigwig named Jasbry (Steven Carpenter, radiating dapper sleaze) as well a policeman named Crane (Carpenter, all Rule Britannia officiousness), who thinks women aren’t logical enough to be detectives. With a suspicious cat’s-meat peddler (the excellent Carpenter again, sinister and growly) lurking around, clues abound.

Stephanie Parks’s period costumes add flair, and Marianne Meadows’s lighting sometimes pools brightness and shadow to dramatic effect.

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The comedy is sometimes brainy (the detectives consult Krafft-Ebing’s “Psychopathia Sexualis” for insight on the killer), sometimes broad (at one point, the women gripe about all the men they’ve seen exposing themselves on public transportation). Amid the laughs, Milton does an impressive job meting out plot twists. A serial-killer mystery can’t be easy to pull off in a small-cast play with a single set, yet the tension builds steadily here.

Milton’s piece isn’t the only recent feminist play to revisit and reinvent Victorian-sleuth territory. The local troupe We Happy Few has staged Fairlith Harvey’s “Kill the Ripper” (tagline: “A Feminist Victorian Revenge Play. Finally.”) and produced audio-play experiences (starring Crabbe) about Loveday Brooke, the all-but-forgotten female detective in Catherine Louisa Pirkis’s 1890s stories. On the national scene, Kate Hamill (one of this season’s most-produced U.S. playwrights) has penned “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson — Apt. 2B.” Meanwhile, the Enola Holmes franchise is going strong.

In a world that’s still all too sexist, despite interest in diversifying stories and voices, the traditional buddy team of Holmes and Watson can seem hidebound. No wonder there’s interest in turning 221B Baker Street — and adjacent 19th-century-detective territory — into less of a bachelor pad.

The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective , by Patricia Milton. Directed by Morgan Duncan. Set, Megan Holden; costumes, Stephanie Parks; lighting, Marianne Meadows; sound, Alli Pearson; fight choreography, Bess Kaye. About 2 hours and 15 minutes. Through Feb. 25 at the Undercroft Theatre at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington. stageguild.org .

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review of a novel by sherlock holmes

MovieWeb

10 Amazing Detective Movies That Are Based on Books

S ince the dawn of Hollywood, moviegoers have loved book-to-film adaptations. In turn, they've also loved detective movies, with the majority of the most famous mystery movies ever made being directly adapted from literature. Whether the story is entirely fictional or based on a true story, there is nothing better than chucking on a fake detective hat and trying to solve the mystery with the characters on the screen. Not only do they provide the suspense that is often found in a good thriller or horror movie, but they also provide viewers with instant gratification if they get all the clues correct.

While most of these films and novels offer surface-level puzzle-solving, some of them delve deeper into more prevalent societal issues, shedding light on major failings in the legal system as well as unsolved crimes. As a result, here are 10 of the best detective movies as well as the novels that they are based on.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Blackkklansman.

Release Date 2018-08-09

Director Spike Lee

Cast Brian Tarantina, Arthur J. Nascarella, John David Washington, Robert John Burke, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Alec Baldwin

Main Genre Biography

Runtime 135

Spike Lee's film adaptation of Ron Stallworth's memoir, BlacKkKlansman , was one of the best films to come out within the past decade. John David Washington takes on the role of Stallworth, the first black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department who later applied to become an undercover cop. The film is focused on Stallworth's infiltration and exposure of the local Ku Klux Klan division, recruiting his white Jewish co-worker, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), to meet the chapter in person while posing as Stallworth. Following its release, the film received several Oscar nominations, including Spike Lee's first directing nomination, and won for the Best Adapted Screenplay category .

Despite the film receiving plenty of acclaim, the book in which it's based isn't known by many. Published in 2014, Black Klansman was put together by Stallworth using the casebook he had assembled during the assignment. As with most Hollywood adaptations, there are several notable differences between BlacKkKlansman and its source material. For example, there is no love interest in the novel, nor was there an attempted bombing that closed the case. However, despite it lacking the dramatizations, it's still one of the most important books ever written, highlighting the corruption of American law enforcement and the importance of exposing hateful rhetoric.

Stream on Netflix

Laura (1944)

Release Date 1944-10-11

Director Rouben Mamoulian, Otto Preminger

Cast Grant Mitchell, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Dana Andrews, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price

Main Genre Drama

Even during the Golden Age of Hollywood, book adaptations were already an incredibly common practice. Laura is based on the 1943 novel of the same name by Vera Caspary, and was named one of the 10 best mystery films of all time by the American Film Institute. It follows a detective, Mark McPherson, who investigates the murder of Laura Hunt, a successful advertising executive who was shot in her apartment. The more McPherson delves into the case, the more he begins to fall in love with Laura. What follows is a twisted tale of obsession, which has plenty of shocking reveals.

Prior to its publication, Vera Caspary's Laura ran as a seven-part serial titled Ring Twice for Laura in Colliers magazine. The story is told through alternating first-person perspectives from various characters, with Caspary being directly inspired by Wilkie Collins' The Woman In White . It's regarded as Caspary's finest work, however, it often gets lost among over great classics of its time. Compared to its Hollywood adaptation, it is heavily focused on deconstructing typical female roles, helping to establish the femme fatale trope.

Stream on The Criterion Channel

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Sherlock holmes.

Release Date 2009-01-01

Director Guy Ritchie

Cast Eddie Marsan, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Robert Downey Jr., Robert Maillet, Jude Law

Rating PG-13

Main Genre Action

Runtime 128

Sherlock Holmes has received a variety of different adaptations, but Guy Ritchie's 2009 version starring Robert Downey Jr. is easily the best. Based on Arthur Conan Doyle's characters and stories, the film follows Holmes and Watson as they attempt to stop mythicist, Lord Henry Blackwood, from taking control of Britain by using the occult. Downey Jr. perfectly captures Holmes' Bohemian and eccentric nature, perfectly emphasizing his brilliance. His portrayal was so stellar, that it earned him a Golden Globe and worldwide critical acclaim.

While the 2009 film is based on an original story by screenwriters Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg, and Lionel Wigram, it still completely captures the essence of Conan Doyle's works. In total, the iconic writer wrote 62 Sherlock Holmes tales between 1887 and 1927. Conan Doyle even went on to lament his own creation, due to its significant popularity, leading him to kill Holmes off in The Final Problem , before public outcry led him to reverse this in The Hound of the Baskervilles . As a whole, Sherlock Holmes helped to popularize crime fiction, with Conan Doyle's work remaining a significant influence across film, television and literature.

Rent on Apple TV and Amazon Video

A Haunting in Venice (2023)

A haunting in venice.

Release Date 2023-09-15

Director Kenneth Branagh

Cast Emma Laird, Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Reilly, Jamie Dornan

Main Genre Crime

Agatha Christie's Poirot novels are some of the most famous of all time, yet Kenneth Branagh's adaptations of them all failed to do them justice. That is, until the release of A Haunting in Venice , loosely based on Christie's 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party . On Halloween night, Poirot is invited to a séance by crime writer Ariadne Oliver, who wants to prove that not everything can be explained. However, after the psychic winds up dead, Poirot is determined to uncover the dark truth that one of the attendees is determined to keep hidden. Compared to Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile , A Haunting in Venice perfectly refreshes the franchise, seamlessly blending both the crime and horror genres to create a truly chilling mystery.

However, while the film is by far the best compared to the others, it isn't as directly based on Christie's work. Instead, Hallowe'en Party follows Poirot and Oliver as they attend a Halloween party where one of the attendees claims to have witnessed a murder, where she is then found drowned in an apple bobbing tub later on. While the premises are different, A Haunting in Venice does well to take various elements from Christie's story to create a new one, amplifying the haunts and drama. Though the film and book both have the same killer, the motivations are largely different, making it worth the read to spot the major changes.

Stream on Hulu

Related: 10 Crime Movie Mysteries You Can Solve Along With the Detective

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

In the heat of the night.

Release Date 1967-08-02

Director Norman Jewison

Cast Larry Gates, Warren Oates, James Patterson, Lee Grant, Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier

Runtime 109

In the Heat of the Night is based on John Ball's 1965 novel of the same name, and is famously known for its iconic line "They call me Mister Tibbs! " and its immense critical acclaim, which has earned it a spot as one of the American Film Institute's 100 best films in American cinema. It follows black police detective Virgil Tibbs, who is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while traveling through a hostile Mississippi town. After the police chief learns that Tibbs is actually a renowned homicide detective, he clears him and asks for his help on the case.

John Ball's novel is remembered for its fearless confrontation of how black people were treated in the southern states of America, especially in the midst of the Civil Rights movements. The film perfectly captured how revolutionary this novel was, featuring the infamous 'slap heard round the world' which occurred after a Plantation owner slaps Tibbs who then returns the slap. This scene was suggested by Tibbs' actor, Sidney Poitier, who previously was heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement, ensuring that his character wouldn't be viewed through a 'white lens' where a black man would be expected to endure the slap.

Stream on Paramount+

Gone Girl (2014)

Release Date 2014-10-01

Director David Fincher

Cast Neil Patrick Harris, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry, Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon

Runtime 145

Writer Gillian Flynn is known for her jaw-dropping mystery novels, with Gone Girl remaining her best work to date. David Fincher went on to adapt Gone Girl in 2014, bringing Flynn on as a screenwriter. Because of this, the film is one of the best literary adaptations of all time, with Flynn able to masterfully bring the novel's suspense and thrills to life. It follows the story of Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy mysteriously disappears. As more information begins to surface, Nick becomes the primary suspect in Amy's disappearance, leading him on a race against the detectives on the case to discover the truth.

While it isn't told from a detective's perspective or focused on one specifically, it has all the elements to make it the perfect detective story. Nick and the detectives are both trying to solve different crimes, with Nick convinced his wife has orchestrated the whole thing and the detectives determined to arrest Nick for her murder. It's full to the brim of secrets, surprises and suspects, as audiences deal with several unreliable narrators who twist the story in new directions. It's clear to see why both the novel and film are so loved worldwide, though the novel was notably absent from the consideration of various prestigious literary awards.

Stream on HBO Max

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has received two cinematic adaptations, one in 2009 by Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev, and the other in 2011 by David Fincher. While Fincher's version starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig is by no means flawed, it doesn't quite capture the grittiness of the novels in the same way that the 2009 one does, opting for a cleaner appearance to suit Hollywood's standards. Both films focus on journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who hires computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, to help him uncover what truly happened to a young girl from a wealthy family that disappeared 40 years prior.

Given the complicated nature of Stieg Larsson's novel, the 2009 adaptation manages to make the content feel more coherent and easily digestible. Noomi Rapace, who plays Lisbeth in the 2009 version, also does justice to the character, feeling more convincing than Mara in an incredibly strong role. It also features scenes from the novel that the 2011 adaptation does not, which in turn makes it the perfect companion for those wanting to read Larsson's Millennium trilogy.

Stream on Fubo

Release Date 2007-03-02

Cast Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., John Carroll Lynch, Brian Cox, Anthony Edwards

Runtime 157

Zodiac is another David Fincher film on this list, which should prove he is a true master of book adaptations. The film is based on Robert Graysmith's non-fiction novels Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked , which chronicle the infamous murders. At the time of the killings, Graysmith was working as a political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle , one of the newspapers that the Zodiac would taunt with ciphers and letters. As a result, Graysmith became obsessed with solving the letters, dedicating decades of his life away to attempting to find the killer. The film has an amazing ensemble, with Jake Gyllenhaal taking on the role of Graysmith, and Mark Ruffalo as inspector Dave Toschi, and Robert Downey Jr. as Paul Avery, an American journalist.

On top of using Graysmith's novels as a basis for the film, Fincher conducted a separate 18-month-long investigation into the Zodiac murders to gain a wider perspective. Luckily, Graysmith kept all the evidence he collected throughout the years in a scrapbook, and due to frustrations at the papers and law enforcement for not making the evidence public, decided to share what he found with the world. Despite all the separate investigations, the Zodiac killer was famously never found, which makes Graysmith's work a must-read for any true crime sleuths who want to learn more about the case.

Stream on Fubo and Paramount+

Related: The 20 Best Private Detective Movies of All Time

Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter island.

Release Date 2010-02-14

Director Martin Scorsese

Cast Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Max Von Sydow, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michelle Williams

Runtime 138

Most people may not realize that Martin Scorsese's masterpiece Shutter Island is based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name, which is a shame as it is far superior. Both the film and the novel follow U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels, who goes to the isolated Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient at Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. However, as Teddy embarks on his investigation, he uncovers a sinister and gut-wrenching truth that he wanted to remain hidden. The film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Teddy, is regarded as a homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, as well as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari .

However, Lehane has stated that his influences for the novel were the Bronte sisters, as well as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). His aim was to isolate the characters and build suspense by keeping them away from 20th-century technology, leaving Teddy to his own devices to solve the mystery. The result is a truly gripping tale that keeps readers guessing every time the page turns, unable to put it down after the first page. While the story and its twists are similar to the film, fans who don't appreciate Scorsese's nuanced ending will appreciate the more conclusive end to Lehane's novel.

Stream on Fubo, Paramount+ and MGM+

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Silence of the lambs.

Release Date 1991-02-01

Director jonathan demme

Cast Scott Glenn, Anthony Hopkins, Anthony Heald, Brooke Smith, Ted Levine, Jodie Foster

Runtime 118

Arguably the most famous crime film ever made, The Silence of the Lambs is based on Thomas Harris' 1988 novel of the same name. It's one of the most faithful book adaptations in Hollywood, focusing primarily on the story of young FBI trainee Clarice Starling, who is tasked with finding the Buffalo Bill serial killer. In order to aid the FBI's investigations into the murder, Clarice is tasked with speaking to a brilliant psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter, who has been imprisoned for killing and consuming 9 people. It is one of the few films in history to win an Oscar in all five major categories, with many reputable organizations and publications declaring it one of the most influential movies ever made.

While the major plot points are incredibly faithful to its source, Harris' novel is different in quite a few ways. For example, the film entirely ignores Harris' previous novel, Red Dragon , though references to its main character, Will Graham, are prevalent in The Silence of the Lambs' novel. Additionally, it also attempted to pay respect to the transgender community through its side plot of Crawford visiting the head of a Gender Identity Clinic, which the film completely ignores. However, despite the fact that the novel is more self-aware of how the characterization of Buffalo Bill could come across as transphobic, it still received critiques from individuals such as feminist author, Julia Serano.

10 Amazing Detective Movies That Are Based on Books

Screen Rant

New sherlock adaptation confirmed at the cw (but there's a twist).

A new Sherlock Holmes adaptation has been confirmed at the CW, but the show's unlikely premise points to a massive twist on the character's lore.

  • Sherlock Holmes returns to screens with a new show, Sherlock & Daughter , featuring a unique twist on the character.
  • The show explores the possibility of Sherlock having a daughter, deviating from the character's original lore.
  • While the premise may be unexpected, it has the potential to offer an exciting and fresh take on the iconic detective.

The world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes , is set to return to people’s screens with the CW confirming a new show, Sherlock & Daughter . Based on the character created by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes currently holds the Guinness World Record for the human literary character with the highest number of onscreen adaptations. Earlier this year, CBS announced their own plans for a Sherlock Holmes-themed spinoff series dubbed Watson, which would focus instead on the exploits of his friend and companion Dr. John Watson after the detective’s death.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the only literary character that boasts more onscreen adaptations than Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and currently holds the record for the greatest number of adaptions to screen, human or otherwise.

Screen Rant was in attendance at this year’s TCA Winter Press Tour, where The CW unveiled their own plans to delve into the world of Sherlock Holmes with a decidedly unique spin on the character. Set to feature Harry Potter star David Thewlis as Holmes, Sherlock & Daughter will also introduce a new character in the form of a young American woman named Amelia (Blu Hunt) who comes to believe Sherlock may be her father, after her mother’s murder. Batwoman ’s Dougray Scott is also set to portray Holmes’ nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Check out the show’s official synopsis below:

The mystery thriller series SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER puts Sherlock Holmes (David Thewlis) out of his comfort zone, mysteriously unable to investigate a sinister case without risking the lives of his closest friends. Enter: young American Amelia (Blu Hunt, “The Originals,” “The New Mutants”). After her mother’s mysterious murder, she learns her missing father may be the legendary detective. Despite wildly different backgrounds and attitudes, the pair must work together to solve a global conspiracy, crack her mother’s murder, and find out for sure if she really is Sherlock’s daughter. International Emmy® Award-winning Dougray Scott (“Batwoman,” “Crime”) also stars as Holmes’ nemesis, Moriarty. From Starlings Television Distribution, Albion Television and StoryFirst, SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER is led by showrunner and executive producer James Duff (“The Closer,” “Major Crimes”) and is created, written and executive produced by Brendan Foley (“Cold Courage,” “The Man Who Died”). Micah War Dog Wright (“They’re Watching,” “First Nations Comedy Experience”) and Shelly Goldstein (“Cold Courage,” “Laverne & Shirley”) are writers on the series. Karine Martin, Chris Philip, Peter Gerwe, Dominic Barlow and Ivan Dunleavy also serve as executive producers, along with Escapade Media.

Will Sherlock Fans Support Sherlock & Daughter’s Unlikely Premise?

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, sitting and looking up in the BBC Sherlock Season 4 Finale

With countless movie and television adaptations and appearances, the infamous Sherlock Holmes has frequently been saddled with any number of supporting characters never featured in the original stories penned by Conan Doyle. Between Netflix’s Enola Holmes movies , starring Millie Bobby Brown, and the Benedict Cumberbatch-led Sherlock series both introducing their own versions of Sherlock’s non-canonical sister, audiences are becoming increasingly accustomed to seeing the iconic character’s original lore built upon in progressively unexpected and unlikely ways.

sherlock-holmes-books-story-order-release-chronological

Sherlock Holmes Books In Order: The Best Way To Read The Stories

Yet this latest move, which potentially sees Sherlock come to learn of a daughter he never knew existed, could prove to be one of the most significant departures audiences have witnessed yet. Renowned for his cold demeanor and impeccable logic, the original Sherlock Holmes was perhaps the least likely character to embark on a romantic relationship , let alone sire a child. Even the character of Irene Adler , whom countless adaptations would depict as Sherlock’s sole love interest, only ever appeared in one of Conan Doyle’s stories and never actually embarked on a romantic relationship with the detective.

Of course, given the show’s synopsis, it is possible that Amelia may not end up being Sherlock’s child at all, but to even consider it a likelihood marks a notable departure from the character’s true origins. Nonetheless, Sherlock & Daughter could potentially be looking to establish their unique take on the character and present a Sherlock vastly different to those viewers have met previously. Whether they will succeed in their endeavors remains to be seen, but if done right, the idea of Sherlock’s daughter could potentially offer an exciting and unique take on a much-beloved character.

Source: The CW (via the TCAs)

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  4. Read The Complete Illustrated Novels of Sherlock Holmes: With 37 short

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COMMENTS

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    Book Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.

  2. The Sherlock Holmes Series by Arthur Conan Doyle

    The Sherlock Holmes Series by Arthur Conan Doyle - review 'Every story of both Holmes' triumphs and failures was highly entertaining' bibliophile1 Tue 9 Jun 2015 04.00 EDT Arthur Conan Doyle,...

  3. A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)

    438,765 ratings16,793 reviews Our first meeting with Sherlock Holmes. And John Watson's too! The young doctor is astonished by Holmes' many idiosyncrasies, including his talents on the violin.

  4. The Essential Guide to Reading the Sherlock Holmes Books

    1. A Study in Scarlet 2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 3. The Sign of Four 4. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes 5. The Valley of Fear 6. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 7. The Return of Sherlock Holmes 8. His Last Bow 9. The Hound of the Baskervilles 1. A Study in Scarlet (1887, novel) Buy on Amazon Add to library The first one's a no-brainer.

  5. Sherlock Holmes Series by Arthur Conan Doyle

    3.90 · 154,950 Ratings · 7,640 Reviews · published 1890 · 2790 editions Empat Pemburu Harta (judul asli dalam bahasa Inggr… Want to Read Rate it: Book 3 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 4.30 · 298,446 Ratings · 9,270 Reviews · published 1882 · 8253 editions The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of… Want to Read

  6. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Book Review

    The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb is a short tale of greed and the consequences. The Five Orange Pips was very upsetting to me. In the story, a new client comes to see Holmes, relates his tale about the death of his uncle and then his father. The case has to do with the KKK.

  7. Book Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    Kid Reviews Award Books More Title of Book The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Author Doyle, Arthur Conan Rating 5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome! Review Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson have captivated audiences for generations. This collection of twelve short stories is fantastic.

  8. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

    Jump to ratings and reviews Want to read Rate this book Sherlock Holmes #1-9 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 4.50 198,775 ratings4,862 reviews A study in scarlet -- The sign of four --

  9. 'I think I've written more Sherlock Holmes than even Conan Doyle': the

    Like so many authors taking on Holmes, Lovegrove is a lifelong fan: "Every time I write Sherlock Holmes or Dr Watson, I get this little tingle in my stomach - that hasn't really gone away.

  10. Anthony Horowitz's 'The House of Silk,' a Sherlock Holmes novel

    Anthony Horowitz's 'The House of Silk,' a Sherlock Holmes novel, reviewed by Michael Dirda By Michael Dirda November 16, 2011 at 6:26 p.m. EST

  11. Sherlock Holmes Books

    1 2 4 The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 5 Arthur Conan Doyle by D Stashower & C Foley & J Lellenberg B efore we talk about the books you've chosen, I am intrigued about what goes on in the Baker Street Irregulars group, which you were inducted into in 2002.

  12. Book Review: "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by ...

    It doesn't hurt when you are an author of detective thrillers and science fiction novels. Eerieness and suspense were his friends. His best work, both generally and in the Holmes canon, was yet to come in the haunted pages of The Hound of the Baskervilles. But in this book, he already makes an excellent start. This is classic Sherlock.

  13. Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

    Criminal mastermind… Andrew Scott as Moriarty in BBC1 series Sherlock. Photograph: Colin Hutton/BBC/Hartswood Films Arthur Conan Doyle Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz - review A sequel...

  14. 'The Sherlockian' by Graham Moore

    Dec. 15, 2010 See how this article appeared when it was originally published on NYTimes.com. "Perhaps the greatest of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries is this: that when we talk of him we...

  15. Sherlock Book Review

    The BookBag Even today, London is a remarkable compromise of the old and the new. As Alistair Duncan shows in this volume, the city of Conan Doyle and Holmes has changed - yet not changed. There have been a handful of books in the past on 'Holmes's London', but this is the first of its kind to place equal emphasis on places associated with the detective and his creator. Starting, obviously ...

  16. Review of Sherlock Holmes The Complete Novels and Stories

    November 2018 · The Police Journal Kirsty Bennett PDF | The Sherlock Holmes stories were the source of modern crime-solving adaptations that we now experience in television, and Doyle's tales...

  17. Publishers Weekly Reviews

    The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories has reached thirty-nine volumes and just keeps breaking records - the most new stories (over 800), the most participating authors (over 200), etc - but its the quality of the reviews that is the most rewarding. There are a staggering 23 positive reviews from Publishers Weekly - a record - here are links to them all (nineteen are starred reviews). We ...

  18. A Book Review: Sherlock Holmes

    Book being reviewed: Sherlock Holmes: Classic Stories (Barnes and Noble edition) By: Arthur Conan Doyle. Genre: Mystery. Pages (Paperback): 368. A few months ago I received this thick rubbery book for my birthday. Being a lover of the classics, I readily dove into the wonderful world of mystery Doyle had laid out for me.

  19. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Book Review

    The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a collection of 11 short stories, each about 20 pages in length, which were first published monthly in the Strand magazine from 1891 to 1893. Sherlock Holmes' sidekick Dr. Watson is his biographer, who captures the detective's life story through the cases that he has worked on.

  20. Sherlock Holmes

    Although Holmes rebuffs praise, declaring his abilities to be "elementary," the oft-quoted phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson," never actually appears in Conan Doyle's writings. ( See also Sherlock Holmes: Pioneer in Forensic Science .) Britannica Quiz Fictional Detectives Quiz

  21. The Lantern's Dance: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and

    Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes look forward to spending time with Holmes' son, the famous artist Damian Adler, and his family. But when they arrive at Damian's house, they learn that the Adlers have fled from a mysterious threat. Holmes rushes after Damian, while Russell stays behind to search the empty house. In Damian's studio, she discovers four crates packed with memorabilia ...

  22. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    298,317 ratings9,262 reviews The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.

  23. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle is a collection of twelve mystery short stories featuring the iconic British Detective Sherlock Holmes. First published in 1892, these mind boggling mysteries not only wowed readers but also brought fame and fortune to the author. So, read the book summary, book release date, genre, reading age, book quotes, Sherlock Holmes books reading ...

  24. Arthur Conan Doyle's Novel Scarlet: a Study Of The Character Sherlock

    Sherlock Holmes was a character born in 1887, the time when 28 years ago Charles Darwin stated his theory of natural selection. Doyle himself wrote, London was a city consisted of suburbs, unemployment, and slums, that nearing the extreme phase of century-long urban explosion because no one knew how to control it.

  25. A feminist spin on a Sherlock Holmes mystery play

    Sherlock Holmes's martial arts prowess helped him fend off Moriarty. Katherine Smalls, one of the sleuths in "The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective," has useful combat skills, too ...

  26. New Sherlock Show Must Learn From 1 Mistake With Benedict ...

    Sherlock brought the Great Detective, Dr. John Watson, and other characters from Conan Doyle's books to modern-day London, adapting various Holmes cases to a modern setting, technology, and ...

  27. This Is the Best Sherlock Holmes Adaptation Ever

    The great Sir Ian McKellen provided a timeless depiction of the famous detective in 2015's Mr. Holmes, an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's 2005 novel A Slight Trick Of The Mind.

  28. 10 Amazing Detective Movies That Are Based on Books

    Sherlock Holmes has received a variety of different adaptations, but Guy Ritchie's 2009 version starring Robert Downey Jr. is easily the best. Based on Arthur Conan Doyle's characters and stories ...

  29. New Sherlock Adaptation Confirmed At The CW (But There's A Twist)

    The world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, is set to return to people's screens with the CW confirming a new show, Sherlock & Daughter. Based on the character created by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes currently holds the Guinness World Record for the human literary character with the highest number of onscreen adaptations. Earlier this year, CBS announced their own plans for ...