The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle | book review

【 THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 】

Genre: Classic, Mystery
Audience: Adult
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Published: June 1927
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 320 (paperback)

Ah, we made it to the final Sherlock Holmes short story collection. I feel very satisfied to have now read them all, and also very sad to be at the end of all these adventures. There really is nothing else quite like Holmes and Watson. This collection is right up the top of my favourites along with The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

This is a slightly larger collection of stories than the previous instalment, His Last Bow, and for me it hit all the right notes. There are some absolutely brilliant stories in here and also some wonderful moments between Holmes and Watson. This also has a couple of unique stories told from the first person perspective of Holmes himself. This collection also had a slightly different flavour to some of the others, as it is suggested that it’s written from a point where Watson doesn’t spend so much time with Holmes anymore (which makes me sad because surely these two are made to live out their lives together).

My favourites from this collection include The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, which was ten levels of intriguing and had a lovely resolution, The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, which has the best display of affection between Holmes and Watson that you’re going to see, and The Problem of Thor Bridge, which I loved simply for the cleverness of the mystery.

And then of course there are many other great stories, such as The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, which was a fascinating one, and in which I felt sorry for Watson who had to do a crash-course in Chinese pottery, and from where I’m standing, I don’t see how this long night of studied truly helped him. And then there’s The Adventure of the Three Gables, in which Holmes secures a very satisfying outcome for the victim that I wouldn’t mind myself, as well as the bizarreness of The Adventure of the Creeping Man, which nonetheless had a great resolution.

I must address all the stories (for they are all great), and so we continue: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone was a fun little mystery where the greatest joy is surely in the cunning and surprising way that Holmes tricks the villain. And there’s nothing more exciting than a Holmes story that has the suggestion of a vampire – The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire promised just that, and then delivered a very sweet ending that warmed my heart.

The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane had me sure I knew what was what (I did not, in fact, know what was what), but dang what a fun little twist. The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger brought in an unexpected circus twist and a great, gruesome mystery. The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place was an interesting mystery that clearly had a dissatisfying ending from Holmes’ perspective. And finally, in The Adventure of the Retired Colourman we get a grisly little mystery that while it is clever how Holmes resolves it, it does have rather an unhappy ending.

So all in all, no complaints from me as every single one of these cases tickled me pink and saw me very sad to see the series reach its conclusion. I don’t think I’ll know what to do with myself now – perhaps a reread?