Customer Reviews

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes & His Last Bow (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Collection)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This collection, the final in the Sherlock Holmes series, is often thought of as being inferior to the others in the series. This is not so. It's true that the mysteries themselves are not quite as diabolically clever as the best of Holmes, but by any other standard they are outstanding. In addition, the stories are marked by a more realistic and darker psychological portrayal of the villains. Doyle's writing is as good in these stories as anywhere else. These stories contain some of the wittiest repartee by Holmes and Watson, with Holmes at his most sarcastic. As an added bonus, the collection contains the only two stories narrated by Holmes himself (and he turns out to be a very good writer!) This book is a must for mystery fans and general readers alike. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because these stories are "classics," they are going to be stodgy reading, or that you have to be a Holmes fan to enjoy them. "The Case Book" is still one of the most entertaining books ever written. Perfect for airplane or beach!

WARNING!!: DO NOT READ THE EARLIEST REVIEW OF THIS BOOK POSTED BELOW (DATED 1/22/98) UNTIL YOU READ THE BOOK. THE CONTRIBUTOR THOUGHTLESSLY GIVES AWAY THE ENDINGS OF MANY STORIES AND WILL SPOIL YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THEM.

"The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes" was Doyle's last collection of short stories on the great detective. The stories may not have been uniformly as good as the earlier Holmes stories, and some of the plots may have been derivative, but they still entertain.

"The Three Garridebs" rehashed the plot of "The Red Headed League". "The Creeping Man" turned in a creepy tale whose premise has been disproved by later science. "The Veiled Lodger" was not even a mystery.

The rest of the stories were much better. "The Blanched Soldier" presented a conundrum which Holmes solved without visiting the scene. "The Sussex Vampire" had a perfectly natural explanation. "The Lion's Mane" involved violent death, but was there a crime? Holmes worked for an unnamed "Illustrious Client", but you should be able to figure out who it was. We meet Holmes' page, Billy, for the first and last time in "The Mazarin Stone". We meet international intrigue in "Shoscombe Old Place" and an arrogant murderer in "The Retired Colourman". My favorite story of the lot is "The Problem of Thor Bridge", where Holmes clears a young lady of murder in the face of almost overwhelming evidence of guilt.

Here we are again with the omniscient Holmes and incredulous Watson exploring mysteries as inscrutable as ever before. These stories are, as a previous reviewer has noted, on the darker side of things, no doubt as a resullt of WWI, in which Doyle lost his son. One even takes place, for the most part, in America, of all places!-There's always this comfortable, almost fairy tale sense in all of the Holmes' stories of this magic Victorian nightworld which Holmes and Watson float above in their upper middle class ease, and which we know (except in one story not in this book) that all will be well with the two friends in the end. Even when we know we are being duped, as when cigar ashes or some other peculiar evidence appears and Holmes announces "Surely you've read my monograph on the subject," and proceeds to expound upon their significance to the case, we are still pleased, like an opium smoker taking another drag from his pipe and drifting back to Xanadu. Like all Holmes' stories, these are bound to keep you turning the pages, as well as to enchant you thus.-Doyle's stories are so enchanting, in fact, that in the most recent issue of the New York Review of Books it is revealed that most Taiwanese believed that they were true and that London was a cobblestoned city perpetually inundated in fog!-A very nice compilation, indeed, with all the original drawings from The Strand.

This Book Is A MUST HAVE For Anyone Who Calls Themselves A Sherlock Holmes Fan. I Love Every Story In This Book. Can't Get enough,

I am 10 years old and have read many books and this is one of my favorites. The Hound of the Baskervilles is my favorite story. Please encourage anyone to read this case book of Sherlock Holmes. I'm sure everyone will enjoy a cunning Sherlock Holmes and a humorous Dr. Watson.

Buyer beware!! This audio contains only 4 or the original 13 stories contained in the Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. Clearly it is an abridgement. !!

The final book in the Sherlock Holmes library, THE CASE BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES presents us with twelve stories of the masterful detective. Thankfully, although perhaps not as strong as those in THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, the third book in the series and the first one containing short stories (and generally considered to be the best of the lot), THE CASEBOOK is still strong enough to let us all be grateful that Holmes exited the stage with some vigor left in him. Good memories of previous books are not tarnished, but enhanced, by those in this collection.

Two of the stories, The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier and The Adventure of the Lion's Mane, are narrated by Holmes himself rather than by his trusted right hand man, Dr. Watson. Both these stories involve some type of medical issue and Watson, with his knowledge of the field, would have cleared things up so quickly so as to rob us of the mysteries. What is singularly interesting about these two tales is the writing style, which is surely that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but shifted just slightly so that it truly feels like a different character, Holmes rather than Watson, doing the dictation. Some of the writing, as when Holmes' ego shines through, is as funny as anything I have read in the series.

Other strong stories include The Adventure of the Retired Colourman and The Problem of Thor Bridge, which easily hold their own against anything Holmes has undertaken in the past. The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone is also unusually written for a Sherlock Holmes story, as it is both written in the third-person and is set, Rear Window style, in only one room. The idiosyncrasy is solved by discovering that it was originally written as a stage play rather than for print.

The book stumbles badly, however, at The Adventure of the Creeping Man, which does not hold up well with even the most basic knowledge of science. The Adventure of the Three Gables is, alas, rather forgettable.

Overall, though, THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a fine parting shot. Finishing it up, I could not help but feel some sadness that no new stories of the greatest fictional detective will ever be there for me again.

If you have ever read any Sherlock Holmes and enjoyed them, you should treat yourself to the final chapters of Holmes and Watson, when Conan Doyle was forced by public demand to bring back Sherlock Holmes mysteries after he had grown tired of writing them. They are just as good as the former mysteries, and some of them 'penned' by Holmes himself!

This review does not refer to the stories themselves but the edition. The font size on the Wordsworth edition is about 2. This is not what Amazon advertises with its 'look inside' feature. This is a small facsimile of the Strand version with a darker copy of the famous Paget illustrations. I was hoping for something easy to read with illustrations and this is not it.

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes is a must read for all fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and, indeed, all mystery fans. While these stories are not the most famous of Holmes' cases (The Red Headed League, The Hound of the Baskervilles, etc.) there is still plenty of the standard Sherlock Holmes fare. Holmes and his trusty companion, Dr. Watson, take on an assortment of 12 cases with such titles as The Illustrious Client, The Marazin Stone and The Retired Coloured Man. While most of these cases involve a crime of some sort, a few ( Thor Bridge and The Blanched Soldier) tell of human tragedy and display both Holmes acute reasoning powers and his compassion.

There is no much more than needs be said. The stories are short enough (average of 15-20 pages) to be read in a single setting. I personally read one a day while having lunch and found this method to be an enjoyable addition to my mid-day meal.