His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford Sherlock Holmes) [Hardcover]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author), Owen Dudley Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 1993 | Series: Oxford Sherlock Holmes

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

From the macabre and murderous "The Devil's Foot" to the strange case of "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax," the six stories that comprise His Last Bow seem darker and more disturbing than Conan Doyle's previous Sherlock Holmes works. Unlike earlier Sherlockian tales, five of these stories are reminiscences written after Holmes's retirement. The final story presents an epilog to Holmes's career, when, at age 60, he is called back to work as a spy for Great Britain in preparations for the European War. These cases, ably read by Frederick Davidson, are rarely found in audio form and show that Conan Doyle knew how to keep Holmes current with the changing political environment. Recommended for all public libraries.
-Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review

'Here it is at last, the definitive edition, in nine volumes, of all the Sherlock Holmes stories. The notes are comprehensive and lengthy. The introductions and notes are full of fresh information, technical (such as the manuscripts that show Doyle consistently under-punctuated) and factual.' Julian Symons, The Sunday Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 28, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192123157
• ISBN-13: 978-0192123152
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,507,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fourth-best of the Sherlock Holmes short story collections!, December 8, 2004

By 

Godly Gadfly - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford Sherlock Holmes) (Hardcover)

Although he also wrote several novels featuring the world's greatest fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it was especially in his short stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle perfected the Holmes formula. "His Last Bow" (published in 1917) is the fourth of the five collections of Holmes short stories. The other collections all featured a dozen stories, but only eight stories make up "His Last Bow". The title is based on the final story of the same name, which portrays the retired Holmes active in bee-keeping, and emerging from retirement only to protect English secrets during the First World War. Doyle was arguably past his prime in producing Sherlock Holmes stories, but this is still a very good collection of stories, and although there are only eight stories, unlike some of the other collections there is no obviously inferior story among them. The Bruce-Partington Plans, The Dying Detective and The Devil's Foot are especially outstanding, but all the other stories in this collection are very good as well. It may not match the brilliance and popularity of the first three collections ("The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Return of Sherlock Holmes"), but it's not far behind, and Holmes fans will find every one of the eight stories of "His Last Bow" most enjoyable.

Here's a list of the stories in this collection (with the better stories marked with stars):

Wisteria Lodge, 1908 - This two-part story recounts the strange experiences of Mr. John Scott Eccles, whose Spanish host Garcia and his two servants mysteriously vanish overnight. How is the exiled tyrant Don Murillo, the Tiger of San Pedro, behind these events?

The Cardboard Box, 1893 - Susan Cushing opens a parcel in a box, horrified to find two severed human ears - but whose are they and why are they sent to her?

The Red Circle, 1911 - Mrs. Warren has a mysterious lodger who never emerges from his room, and how is this connected to a secret society called "the Red Circle"?

*The Bruce-Partington Plans, 1908 - Some top-secret plans for a Bruce-Partington submarine are found in the pockets of a dead man who falls off a train, but where are the rest of the plans, and how and why did they get stolen?

*The Dying Detective, 1913 - Holmes is delirious and dying of a tropical Chinese disease. His only hope for survival appears to be Mr. Culverton Smith, a specialist in such diseases, but unfortunately also a criminal who would be glad to see Holmes die.

Lady Frances Carfax, 1911 - When Lady Frances Carfax goes missing, her life is unwittingly threatened by Holy Peters, an unscrupulous criminal from Australia who is now posing as someone else.

*The Devil's Foot, 1910 - A thrilling and convincing story, as Mortimer Tregennis reports the bizarre death of his sister and sudden madness of his two brothers. The story complicates with the death of Mortimer himself, and the involvement of the African explorer Dr. Leon Sterndale. Holmes discounts supernatural involvement, and looks for some natural explanation.

His Last Bow, 1917 - Holmes emerges from his retirement (spent beekeeping and completing his magnus opus "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture") to thwart the German spy Baron Von Bork from disclosing secret English documents on the eve of World War I.

- GODLY GADFLY

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly the bee's knees, July 25, 2005

By 

Jade West (Graystar) - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Last Bow (Paperback)

The thing I like about a good Sherlock Holmes short story is its brevity and muscular leanness, so when I see backstory, even for a few pages, I roll my eyes - I want Holmes, detection, maybe a bit of action, not some tale of jealousy or treachery from the tropics or wherever. The first three stories in this collection evaporate in a daze of backstory - they the had potential to be good but they blew it. As for the other stories, the Dying Detective is an interesting addition to the canon but nothing special. The Devil's Foot, whilst certainly above average, falls a bit flat in the end with Holmes doing his detection largely off stage. The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax is okay. His Last Bow feels like the last chapter of some John Buchan adventure novel and is hugely disappointing, just like that other endstop, the overrated Final Problem. "There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet." And there was me thinking the Rathbone film had invented that naffness from scratch. The obvious winner is the Bruce-Partington Plans. It's got detection, action, and Mycroft. Worth admission price alone.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Master of deduction and analysis, September 11, 2002

By 

Esther Nebenzahl - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford Sherlock Holmes) (Paperback)

This is a collection of eight short stories, first published in October 1917, narrating some of the adventures of detective Sherlock Holmes, the last one entitled "His Last Bow." Sherlock Holmes is amongst the most famous characters ever created in literature, his popularity overshadowing his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to the point that some people are under the impression that Sherlock Holmes in fact existed. The inspiration came from Dr. Joseph Bell, a friend and tutor to Conan Doyle and who shared many personality features with the famous detective.
The author had Sherlock Holmes killed but public demand was so high for further adventures that we find him back in action. Determined to have a permanent retirement, Sherlock Holmes moves into a small farm and dedicates himself to other matters, refusing to offer his intellectual ability to the government. With World War I approaching he backs up on this determination and his return into action is narrated in "His Last Bow." The cases range from theft, burglary, kidnapping, to murder, and in all of the them Sherlock Holmes is a master in the science of deduction and analysis.
By those considered expert "Sherlockians," this is not Holmes at his best and certainly not as good as his masterpiece "The Hound of the Baskervilles."