Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

'Christopher Lee is a worthy inheritor of the deerstalker headwear and S-bend pipe. His tones are august and measured and he can break off to do the character voices nicely.' Ham & High 22/5/98 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Restored to life by popular demand after his last struggle with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, Sherlock Holmes dons his deerstalker again for twelve final adventures. With the affable Dr. Watson at his side, he employs pipe, violin and, of course, his astounding methods of scientific deduction, to solve the unsolvable in mysterious cases, including "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", "The Adventure of the Creeping Man" and "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger".

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam~mass; 19th printing edition (November 29, 1973)
• ISBN-10: 0140008055
• ISBN-13: 978-0140008050
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,146,730 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classically entertaining book, June 6, 1999

By	Kenneth Feldman ([e-mail]) (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Case-Book of Sherlock Homes (The Oxford Sherlock Holmes) (Hardcover)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sherlock's Swan Song, May 5, 2001

By	George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (Audio Cassette)

"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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate, though a tad different, Holmes' stories, March 7, 2001

By	Daniel Myers (Greenville, SC USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes & His Last Bow (Wordsworth Collection) (Paperback)

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.