The lost adventures of Sherlock Holmes [Hardcover]

Ken Greenwald (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble; First Edition edition (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566195403
• ISBN-13: 978-1566195409
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,084,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Baker's (Street) Dozen, September 20, 2005

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The lost adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are top contenders for the best Holmes and Watson duo in film and television history; less well known is the fact that they did quite a number of quite a number of radio broadcasts as the famous duo. Some of these, as was often the case in early broadcast history, were lost until a chance discovery hit upon a baker's dozen of these radio plays.

Each one of these thirteen is based on one of the canonical stories - both plays and novels have been adapted here. However, the writing team of Denis Green and Anthony Boucher did something remarkable here - instead of simply adapting the story of 'A Scandal in Bohemia' or 'Silver Blaze' for radio teleplay, they picked up on selected details in the stories and developed those more fully. Hence, 'A Scandal in Bohemia', in which Holmes meets Irene Adler, _the_ woman, becomes here 'The Second Generation', developing further from the canonical story.

In the foreword, Ken Greenwald writes about his life-long love of Sherlock Holmes, growing out an early broadcast experience of his own. He ponders the task of making the writing of Green and Boucher better, and decides that he cannot (just as they decided they could not really improve upon Conan Doyle, but rather could serve to flesh out the lesser bits). Greenwald does the same here, adapting rather than re-writing the plays, casting them in short-story format. Greenwald is clear that he is not only writing with Holmes and Watson in mind, but also that Rathbone and Bruce would be the embodiment of them.

One can almost see or hear the stories while reading them, in the persons of Rathbone and Bruce, reading or playing out the scenes. The writing is crisp and faithful to the canonical originals; Greenwald even adds a brief introduction under the pen of Dr. John Watson, explaining why these 'lost adventures' are finally being set down.

This is a must have for any fan of Holmes and Watson.