Benedict Cumberbatch

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

Overall a pleasant collection of Holmes stories, even if they were not written by Conan Doyle. This collection contains four stories with a variety of problems for Holmes to solve. The first, "An Inscrutable Masquerade", had probably the most interesting concept and resolution, while the last, "The 10:59 Assassin", won Most Convoluted But Still Neat Solution. The middle two stories were middling in terms of plot, but really only because they had show more essentially the same solution, and having them one after the other in the same collection diluted their effect. Of these two, I preferred "The Conundrum of Coach 13" over "The Trinity Vicarage Larceny", perhaps because I like railways.

My rating is basically three stars for the content and an extra star for Benedict Cumberbatch's excellent narration. He added a different note to his voice to distinguish Watson from Holmes, who sounds remarkably like his normal voice! (Sherlock reference ahoy!) I enjoyed his American accent too, especially because the character was a loud, booming, gruff sort AND was also named Benedict. Even the bishop in the Trinity Vicarage story had a distinctive voice, sounding very elevated and refined. And I liked that the females who appeared were not given screechy high-pitched falsettos; Benedict just softened his voice a bit.

Verdict: basically the narrator sold me on the content. I would gladly read more if he narrated them. show less

I swear I reviewed this one!

Anyway, I recommended this one to someone who wanted some audiobooks read by Benedict Cumberbatch (hi, Vanessa~!) and that is precisely why I picked up this book.

It was a bit surreal having Benedict Cumberbatch speak as John Watson, the narrator, but I still loved it. I love all the stories. I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan, and nothing will ever change that, let's be real.

Some of the stories (one of them, in particular) I really, really liked, and some others felt a show more little bit too formulaic but that clearly didn't stop me from reading.

The version of myself a few years ago thought she would only ever read the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, but I'm glad I've moved on from that because there are a wealth of adaptions that I can explore, including this one.

So if you like Sherlock Holmes, check this one out. Me? I'll just keep reading Sherlock Holmes adaptions until the end of my days. show less

Listened to the audiobook narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. The narration was very immersive and the collection of stories quite impressive. The stories surely recreated the effect Arthur Conan Doyle's original had and indulged the reader into the stories.

Fun quick audio stories read by Benedict Cumberbatch; if you were a fan of his Sherlock then these will entertain you. Good for Sherlock, Agatha Christie fans and for short commutes.