A Study in Scarlet / The Sign of Four / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes / The Hound of the Baskervilles (B&N Classics 1/2)

I didn't quite finish re-reading these before accompanying my friend to her Sherlock Holmes conference, so the collection ended up on the back burner briefly. But I had to come back to it. I still love these stories, except The Hound of the Baskervilles which I still basically hate. I'd hoped age would improve my opinion of it, but alas, no. Doyle's short stories are better than the novels in general, but that one in particular is just... bleh. A Scandal in Bohemia remains an absolute delight, and reading The Red Headed League and The Stock-Broker's Clerk after delving into the history of con artists was absolutely grin-inducing (for once, I felt more like Holmes than Watson).

I am absolutely consumed by the Sherlock Holmes stories. They are constant companions I have returned to again and again throughout my life. So why not a five-star review? I deducted a star because this edition by Barnes and Noble is embarrassing. The design is fine, the copyediting is fine, but the guy they chose to write the introduction and provide notes is, well, a nobody in the incredibly erudite world of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts. His credentials are not up to the standards I think a good commissioning editor would demand for someone providing contextual notes, the notes themselves are often inane. Expect a little more of your reader instead of drawing her out of the story by asterisking the phrase "making love" to tell me that show more the term, back then, in fact did not mean the act of sex but instead the act of wooing. Got it. Knew that. Even if I didn't, the context alone told me. The art of good annotation is to be unobtrusive and yet enlightening. I feel this guy was neither. I got definitions for commonplace words. I got admonishments for Doyle's minor mistakes in history or music (and I actually disagree with one of his criticisms about a Chopin piece, but I digress). I am sure the guy was trying to earn his keep by footnoting what he could, but I found the practice incredibly distracting, so I would recommend another edition. And now I am officially a crank. show less

An absolutely gripping collection. If you've never read Sherlock Holmes, this is a great place to start. Sherlock isn't the stuffy, Basil Rathbone-y character often portrayed on television. His mercurial character, sharp wit and obsessive behavior are much more real and endearing than most portrayals of him have been. Watson, too, has much more to him than the bumbling boob most adaptations have suggested.

The world’s most revered and famous fictional detective first appeared from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle almost a 130 years ago, but the author did not finish with his greatest creation until almost 40 years later even after unsuccessfully killing him off. In this first volume of all the collected works that feature Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. John Watson, the reader first meets the great detective and his friend through two short novellas, 23 short stories, and the best-known and greatest case the pair ever faced.

The two-volume collection of the original works of Conan Doyle in the American publication order, begins with the first two Holmes novelettes Study in Scarlett and The Sign of Four which are very well written show more stories that both introduce the main character Holmes, but also through the eyes of his friend Watson. The next 23 short stories then show the genius and resource of the London-based detective and throughout we are given references to cases we have yet to personally read. Of the those short stories I found six the best of the bunch: “A Scandal in Bohemia”, “The Five Orange Pips”, “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, “Silver Blaze”, “The Musgrave Ritual, and “The Naval Treaty”.

This volume ends with the most famous and definitely the best Sherlock Holmes story of them all, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Even though there have been numerous adaptations of this most famous novel, upon reading it one senses the place on edge, nature seeming on the verge of overpowering man, and the sounds and shadows of mysterious beings across the moor. It was no small fact that nine years after killing off Holmes, Conan Doyle wrote a novel that no only brought make his character but wrote it in such a way that made people engage with both of the main characters instantly.

There seem to be several missteps, namely “The Final Problem” which seems more to do about setting up the final struggle as is to learn more about Professor Moriarty and see the net Holmes had cast instead of just being told. There are just as many of the other short stories that are not the best than there are very good if not great. Sometimes the eye is in the beholder, but others it is not.

Upon finishing this first volume, I enjoyed reading these 26 stories. As a first time reader of Conan Doyle it was fascinating to see how more human Sherlock seems to slowly become over the course of the stories with him as their focus. In the end I can’t stress enough how you should get this book. show less

The first half of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's complete output of fiction starring his famous consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. I was impelled to finally read these after seeing the excellent BBC series, "Sherlock", set in modern London. There are a few novellas and many stories here, concluding with "The Hound of the Baskervilles". I vaguely remember the Basil Rathbone movies. This Sherlock is more intense and mercurial, but kindly disposed toward those who come to him for help. He used cocaine, but only when he was between cases and overcome with ennui. So far, there is no "Watson; the needle!" or "Elementary, my dear Watson," although he comes close. Holmes is almost mystical in his observational and analytical skills, although his show more deductions always seem...uh, elementary when he explains them.

He is very strong for his slender build, and a boxer of quite some skill, and a fencer, although these talents are not used so far. Professor Moriarty, his arch-nemesis appears in "The Final Problem", which apparently writes finis to both Holmes and Moriarty. Apparently Doyle rethought his disposing of his greatest creation, for there is a second Holmes volume of equal length to this one's 650 pages. Whether Moriarty will reappear is another question. I enjoyed all of Holmes' cases, but the one which moved me the most was "The Yellow Face", which in a very compelling fashion showed us the (then) unusually enlightened attitudes of Holmes and Watson, and by extension Arthur Conan Doyle, about interracial relations. show less

A delight to read! I suppose there are a reason some books become classics, and after reading it I can certainly see why the adventures of Sherlock Holmes are one such thing.

"The Hounds of Baskerville", unsurprisingly, is my favorite. "A Study in Scarlet" is the first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories, and it's clear he doesn't have the pacing perfect yet. I was pretty confused when we jumped to Utah after the first part, and I was seriously concerned Doyle was never going to explain the motives of our killer. "The Sign of Four" seemed a pretty specific story to give Watson a wife, and the obvious premise make the whole story a little cheap, as well as the rather. However "The Hounds of Baskerville" happened show more after several of the shorter stories (a personal favorite of those being "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League"), and Doyle appears to have matured a bit as a writer by that point (published in 1902, with "A Study in Scarlet" being published in 1887) and the story required the reader to know next to nothing outside the context of the story.

More at: http://dragonldy.blogspot.com/2011/01/review-complete-sherlock-holmes-volume.htm... show less

I fell in love with Sherlock Holmes in high school, and remain so to this day. I was really excited to find this set of books, which includes all of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Volume I starts with the first sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, which is also my favorite. It ends with the novel The Hound of The Baskervilles, another of my favorites. In between, we get to know Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. For instance, we learn that Holmes has a cocaine problem. Also, there is the appearance of Mary Morstan, who becomes Dr. Watson's wife. This volume also contains the story The Final Problem where Holmes is supposedly killed.

A Great read for any Sherlock Holmes fan.