Sherlock Holmes stories

[Extollager]

“The Creeping Man” — the silliest of the stories? At any rate it seemed that way when it appeared in the Jeremy Brett SH adaptations.

 

[Extollager]

"The Sussex Vampire" -- a late Sherlock story (obviously); I believe "The Vampire of the Village" was the final Father Brown detective story by G. K. Chesterton, by the way. Doyle could have extended this with descriptions and surplus incidents designed to build up atmosphere, but instead presents the case economically.

We have just had a passionately devoted Brazilian wife and now a passionately devoted Peruvian one. I hope there'll be no more South American wives in the Case-Book.

 

[Extollager]

“The Three Garridebs” is (as has been observed before) a reuse of the “Red-Headed League” idea, but good fun. It’s notable for the declaration that Holmes would have killed deliberately if the criminal had killed Watson.

 

[paranoid marvin]

“The Three Garridebs” is (as has been observed before) a reuse of the “Red-Headed League” idea, but good fun. It’s notable for the declaration that Holmes would have killed deliberately if the criminal had killed Watson.

Yes , something along the lines that he 'would not have left the room alive' if Watson had tried. About as threatening as Holmes every got!

 

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"The Illustrious Client" is ironic in that it reaches from the very high, socially, to the underworld and justice is secured by means of burglary and violent assault.

 

[Extollager]

Well, with the seventh story, "The Three Gables," we have another South American beauty, another Brazilian. This time she wasn't a passionately devoted wife but she did have a young admirer who wanted to marry her (honorably) beaten. It's almost every other story with these ladies so far in this book. I might be slightly disappointed if we don't have at least one more South American beauty in the Case-Book stories. If there isn't, perhaps I'll write one of my own.

 

[Extollager]

"The Blanched Soldier" runs aground today -- once you complete the story and look up an unusual word! I take it when it was written it was not known that ichthyosis is a genetic rather than bacterial or viral disorder; so the soldier wouldn't have "caught" it by sleeping in a bed with supposedly contaminated sheets. The story, narrated by Holmes, is one of the very few (not sure what the others are or how many there are) in which no crime has been committed.

 

[hitmouse]

"The Blanched Soldier" runs aground today -- once you complete the story and look up an unusual word! I take it when it was written it was not known that ichthyosis is a genetic rather than bacterial or viral disorder; so the soldier wouldn't have "caught" it by sleeping in a bed with supposedly contaminated sheets. The story, narrated by Holmes, is one of the very few (not sure what the others are or how many there are) in which no crime has been committed.

Isnt there one where ana apparent murder turns out to be death by jellyfish sting? Its in the last collection I think.

 

[Extollager]

Yes -- that's "The Lion's Mane," which I just read; another story in which no crime occurred (except for Murdoch's mistreatment of the dog).

 

[Guttersnipe]

I've read only a handful of Holmes stories in school but can't remember any particular plot well, but I do remember seeing his brother. I don't think that he always used deductive reasoning to solve crimes; he seems to employ quite a bit of intuition just as often.

 

[hitmouse]

I've read only a handful of Holmes stories in school but can't remember any particular plot well, but I do remember seeing his brother. I don't think that he always used deductive reasoning to solve crimes; he seems to employ quite a bit of intuition just as often.

No, deductive reasoning was his big thing, really, together with good intelligence.

 

[Extollager]

“The Retired Colourman” seems to be a solid entry in the SH cycle, but will not stand out in readers’ memories since Sherlock is a proto-Nero Wolfe and Watson a proto-Archie Goodwin who runs around while the detective stays in the brownstone, er, London (actually working on another case rather than minding the orchids).

 

[paranoid marvin]

No, deductive reasoning was his big thing, really, together with good intelligence.

Yes, he used skills of observation combined with an encyclopedic knowledge to come to logical conclusions. When he sometimes explained to clients how he had solved a case he would get a trite response such as "Oh, I thought you'd done something clever" , and then (probably) had to restrain himself from punching them in the mouth. Which is why a magician should never reveal his secrets!

 

[Extollager]

“The Veiled Lodger” — a peculiar story. Holmes is asked simply to go to the residence of a woman who wants to tell what happened in a sensational, gruesome incident. Holmes and Watson listen and that’s basically all there is to it.

Yet I have heard of the case of someone who was tempted to suicide who remembered Holmes’s “Your life is not your own” in time. I don’t know the details, but that makes me glad for the story for the sake of that remark.

 

[Extollager]

The final Sherlock Holmes story is "Shoscombe Old Place." Holmes does a bit of detecting -- and perhaps rather a lot of theorizing without sufficient facts! -- when the perpetrator of such crime as has been committed shows up and explains himself. Yes, it was time, even past time, for Doyle to let Holmes retire. The book as a whole rates as passable but skippable except for completists; there's not one story that one feels is a must for someone looking to get a handle on why "Sherlock Holmes" is magical.

 

[hitmouse]

The final Sherlock Holmes story is "Shoscombe Old Place." Holmes does a bit of detecting -- and perhaps rather a lot of theorizing without sufficient facts! -- when the perpetrator of such crime as has been committed shows up and explains himself. Yes, it was time, even past time, for Doyle to let Holmes retire. The book as a whole rates as passable but skippable except for completists; there's not one story that one feels is a must for someone looking to get a handle on why "Sherlock Holmes" is magical.

Agree on the last book. Pleasant and familiar comforts without anything really interesting.

 

[Extollager]

Now starting His Last Bow, that is, His Penultimate Bow. The first story, “Wisteria Lodge,” generates some atmosphere of unease and an initial puzzle that’s quite interesting — why did the client waken to find the house deserted? The solution narrated by the governess was less interesting. It was agreeable to see Holmes engaged in a little professional rivalry with a sharp-witted rural cop.

 

[Extollager]

Next in His Last Bow were "The Bruce-Partington Plans," a good enough story in itself but (I'd have to check) perhaps too close to "The Naval Treaty" to be satisfactory; and "The Devil's Foot," a macabre mystery that seemed to recall some early efforts such as "The Speckled Band." (The TV adaptation of "Foot" with Brett included a rather camp "drug-trip" sequence that took the risk of seeming funny... and shouldn't have taken that risk.)

 

[Extollager]

“The Red Circle” seems an inferior story about a vengeful Italian murderer and a secret society, etc. I suppose it would be forgotten if it weren’t a Sherlock story. It’s not bad — I don’t suppose any of Doyle’s Holmes stories are just plain bad — but it must be about as poor as any of them manages to be.

 

[paranoid marvin]

“The Red Circle” seems an inferior story about a vengeful Italian murderer and a secret society, etc. I suppose it would be forgotten if it weren’t a Sherlock story. It’s not bad — I don’t suppose any of Doyle’s Holmes stories are just plain bad — but it must be about as poor as any of them manages to be.

Which is quite possibly one of the reasons why ACD killed him off. There's only so many variations on crime you can do.