Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
(Sherlock Holmes #3)
by Arthur Conan Doyle
detective, mystery, short stories
copyright 1891-92
read in April 2016
rated 8/10: really quite good
In the last review that I wrote, I said that I do not like short stories. Okay, that's not strictly true. What I should have said is, I do not like stupid short stories.
Adventures is the third book of Sherlock Holmes. The first two were complete novels. This one is a series of short stories, written for magazines over a couple of years.
This is a book of good short stories.
Each of these stories has a beginning, a middle and an end. In the middle -- something happens. At the end --- it is all wrapped up. Yes, it helps if you already know the two main characters, Holmes and Watson. (Though the beginning usually includes sufficient introduction for the first time reader.) Apart from that, each story stands alone.
A good short story also has a plot, though it may be brief. More importantly, a good short story will have an internal logic which links the beginning, the middle and the end. The shorter the story, the more important it is that the end follows the middle and that both end and middle make sense of the beginning.
To be honest, those are my own ideas. I read -- and review -- for my own enjoyment. I can recognise a "good" book that I do not enjoy. I have enjoyed quite a few "bad" books. I am trying to understand -- and explain -- why I like Sherlock Holmes short stories -- yet I disliked the last (non Sherlock Holmes) book which I read, also short stories.
My previous review was for a book of short stories which was -- comparatively -- rubbish. Most of those stories did have a beginning, a middle and an end. The three sections did link. The link was of the general form: Well, if you believe that rubbish then you will probably accept this implausible explanation...
But let's not spoil a Sherlock Holmes review with comparison to other, lesser books! The Adventures are very enjoyable!
Not every Adventure involves a murder. Thank goodness. To me, a murder is rather nasty. I am quite happy to enjoy the mystery surrounding a theft, an assault, even a pointed insult. Sure, it's an easy writers' trick to declare innocence by the sudden death of a suspect. I prefer that the innocent and the uninvolved end up alive.
Watson (as narrator) makes that point in many of the stories. A spectacular crime need not involve an interesting mystery. The most intriguing mystery may come from situations which are not even criminal. Sherlock Holmes solves mysteries. Not every mystery is a crime.
That said, in some of these stories people do die! The key point is, that death is not essential to creation of a challenging mystery.
And then on a completely different topic: The final story in this book is, The Copper Beeches...
Holmes and Watson travel to Winchester, where they dine at the Black Swan Inn. Within the month, I will be in Winchester. I checked, the Black Swan inn did exist. All that is left now, is a copy of the carved, wooden, black swan which was associated with the inn.
The mystery then continues at a house called the Copper Beeches. I will be staying one night at the Copper Beeches... Unfortunately... my own Copper Beeches house seems to be different to that of the Sherlock Holmes Adventure. Both are outside Winchester -- but in different directions.
Still, I shall check the trees which, I believe give the name to "my" Copper Beeches. And I shall very carefully check the layout of "my" house... Looking for the rather large drawing room and the abandoned wing with the boarded-up window. Carefully avoiding the starving mastiff in the front garden. After all...
You never know your luck!
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