The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

short stories, detective

copyright 1892-93

read in late 2016, January 2017

rated 8/10: really quite good

I read most of these stories last year then finished reading in 2017. So I can't guarantee accuracy of my memory. That's okay, these reviews are my *opinion* :-)

In my opinion -- these stories are good. Sherlock Holmes & John Watson. Murder, mystery and detailed detective anaylsis. A quiet world where workers and gentry fit in their own places, where the city is crowded -- but not by our standards -- and the countryside is peaceful.

A bucolic, ideal world where crime is unexpected -- yet potentially horrific. An ideal world... occasionally spoilt by the actions of humans.

What strikes my most about these stories -- after the sheer enjoyment of a good read -- is that a happy ending is not guaranteed.

Not every crime will be solved. Well, okay, every crime is analysed and as good as solved, from a reader's perspective. Yet the criminal may not be caught. Or the final analysis may be a matter of Holmesian conjecture: probably correct but not guaranteed. Or -- in The Greek Interpreter, for example -- the end is not as happy-ever-after as I had hoped. Very satisfactory, yes. Happy ever after? Not really.

These stories are about crime, detective work and the solution of the crime. Where possible, the people are saved. But not always.

These stories are detective fiction. Not fairy tales.

Very clever, very enjoyable. With the added pleasure of a world of gloomy streets, knuckled foreheads and clear distinctions between right and wrong.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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