Sherlock Holmes in Summary

Most of this is a shameless re-post of my earlier musings on Sherlock Holmes. Now, however, I've finished the series, so I've updated the ratings for each work, and added a brief thought or two.

Arthur Conan Doyle penned several stories concerning Sherlock Holmes, the most famous detective in literature, and his faithful assistant Dr. Watson. His stories are presented as both novels and short story collections, and all are relatively short reads. In chronological order, I list the works below (with associated ratings), collections of short stories being shown in Italics.

A Study in Scarlet- A
The Sign of the Four- A-
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- A+
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes- A-
The Hound of the Baskervilles- A+
The Return of Sherlock Holmes- A
The Valley of Fear- A
His Last Bow- A-
The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes- A-

As I said, all are excellent. The difference between the "A" and "A-" ratings above are quite trivial, and related to the order in which I read them, so had I read them in a different order, the ratings may have shifted a bit. The "-" on some merely indicates that I thought it was more of the same, without being overly original. But, like many iconic heroes, more of the same is exactly what people want.

If you read only one, choose The Hound of the Baskervilles. A Study in Scarlet introduces the characters Holmes & Watson to each other, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is quite well known, so those would be my top three, but every work here is of top quality, so you can't go wrong.

If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories, check out the BBC's recent television show Sherlock. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes, it's a modern take on the classic writings (to include being set in modern-day London). Two series (seasons) have been released so far, each containing 3 episodes. Each episode follows the spirit of one (or more) Holmes story, so if you read the stories first, you can better enjoy the references.