- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: Atlantic Books (1 May 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1843549107
- ISBN-13: 978-1843549109
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,025,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"* 'My contention is that Sherlock Holmes is literature.' Edmund Wilson"
Product Description
This title features the best Sherlock Holmes stories as chosen and introduced by his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. It is published together in one volume for the first time. When this competition was first mooted, I went into it in a most light-hearted way, thinking that it would be the easiest thing in the world to pick out the twelve best of the Holmes stories. In practice I found that I had engaged myself in a serious task...In 1927, "Strand" magazine challenged its readers to guess which of his Sherlock Holmes stories Arthur Conan Doyle himself rated as his very best. (Mr R. T. Newman of Spring Hill, Wellingborough, won GBP 100 for successfully guessing ten of the twelve stories correctly.) Doyle revealed his choice and, in his own inimitable way, explained his reasoning in an article for the magazine. The stories included "The Speckled Band", "The Final Problem" and "The Dancing Men". Arthur Conan Doyle's favourite twelve Sherlock Holmes stories are now published together for the first time, with his original "Strand" article to introduce his own selection.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whose favourite Sherlock Holmes stories? Arthur Conan Doyle's, that's who. The twelve stories collected here were the ones Doyle selected as his favourites, for a competition run by The Strand Magazine in 1927, in which readers were invited to write in with what they thought Doyle's favourites would be; the one who got the closest won £100. (In the end, the closest guess named ten of the twelve correctly.) The introduction to this book is the short article Doyle wrote explaining his choice. Some of the decisions he made seem rather arbitrary (he immediately ruled out the most recently published dozen stories, for instance, because they were about to be published in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes), but just how perfect can any selection be? It will always be subjective.
The stories Doyle picked were: The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Final Problem, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventure of the Empty House, The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips, The Adventure of the Second Stain, The Devil's Foot, The Adventure of the Priory School, The Musgrave Ritual and The Reigate Squires. All these stories are collected here, and to round off is a 16-page essay, "Case Notes", by Professor Robert Giddings, providing a brief but interesting history of Sherlock Holmes and his creator.
Having previously read only one Sherlock Holmes story (A Scandal in Bohemia), I bought this book in the hope of getting a more thorough introduction to the famous sleuth. I don't know if all the stories Doyle picked would be considered the best by Holmes fans, but they certainly give a good sampling. We have the first Holmes story, we have what Doyle intended to be the last Holmes story, and we have the story that brought back Holmes from the dead; we also have a story narrated by Holmes rather than Watson, telling the tale of one of the Great Detective's early cases; and we have plenty others, giving us a perfect chance to study Holmes's famous deductive method in action.
Having read it, I can but pay the book the great compliment of saying that I was left wanting more. Definitely a good introduction to Doyle's Holmes stories. Now, where's my violin?
The stories Doyle picked were: The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Final Problem, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventure of the Empty House, The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips, The Adventure of the Second Stain, The Devil's Foot, The Adventure of the Priory School, The Musgrave Ritual and The Reigate Squires. All these stories are collected here, and to round off is a 16-page essay, "Case Notes", by Professor Robert Giddings, providing a brief but interesting history of Sherlock Holmes and his creator.
Having previously read only one Sherlock Holmes story (A Scandal in Bohemia), I bought this book in the hope of getting a more thorough introduction to the famous sleuth. I don't know if all the stories Doyle picked would be considered the best by Holmes fans, but they certainly give a good sampling. We have the first Holmes story, we have what Doyle intended to be the last Holmes story, and we have the story that brought back Holmes from the dead; we also have a story narrated by Holmes rather than Watson, telling the tale of one of the Great Detective's early cases; and we have plenty others, giving us a perfect chance to study Holmes's famous deductive method in action.
Having read it, I can but pay the book the great compliment of saying that I was left wanting more. Definitely a good introduction to Doyle's Holmes stories. Now, where's my violin?
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