The Private Life of Dr. Watson

by Michael Hardwick

Dr. John Watson relates the story of his life and adventures prior to meeting the consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Genres: Detective, British Literature

298 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 1983

About the author

Married writer Mollie Hardwick.

Reviews

[Cris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having just finished Thomson's Watson and Holmes I found myself comparing Hardwick's work to Thomson's often. (In many ways Hardwick's story reads like a fully-fleshed story of Watson's life before he met Holmes while Thomson's book is a sparser outline.)

Overall I think I found Thomson's slightly more interesting, though Hardwick's works better as a story. (Probably because I enjoyed Thomson's attempts to understand the relationship between Watson and Holmes.) I think Hardwick's decision to end his story just before Watson met Holmes emphasizes that Hardwick wished this story to focus on Watson rather than Holmes-and-Watson.

While I found The Private Life of Dr. Watson in the Mystery section, it really isn't a mystery. Rather it's in the tradition of many fictional memoirs with a mixture of coming-of-age, action, misadventure and daily life.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se my review on my book blog: http://quirkyreader.livejournal.com/2...

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but meh.

[Outlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

As fictional background stories go this one is okay, a bit laddish but amusing to read. Watson comes across as a bit more of a Casanova than I ever considered Watson to be, especially as the least likely of the conquests was Sarah Bernharte and Aggie was the most likely. Anyway it was a bit of change to read more about mine and Sherlock's favourite Boswell.

[LeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. It is written from the perspective of Sherlock Holmes' right hand man, Dr. John Watson. I had to keep reminding myself that Dr. Watson was a fictitious character in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels and not a real person. I think I will look for more books by Michael Hardwick.