The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes

by Guy Adams

Sherlock Holmes is undoubtedly the most famous detective in the world. His adventures have been portrayed in fourteen different TV series and twenty different TV movies as well as around 600 Holmes-related radio programs. He has been inducted as an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the only fictional character ever to achieve such distinction. In the UK, a national computer database used by the police is called HOLMES - Home Office Large Major Enquiry System. In short, everyone knows that Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective who never lived, but his fictional adventures have held us in thrall for over 120 years. "The Case Notes of Sherlock Holmes" is written, just as most of his adventures, by his trusty friend Dr John H Watson. These are the notes on which Watson based his later, more elaborate accounts of Holmes' investigations. They take the form of a scrapbook containing letters, sketches, newspaper articles and other items sometimes mentioned in the more familiar forms of these stories, but often neglected. Here you will find Watson's sketches of the paw prints discovered near the body of Sir Charles Baskerville, the address label from the gruesome parcel that was sent to Susan Cushing in "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", Sherlock Holmes' final, heartrending letter to Watson before his violent struggle with Moriarty in "The Final Problem", as well as many other fascinating documents. All of the items are reproduced as genuine historical artifacts, with tears, stains, folds and handwritten annotations by Watson. Eighteen of these items are held in special 'evidence' bags on the page, to be removed for easy study by the reader. Painstakingly researched, beautifully designed and packaged, and rich in period detail, this is a book that brings the world of 221b Baker Street vividly to life. It is a volume that no Sherlock Holmes fan will want to be without.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature

64 pages, Hardcover

First published August 24, 2009

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a Sherlockian nerd like I am, you'll enjoy this book alot.

A very tongue-in-cheek book purported to be a copy of a scrapbook kept by Dr. Watson and filled with a miscellany of items from 6 of Holmes' most famous cases:
A Scandal in Bohemia
The Red-Headed League
The Dancing Men
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
The Final Problem
The Hound of the Baskervilles

The book includes pages of printed material with the original artwork of these stories as they were depicted from The Strand magazine, newspaper articles, ticket stubs, maps, drawings, case notes and information on all 6 stories. But the true wimsey of this book are the over 18 removable fascimiles from these cases (contained in 5 glassine bags throughout the book). These "artefacts" include a photograph of Irene Adler ("The Woman"), a coded scrap of paper containing the "Dancing Men" figures, letters and telegraphs, police reports, etc. that you can pull out and handle.

The book itself is short but interesting, and the removable items are well done. It's a fun way to pass a few hours if you're a fan, and should appeal to young Sherlockians (as well as us much older geeks).

[amycw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nicely done "scrapbook" of Dr. John Watson. The book includes summaries of the major cases and physical documents.

I have a few issues with the book that bring down my rating. First, this seems to be geared to children, but many of the documents are lengthy and written in a very small cursive font. Some of the documents were difficult for me to read. I don't see a lot of adults buying this book for themselves; most would just read the actual Sherlock stories and novels, so I believe kids and young adults would struggle with reading it.

Second, the envelopes that hold the documents are made of vellum and are already tearing.

Finally, I struggle to see the point of these types of "scrapbooks" for a general audience. If one is going to the trouble of creating all of these document facsimiles, why not create something more creative where someone could attempt to solve the crime using the documents? I am trying to find ways to enhance the reading of Holmes with a high school class, but for the general reader, these types of books seem anticlimactic.

This is what it says it is: a fictionalized scrapbook of Dr. John Watson, but it could have been something much more interesting and interactive.

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less a book to be read than one to be experienced, The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes contains artifacts from six of Holmes' cases -- "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Red-Headed League," "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," "The Dancing Men, "The Hound of the Baskervilles." and "The Final Problem." Although excepts are provided for most of the stories, the creators of this book assumes the reader is already familiar with the tales. The printed pages contain period illustrations, entries from Watson's journals and notebooks, newspaper clippings and maps. The real fun of the book, however, is to be found in the "artefacts bags," which contain such items as a photograph of Irene Adler and a performance poster from one of her concerts, the various messages using the "dancing men" code, and the "original" 1742 document detailing the Legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles. Not much here for serious scholars of the Canon, certainly, but it's all in good fun and adds another dimension of enjoyment to the stories; the artifacts are well-suited to the stories, are nicely produced and presented, and do try hard to appear authentic in content. If anything bad could be said about the artifacts, it's that some of the larger ones can be a little difficult to remove from and return to the glassine envelopes, but it's a minor point and requires only a little care and effort on the part of the reader. It can be argued that it's all just a marketing gimmick, which is probably not entirely false, but it's still a fun experience. And while another reviewer dismissed the entire effort as "juvenile," is it not necessary that in order to truly appreciate the corpus of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories that a reader must approach them with, if not a touch of the juvenile, then at least a sense of childlike wonder? A good gift book for the Sherlockian in your life...or even yourself.

[WhatShouldIRead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun casebook by 'Dr. Watson', along with all the paraphernalia associated with the selected cases outlined in this book. Very clever idea and an interesting overview of the stories.

The only quibble I had was that the author, 'Watson', spent alot of time on Hound of the Baskervilles than another other story covered. While this was OK, I think if it was shortened a bit it wouldn't have mattered and then we might be able to have one more story in its place. Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle would have been a good one.

[Matthew Berkshire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmmmm. Enjoyable, but rather juvenile. I think that it would be a good tool to get young people interested in Holmes.

[Elo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parfait pour faire découvrir Sherlock Holmes aux jeunes qui seraient plutôt rétiçants.