The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes #3)

[Mary Pat]

This thread is to discuss Arthur Conan Doyle‘s book, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.


***Please remember to mark spoilers.***

Participants: Randy, Suki, Ilona, Scott, Ashley

[Mary Pat]

Suggested break down of reading so that you can check in and let us know how you're doing. The following breakdown is purely a suggestion and is therefore not set in stone.

Rather than putting dates for each section I've done it so that it takes into account that not everybody will necessarily have the book at the same time.

Week 1: 79
Week 2: 79
Week 3: 79
Week 4: 79

[Ilona]

Has anyone started this yet? I am planning to read it towards the end of the month, a short story collection is perfect for my holiday with friends.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I am starting this one today. There are 12 short stories so I figure I'll read one every couple days.

The first one is A Scandal in Bohemia.

[Ashley]

I started reading the first short story. I am planning on reading a few pages each day. I read one section of each story a day. I figure I will finish closer to the end of the month as this is a busy month. Enjoy everyone.

[Scott]

I started on the first story I’ll try and read a story every few days

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished A Scandal in Bohemia and enjoyed it, especially the character of Irene Adler who was memorably played by Rachel McAdams in the recent Guy Ritchie Holmes movies.

Holmes' cocaine use is again referenced early in the story.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Red Headed League and liked it a lot also, although this plot has been used so many times now that I figured it out early on.

So far I like the Holmes short stories better than the novels. They contain about the same amount of mystery but they get to the point much faster.

[Ashley]

I agree that the short stories get to the point faster, but they do seem repetitive. I also liked the background story a little bit, but they do no seem to fit in the short stories because they are straightforward and the background doesn't really exist.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished the third story A Case of Identity. This was my least favorite story so far, not only because it was relatively simple but also because it felt so chauvinistic.

Wikipedia has a quote from one Margaret Brown from the Proceedings of the Pacific Northwest Literary Society that sums it up well (spoiler tagged for those who haven't read the story) (view spoiler)["Much as I admire Sherlock Holmes, I am always seized with impotent fury at reading the end of 'A Case of Identity'. What a patronizing arrogance, to decide for her whether or not she could stand hearing the truth! Anyway, he was manifestly unethical to his client. She engaged him to find Hosmer Angel. He found Hosmer Angel. He should have given his client the information she wanted and let her decide what to do with it. ... Anyway, what is this nonsense about the villain being beyond reach of the law? In British law of that time, a man could be sued for breach of promise. Even a bachelor who proposed to a woman with complete sincerity and then changed his mind could be sued. All the more so a married man who went through an elaborate charade and fallaciously courted his own daughter in law! Any half-decent lawyer could have broken him in court. Of course, the young woman might have chosen not to sue him – but Holmes should have left the choice to her. For me, this story is a dark blot on the otherwise admirable career of Sherlock Holmes." (hide spoiler)]

You can read the Wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Case_...

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Boscombe Valley Mystery and really enjoyed it. So far I've liked 3 of the first 4 stories. I'm on pace to wrap this one up a little before the end of the month.

How's everyone else doing?

[Ashley]

I just finished The Red Headed League.

(view spoiler)[ I thought this was an interesting idea for a bank robbery during the time period this story was written. There are movies and other stories that use this method today, going through the cellar and digging a tunnel, but I don't think it was as common during this period. It is an interesting take. (hide spoiler)]

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Ashley wrote: "I just finished The Red Headed League.

[spoilers removed]"

I agree with your spoiler, Ashley. While reading this story I was actually reminded of the Woody Allen movie Small Time Crooks, although that one turns out a lot different than this story did.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Five Orange Pips. The revelation of the meaning behind the initials made me laugh but only because (view spoiler)[it was of course the first thought that came to my head when I saw "KKK" (hide spoiler)]. I didn't think the story was one of the better ones in the collection however. It felt anti-climactic.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Man with the Twisted Lip and I think it's my new favorite story in the collection. The introduction of Holmes and the solving of the mystery were more unusual than most Holmes stories.

[Ashley]

The Five Orange Pips was not one of the better stories. I don't care for the endings of some of the stories as they just seem to end. There is not a lot going on like in the longer books.

I finished The Man With the Twisted Lip. (view spoiler)[ This was interesting because it did not start with Holmes. This was a first for Watson being asked to look into something and he runs into Holmes. Again, this is something that relates to today. Depending on where people are begging, they can make more money doing that than if they were working a full time job. This story took that to a whole new level though. It was an interesting story. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

I finished The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.

(view spoiler)[ I feel like people who decide to commit crimes are not that bright to begin with, and this story kinda shows that. The idea of feeding the stone to a goose was inventive, however, it is also easy to loose, which he did. There are very few criminal masterminds, and the man in this story was not one. It was an entertaining story though. (hide spoiler)]

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I read The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle and The Speckled Band and liked them both a lot.

Ashley, I agree with your thoughts on Carbuncle (which is turns out is a type of gem, although the word is more commonly used to describe a cluster of boils). I also enjoyed that the case started in an unusual fashion.

Speckled on the other hand starts like many of Holmes' other cases, with a client coming to Holmes with a problem. But this one has a villain who is not too hard to spot and the crime itself reminded me mildly of some of the real life exploits of a different Holmes, namely H. H. Holmes whose tale was told in The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.

[Ashley]

I finished The Adventure of the Speckled Band. This was another enjoyable short story.

(view spoiler)[ This one ended as many stories today that have a dangerous and unpredictable "pet" that is used to kill people. This was like one the earlier stories though in that the parent figure was trying to stop the child from getting married for money. (hide spoiler)]

[Ilona]

I just finished A Scandal in Bohemia, and will try to read at least one short story a day from now on.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Adventure of The Engineer Thumb. It started off so well I thought I would really enjoy it but it turned out just OK.

I like that Doyle is trying to make each of these stories unique, instead of the "typical" set up where Holmes is sitting around and someone asks him to solve a mystery. In the case of this story however I think it suffered from being mostly told by the client and Homes didn't have much to do until the end.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor. It was OK. I was hoping for something a bit more exciting but it never delivered on what I thought was a promising setup.

Two more stories to go!

[Scott]

I’ve finished the first three so far. I didn’t really like the third until Holmes caught the bad guy and explained the criminal’s motivation

[Ashley]

The Adventure of The Engineer Thumb (view spoiler)[ I didn't really enjoy this story. It was the client that basically told the whole story and it wasn't Holmes trying to figure out what happened. (hide spoiler)]

The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (view spoiler)[ This story was interesting. However, I believe that she should have been honest instead of just disappearing on the person she just married. (hide spoiler)]

The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (view spoiler)[ I thought this story was a little predictable. Based on the reactions, you knew who took the coronet before the end of the story. Of course it was someone close, as they must have known it was in the house and had access to it. (hide spoiler)]

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (view spoiler)[ This was another story that was predictable. Miss Hunter was hires only based on looks so she must look like someone. The only person missing was the daughter. The only mystery was why. (hide spoiler)]

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet the other day. It was one of the best in the collection with a lot of detecting for Holmes to do.

I'm down to the last story! I should finish today or tomorrow, then a break for the holiday weekend and on to the next book in the series.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished The Adventure of the Copper Beeches which I thought was a good story that kept me guessing. I thought the little boy would play a larger part in the story.

[Scott]

I agree the engineer thumb started out pretty good but just ended being just ok.

[Scott]

I was surprised by the ending of the bachelor story.

[Ilona]

I have read 9 stories, so three more to go. Hopefully I have time to finish those this week

[Scott]

Ok I finished this collection today. Some were better than others but there was a nice amount of variety so the stories weren’t that predictable

[Ilona]

So, my one story a day plan didn't really work out, but I read the last three stories today and finally finished this collection!

Is it just me or does the last story have some Jane Eyre elements?