The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes #4)

[Mary Pat]

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

Pages: 378

Length: 1 month

Participants: Randy, Suki, Ilona, Scott, Ashley

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Check out the introduction post (here) for more information about Buddy Reads!

You might also want to check out what other Buddy Reads are scheduled for 2018 here!.

Happy Buddy Reading!

[Ashley]

I finished Silver Blaze. I will try to read one story every day or two. I enjoyed this story.

(view spoiler)[ I was a little surprised that Straker was the one who took out the horse, but by the end it made sense. I was happy with the ending and the fact the horse was the one who killed Straker. As much a disagree with putting someone on an animal to change its appearance, it was effective and no one would have questioned it, even if they saw the horse. Just follow the evidence and don't jump to conclusions. I think that is where everyone except Holmes goes wrong, but then if they did that, the stories would not be about Holmes. (hide spoiler)]

[Ilona]

It is gonna take a while before I get to this book. I'll have to finish The Adventures first.

[Ashley]

I will make sure to make the spoilers and we can discuss them further as you read. Enjoy.

[Ashley]

I finished The Adventure of the Yellow Face. I enjoyed this story.
(view spoiler)[ The way the wife was acting when someone moved into the house, it had to have been someone who was involved in her past somehow. But if she thought her husband loved her, she should have told him what was going on from the beginning. (hide spoiler)]

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I just got back in town and I'm starting this collection today.

[Ashley]

The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk (view spoiler)[ I felt that this story was similar to the one in the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes where the man was offered a job and copy the dictionary to get him out of the house. Only in this, he was kept in a different city so people could impersonate him, but they are similar. (hide spoiler)]

The "Gloria Scott". (view spoiler)[ This was interesting especially as it was Holmes' first adventure. He was just telling the story though, so there was nothing to figure out. But it was a different take and was interesting to read. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

I finished all of the stories. (view spoiler)[ I was a little disappointed with The Adventure of the Final Problem. There was not much investigation and it was just how Holmes and Moriarty brought each other down, but there wasn't much to the story. (hide spoiler)]

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Ashley, great job! I am lagging a bit behind you but I'm still on pace to finish by the end of the month.

I finished the first two stories. Silver Blaze might be my favorite Holmes story so far, and it introduces the notable phrase "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" which was popularized a few years ago by the book of the same name. Yellow Face was not as good from a mystery standpoint but the ending must have been quite progressive in its day (over 120 years ago)

[Ashley]

I have a few others books to read this month so I got this one done first. Enjoy your reading

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Ashley wrote: "I have a few others books to read this month so I got this one done first. Enjoy your reading"

Thanks Ashley!

I finished The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk yesterday and I agree with you Ashley that it bears a bit of resemblance to the The Red Headed League. I still liked it though.

[Scott]

I decided I really need to read a study in scarlet first. I’ll read this one afterwards

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished Sherlock Holmes and the Gloria Scott: Case 14 which was Holmes' first case back while he was in college. It seemed very similar to The Sign of Four. Conan Doyle is starting to run out of ideas and is repeating himself so it's no real surprise how this story collection ends.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

The Musgrave Ritual was another early Holmes case told to Watson - this one feels somewhat familiar but I can't think of a specific story that it relates to. I did figure out most of the twists but still enjoyed it overall.

[Scott]

Ok I'm caught on the previous books reading Study in Scarlet and Sign of Four. One thing that surprised me with Sign of Four was Watson's sudden life changing event... Well on to Memoirs..

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Scott wrote: "Ok I'm caught on the previous books reading Study in Scarlet and Sign of Four. One thing that surprised me with Sign of Four was Watson's sudden life changing event... Well on to Memoirs.."

Yes, they didn't waste a lot of time with long courtships in those days...

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

After taking a week-long break to finish another book, I'll be getting back to Holmes starting today. I'll finish this book up over the next week then I'll probably jump straight into The Hound of the Baskervilles for next month's buddy read.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Today I finished The Reigate Puzzle. It was a pretty straightforward mystery compared to some of Holmes' other cases. I enjoyed it but I guessed most of the solution in advance.

[Ilona]

I am a little behind, but I'll try to start reading The Memoirs this weekend.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished three more stories:

The Adventure of the Crooked Man
The Adventure of the Resident Patient
The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter

I liked the Resident Patient story the best of the three, but they all seem to be treading on familiar ground, as if Doyle had run out of ideas or was getting bored and just re-hashing old stories. The Greek Interpreter story does introduce Holmes' brother Mycroft but he doesn't do much except introduce Holmes to the case.

Two more stories to go! I should finish in the next few days and be ready to start The Hound of the Baskervilles next week.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Ilona wrote: "I am a little behind, but I'll try to start reading The Memoirs this weekend."

Sounds good Ilona!

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished! I thought The Naval Treaty was excellent - the longer length gave a bit more time for the plot to develop but not so long as to get boring. The Adventure of the Final Problem was less of a mystery and more action-oriented than the usual Holmes story, noteworthy for it's ending of course.

Onto The Hound of the Baskervilles starting on Monday!

[Scott]

Finished the stock brokers story. Yes this was very similar to the red haired league

[Scott]

Finished this a few days ago. I was a little surprised with the ending of this last story especially since there are lots more stories about Holmes

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Scott wrote: "Finished this a few days ago. I was a little surprised with the ending of this last story especially since there are lots more stories about Holmes"

It's worth reading the Wikipedia entry about Holmes or the one about Doyle. "Hound" was the story that convinced Doyle to start writing Holmes stories again after a 9-year break.

[Veda]

Have you heard about



I love the classics, yet being open took me to Young Sherlock, which was a whole new experience.

Sorry, I missed out on this one, but I will start at #1. Love the conversation though.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Veda wrote: "Have you heard about



I love the classics, yet being open took me to Young Sherlock, which was a whole new experience.

Sorry, I missed out on this one, b..."

Hi Veda, I think I remember hearing something about the first book in that series a few years ago when it came out. I'll have to check those books out sometime. Thanks for the recommendation.