A.’s Reviews > The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels > Status Update

Finished "The Sign of Four". Surprisingly little of the "classic" Holmes explaining everything that us mortals couldn't appreciate. The second half is mostly a series of chase scenes and stakeouts. Still, this novel gives us quite an open look at Holmes's drug addiction--cocaine smh.

Halfway through The Sign of Four.

One of the more interesting things about Holmes is that ordinarily, his powers of deduction are near-subconscious. He has no idea how he knows stuff, he’s just internalized his ability to the point where it just seems to come naturally to him. He has to take great pains to explain to Watson how he figures out what he deduces. Fascinating.

First chapter, The Sign of Four. Holmes is better-known now. He & Watson have been roommates for years. Cocaine.

Finished “A Study in Scarlet”. Mormon bullshit aside, it’s extraordinary how well-developed Holmes is as a character, and also how Conan Doyle is still figuring him out at the same time. True attending energy.

Boring Mormon section. The prose is much more purple. Main appeal is just hearing familiar names—Stangerson, Drebber, Hope.

Finished part I of A Study in Scarlet. Now for the boring Mormon section.