The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

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(Amazon UK link)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes' is the last published (and considered by some the least important) stories about Sherlock Holmes. They were written by the Victorian writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Having finished reading them, I would agree that they feel like a bit of a muddled collection. Some chapters are preceded by comments that the case can only just be published, due to the people concerned. A couple of them are supposedly written by Holmes himself, rather than his usual biographer, Watson.

Each story is complete in itself. As usual, the amazing observation skills and intuition of the great detective show themselves as he uses his brilliant logic to solve difficult cases. There is nothing too gory, and I thought these stories made pleasant light reading, on the whole.

Despite these books being around 100 years old now, the language isn't particularly dated. They were written as contemporary fiction, so the society of the day is taken for granted. Conan Doyle actually wrote during the Victorian period rather than researching for historical settings. So class consciousness is naturally accepted, and people are quite formal with each other, using 'sir' and titles, in a way that seems almost impolite to modern readers. Nevertheless, these aren't grating since in the context they're clearly expected.

Recommended to any adults or teenagers who enjoy light mysteries, or Holmes' peculiar brand of problem-solving, but this book is nothing special.