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    The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
    The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
    The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
    Ebook345 pages7 hours

    The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

    By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    4/5

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    Boasting some of Sherlock Holmes's finest adventures, this classic 1894 collection was originally written in serial form. Eleven of the most popular tales of the immortal sleuth include "Silver Blaze," concerning the "curious incident of the dog in the night-time"; "The Greek Interpreter," starring Holmes's even more formidable brother, Mycroft; and "The Final Problem," the detective's notorious confrontation with arch-criminal Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls.
    Holmes and Dr. Watson remain history's greatest detective team, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's portrayals of male comradeship, the thrills of the chase, and the misty precincts of Victorian London remains unmatched in detective literature.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateMay 11, 2012
    ISBN9780486114354
    Author

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most famous for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes and long-suffering sidekick Dr Watson. Conan Doyle was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

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    Reviews for The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

    4/5

    611 ratings41 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Another great entry in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, this has eleven short stories of consistent worth. My favorite was “ The Case of the Yellow Face,” which tells of a complete failure in Homes’s reasoning from facts work. The conclusion of this one is quite moving, which isn’t a word that applies to most of the Holmes stories.And of course there’s the famous confrontation at Reichenbach Falls between Sherlock and Moriarty. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      More compelling short stories about the famed detective are included in this title. Unfortunately I read it quite some time ago and forgot to review it then, so my memory is slight, other than that I enjoyed the stories contained in here on the whole.
    • 4/5
      I have always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and when I realized this book filled a hole in my collection, it was a pleasure to acquire it. Holmes shares with Watson tales of his early adventures in The Musgrave Ritual and the "Gloria Scott" as they pursue new ones together. The short stories within this volume make a good introduction to a new Sherlock Holmes' reader as they are each succinct and fascinating. Reading these it is easy to see how Holmes and Watson captured the imagination of readers in the 1890s with their clever plots and comfortable banter.
    • 3/5
      I have read Sherlock Holmes stories sometime very long ago, and seem to remember liking them. I liked this set of stories as well, but did not like them very much. The stories are entertaining in themselves, and as separate entities, they are very enjoyable. But when read one after another, they do seem to become less entertaining, since almost all of them have the same structure: A situation is described - Watson and Holmes discuss it - a time interval - Holmes explains the case to Watson.I guess the thing that disturbed me the most in these was that I kinda remember (or thought) that the reader would have some kind of a chance of deciphering the case themselves - perhaps not the whole case, but at least some of it. Now the stories were laid out in such a fashion, that most of the facts were brought into the story only when Holmes described them to Watson at the end. These descriptions were very imaginative and cunning, and displayed very interesting feats of intellect on behalf of Holmes, but I would have liked the "mystery" to rack also MY brains a bit. From these stories, only "The Naval Treaty" seemed to give clues to the reader.The stories are easy, fast, and enjoyable to read - but best read in small doses.
    • 4/5
      Worth it just for the curious incident of the dog at night time in "Silver Blaze." "The Musgrave Ritual" and "The Naval Treaty" are very good too.
    • 5/5
      This was my first delve into the world of Sherlock Holmes. I have loved mysteries since I was a girl, but it wasn't until the recent SH movie, that I even considered reading what I thought would be a overtly male driven story line. I was incorrect. Although Holmes is obviously male, I had no trouble relating to him or to his incredible deductive reasoning process. I will definitely read more Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when I want a classical, individual, and highly detailed mystery!NOTE -- I thoroughly enjoyed these mysteries which I "read" on audio book. Apparently I started with the wrong book, as this contains the story of the death of Holmes. Very highly recommended anyway!
    • 4/5
      There are nine stories in this collection, ranging from Mr. Holmes earliest days to the last case he worked on before his unfortunate demise. I can't say that any one story stood out particularly as being very interesting, but as more insight to the universe of Sherlock Holmes, they are fun reading.
    • 5/5
      A curious incident and the death of Holmes. Superb!
    • 4/5
      Review: This collection of stories has some of the famous and not so famous. All are written in that famous Doyle style with some being more interesting than others.
    • 5/5
      As the proud owner of all of Doyle's fiction and most of his non-fiction works I consider most of the stories in this volume and particularly The Final Problem to be amongst the best.
    • 5/5
      The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a great book to read. One of the best books to read by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about a great detective solving crime, murder mysteries. There are several different interesting murder cases and it is like travelling and solving mysteries and other great adventures with Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson. Full of exciting and great mysterious adventures. E.C.
    • 4/5
      Another collection of short stories about Sherlock Holmes. Again, they're all narrated by Watson; there's a good variety of different cases, some more interesting than others; like the other short stories they avoid the errors in structure of the novels...

      The most noteworthy story of this collection is perhaps the last, at least in terms of cultural impact. It heralds the appearance (and also the death) of Moriarty. It's funny, given how often people refer to Moriarty, how little build-up he got. It would have made a stronger story if there'd been some foreshadowing, in the other novels or short stories, of Moriarty's existence. It would have been a more impactful story if Watson had got there in time to see something of it, too. Watson's feelings about it cause a little wrench, but it'd be quite an undramatic end for Sherlock -- well, it'd be quite a dramatic end if the reader "saw" it, but we don't.
    • 4/5
      Just as entertaining as the Adventures. The Final Problem was one I'd heard so much about that it seemed like I must have read it, but it was nice to actually do so. The stories don't stick in my head much - they're fairly slight - but fun and worth the read.
    • 2/5
      First time reading any Holmes book, and very accessible. Will read some more
    • 3/5
      This was a series of short stories involving the famous, yet turns out flawed, Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed these stories because they had the trademark Holmes being more clever than the rest of us. However, they also showed a side of Holmes where he was not perfect and did not solve every case. This was a nice quick read.
    • 4/5
      Short stories, most were good, some were boring. Left me hanging at the end though, going to have to find out what happened!
    • 4/5
      Another masterpiece from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In these stories we learn more about Sherlock Holmes, from his older brother Mycroft to his nemesis, Professor Moriarity. These stories are guaranteed to stimulate your mind as you try to solve some of Holme's toughest cases.
    • 3/5
      This series of short stories is fun escapism. Not as sexist as the earlier stories, which is nice.
    • 4/5
      The Holmes that returns from Reichenbach is a very different one to that before Final Problem. I can't remember the last time I read this but the stories don't have the same mental intensity of the earlier works. Here, Holmes deals with a different class of clientele, there is less of foggy, atmospheric London and greater reference to the colonies of the Empire. Most importantly there is less detection. Either I've gotten smarter or the stories are less painstaking in its detail - and I doubt it's the former. On resurrecting Holmes, Doyle's writing is occasionally half-hearted and dour. His reluctance may also account for the memorable but gruesome violence and the abrupt conclusions to cases. However, Return is still, in my mind, a classic.
    • 2/5
      This collection of short stories did not do it for me. There seemed to be something inherent lacking in it, for I was not able to absorb myself into them as the other works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It wasn't the worst, but it definitely is not the best among his works.2 stars.
    • 5/5
      Another series of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes as reported by his faithful biographer Dr. Watson and it becomes clearer than ever that the real draw of these stories is the fascinating character of Holmes himself. The mysteries are secondary to the enjoyment, though many of them do prove to have distinct elements of interest (otherwise why would the great detective have bothered himself about them?), but it really is in observing the fascinating character of Holmes himself that the reader is immersed in them. Indeed, this collection provides a rare treat for the reader in that we learn more about the detective and his early life and connections than has previously been the case. Thus it was that some of the most interesting stories here, for me at least, were those that hearkened back to Holmes’ youth and showed us the man he was and in which we can see the seeds of the man he would come to be.

      The first of these in this book is “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott” – The primary interest in this tale comes from the glimpse it gives us to Holmes’ first ‘case’ (though the following tale, “The Musgrave Ritual” is really better classified as his first actual case, since the Gloria Scott comes across more as an intriguing mystery to which Holmes is largely a spectator) and the impetus for his decision to become a detective. We also get a glimpse at Holmes’ college days and of the only friend he made there (and thus far in the stories the only friend at all that he seems to have ever had aside from Watson). Finally this tale gives us a glimpse of a young Holmes still capable of emotion and surprise to the point that he cries out in horror at certain circumstances that, in later tales, would have left little other than a wry smile and remark of interest on his lips.

      As noted above “The Musgrave Ritual” provides us with a look at what could probably be considered Holmes’ first real case in which another University acquaintance of Holmes’ comes to him, based on his youthful reputation, with an apparently insoluble puzzle that revolves around the man’s lothario butler and a bizarre family tradition. Holmes of course breaks the case and takes no small relish in recounting the strange tale of an event “done prematurely before my biographer had come to glorify me” to his friend Watson.

      “The Greek Interpreter” continues in our discovery of the details of the mysterious past of Sherlock Holmes as we discover he actually does have a family and did not, as might seem more likely, spring from the brow of Zeus full grown. We in fact meet his older brother Mycroft, a man even more withdrawn from normal human society than his brother, but who also seems to possess even greater observational powers (a fact that leaves both Watson and the reader shocked to say the least). It was indeed quite amusing to see the two siblings spar with each other, each vying to outdo the other’s seemingly gnomic observations upon two strangers viewed from a window, and each gently chiding and correcting the other. This scene, nothing more a game of one-upmanship between brothers, does an excellent job at both making Sherlock seem more human at the same time that it exemplifies the peculiarity of his abilities and his subsequent estrangement from other ‘normal’ people. I also wondered in passing whether the germ for Nero Wolfe was planted in the mind of Rex Stout upon reading Sherlock’s comment about his brother: “If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an arm-chair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived.” All that is needed is Archie Goodwin to do the foot work, a brownstone in New York and we’re off to the races.

      The Memoirs even show a bizarrely puckish aspect to Holmes’ personality when, in the second to last tale “The Naval Treaty”, Holmes plays a practical joke for his own amusement at the expense of the nerves of his already rattled client…something strange indeed (though perhaps not altogether out of character given Holmes’ obvious desire to showboat and his distinct streak of misanthropy).

      Other tales in the volume that were of interest: “The Crooked Man” which I found to be a rather affecting tale of retribution in the face of personal tragedy and “The Yellow Face” which, at the same time that it displayed some squicky elements of racism and abandonment, still managed to rise above them and display a story of ultimate familial devotion and personal love.

      Of course one can’t leave off discussion of this volume without making mention of “The Final Problem” the story in which Holmes’ greatest adversary Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime, is born. Doyle had grown weary of the public clamour for more tales of his peerless sleuth and decided it was time to end it so that he could concentrate on other characters and stories. Well, as it turns out this was not to be, but what resulted was an exciting tale in which Holmes finds himself pitted against the greatest adversary of his voluminous career. After months of playing cat-and-mouse with Moriarty and his insidious league of crime Holmes finally has gathered the pieces he needs to crush the vast criminal organization and its most dangerous leader. Moriarty, of course, is not likely to take such a possibility lying down and thus we have a final chase across London and Switzerland that ends in an off-screen (and thus retcon-able) death for both Holmes and his adversary. Watson’s final realization of what has happened to his friend is moving, as is the typically dry (though sincere) letter which Holmes leaves for him on the edge of Reichenbach Falls.

      All in all, while some of the tales may have been weaker than others, I can’t do anything other than give this collection a five-star rating due to the great interest of the many tales of Holmes’ early life, as well as the singular event of his “death”.
    • 3/5
      Well, you can't beat a bit of Sherlock Holmes, can you? These stories about this quintessentially English eccentric must probably have a place on most bookshelves - at least in Britain. I chose this book because it includes The Final Problem - the story in which Sherlock Holmes finally meets his match at the hands of the evil Professor Moriarty. I had never actually read this story, but of course I knew of it, and the final scene in Akunin's "The Coronation" seemed to be something of a homage to it.I don't usually enjoy collections of short stories - I find it frustrating for a story to end just as I'm starting to get into it. I've had a really busy week though, so it was actually great to be able to dip into the book for a few minutes and read a whole story. As expected, I found that the format didn't really work for me - once I'd got to the end of one of the stories I didn't have as much incentive to pick the book up again as I would have done if I'd been in the middle of an exciting novel.I hadn’t read a Sherlock Holmes story since I was a teenager, and as I progressed through the stories I began to realise how naive my youthful preconceptions of the detective and Doctor Watson were. In my head they were a stereotypical duo of the infallible detective and his likeable but bumbling assistant, but this turned out not to be the case at all. Holmes is in fact a very complicated man with more vices than virtues and, as Watson (the narrator) is often at pains to point out he isn't always entirely successful in his investigations. In several of the stories the mystery is solved in spite of, rather than because of, Holmes' interference. Watson also surprised me. He certainly gave very little help to Holmes in his investigations but, unlike Ziukin in "The Coronation", neither did he get in Holmes' way or try to take it upon himself to get involved in the action. He also came across as an extremely sensible and supportive friend, although maybe a little too accepting of Holmes' eccentric behaviours and dour moods.I liked the variety of the mysteries in the book - they are not all crimes. Some are very simple domestic or relationship problems although they all had fairly improbable solutions. My main problem with the book, however, was that the reader was rarely given the chance to solve the mystery before Holmes did. I suppose it's difficult in a short story to provide the reader with all the clues and red herrings that would be possible in a full-length novel, but time-and-time again, at the denouement, I would be exasperated by the amount of information Holmes had at his fingertips that the reader had not been given access to. Maybe I'm unusual, but my favourite thing about detective stories is getting to play detective myself. On the rare occasion that I work out who the culprit is I'm always so proud of myself, and so I felt rather cheated in most of these stories.The story I enjoyed the most was The Final Problem, which surely contains one of the most famous scenes in English literature - even people who haven't read it have heard of it. I'm really glad that I've finally read it for myself. What I hadn't realised was that Watson didn't witness the final events at first hand - his narrative is based on a reconstruction of the likely events based on the evidence left at the scene. This makes for really powerful narrative - both Watson and the reader are forced to imagine what might have happened to Holmes and Moriarty, which somehow makes the scene far more vivid than if it had been recounted in detail. The end of the book really is desolating - I felt so sorry for poor Doctor Watson. In his typically reserved English style he makes very little of his own emotions but beneath the understatement it is easy to see that his life will never be the same again. I'm glad Conan Doyle at least had the decency to marry him off.One tiny thing - I really, really don't like the cover of this edition. I just don't get it. It looks like it should be on the front of a collection of ghost stories. Very unattractive.On the whole I did enjoy this book and I'm glad I've finally read it. Holmes and Watson are both fascinating people to spend a bit of time with, and even when the detective element of the stories didn't quite do it for me, the character study of Sherlock Holmes was always fun to read.
    • 3/5
      After growing up on Sherlock Holmes movies, Sherlock Holmes parodies, Sherlock Holmes-inspired characters and plots, and all manner of Sherlock Holmes culture references, I figured I owed it to myself to actually read a real, live Sherlock Holmes book. Otherwise, I felt like a bit of a poser, as if I was taking the name of Sherlock in vain, kind of like people who say "let's get the hell out of Dodge" without even knowing that they're quoting...(Googles furiously)...the classic 1960s-70s television series Gunsmoke.

      I must say it was an interesting experience coming to these stories so late in life, as I simply kept shaking my head at how influential this stuff is. Yet it wasn't stuffy or stilted at all; the thirteen short episodes that make up this book were all brisk, readable, humorous, and fun. They have only the most tenuous continuity - they aren't even in chronological order - and the plots are very much of the cookie-cutter variety. What keeps you reading is just the drive to see who's lying and how Holmes is going to figure it out. Which, aside from an arrogant druggie protagonist, is just one more way House, M.D. robs Sherlock Holmes dry.

      Definitely a worthy read, especially if you snatch it free from Project Gutenberg, as I did.
    • 5/5
      Classic Sherlock Holmes cases to show the genius of the detective and Conan Doyle's writing. The anthology starts with the case that brings Holmes back from the dead (with lots of fan urging). Then Holmes runs his natural gambit of murder, blackmail, and missing people. With most short story collections, some are good, some are not. With this collection there were no are nots" for me. I enjoyed them all. I had the added benefit of watching the TV series with Jeremy Brett. It was nice to remember how true they had stayed to the original stories. Few changes were made so I was able to picture the events clearly in my head. It made for wonderful bedtime reading.
      "
    • 4/5
      A very enjoyable collection of Holmes and Watson mysteries, although there is a decided return to the romantic/melodramatic stylings of the early novels.

      After the opening story, which goes to lunatic levels to bring Holmes back (but fair enough), there are some great stories throughout. Watson's narrative voice is pitch-perfect, as is his relationship with Holmes. Beyond this, the various Scotland Yard characters are given more depth, and are able to work WITH Holmes, as opposed to just following him around and always being wrong.

      As I said above, though, many of the stories seem to veer toward that very 19th century melodrama feel in their denouements, although Conan Doyle handles it quite emotionlessly, so at least it isn't protracted. And many of the stories - those featuring missing people or objects - often seem to end with the same kind of conclusion (I won't say which, but you'll notice the pattern). Still, these weren't initially published in book form, and so I don't hold vague similarities against them.

      An enjoyable collection of stories. I'm two-thirds of the way through the canon already!
    • 4/5
      A collection of short stories.
    • 5/5
      This is the third short story collection, and it felt like the best so far - or maybe I'm just getting more and more into this crime universe. Holmes is returning after his presumed death in the fatal encounter with Moriarty at the Reichenbach Fall (recounted in the last story of "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes". The collection here is a feast of good stories, most of them shows Sherlock Holmes at the top of his game with his brilliant deductive powers. Oh, how Lestrade glows in the second story but guess who gets the last laughter. My favorites were "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" , "Abbey Grange", "The Second Stain", "Six Napoleons", "Priory School" and "The Norwood Builder".I like the variety - some scary, some intriguing, some comic - most of them just trademark Sherlock-spectacular. Again the Gothic setting of Victorian London is a sheer pleasure. Also there are trips to large estates outside London and a visit at a university. The perfect chemistry between Holmes and Watson are one of the reasons for the success of these stories. Holmes always five steps ahead of them all, Watson trying to catch up and being surprised all the time. Brilliant. In one of the stories Holmes gets engaged:“You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?""No, indeed!""You'll be interested to hear that I'm engaged.""My dear fellow! I congrat——""To Milverton's housemaid.""Good heavens, Holmes!""I wanted information, Watson.""Surely you have gone too far?""It was a most necessary step. I am a plumber with a rising business, Escott, by name.”
    • 4/5
      Took my time getting through this volume since there were so many stories, and I wanted time to appreciate them all. Reading these is fun, but I do agree with Sherlock's assessment that Watson leaves out too many details of how the cases are solved. ;) I would like more of the forensic science involved included.
    • 4/5
      The Return of Sherlock Holmes derives its title from the fact that the famous detective was presumed dead after the fight with his nemesis Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. And Holmes has returned alright. This volume provides the reader with thirteen short stories centered around Holmes and his partner Watson. In the first of those thirteen stories, the duo hunt down a would-be assassin of Holmes so that the detective can finally return to his lodgings at 221b Baker Street. In the last story of the collection, Watson mentions that Sherlock Holmes himself was not interested in the continuation of the publication of his adventures anymore. There is also talk of Holmes planning to write down some of his stories himself to while away the time of his retirement.What I found most interesting about this volume of short stories is the fact that while the structure of Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories is basically the same every time, it is quite astonishing how he always manages to engage the reader anew in every story. One would think that the author has to run out of material for his cases at some point so that the stories will become repetitive to a certain extent. But they just do not. To my mind, this is quite a remarkable achievement considering the sheer endless number of Sherlock Holmes stories. From a structuralist perspective each story can be described as beginning with Holmes and Watson idling at their place in Baker Street, followed by the presentation of a new case and eventually investigations of the matter and its, in Holmes' eyes pretty obvious, solution. This, however, does not lessen the literary quality of the stories. In the reading process you actually do not think about the structure as your attention is almost always immediately caught by the case at hand.The looming retirement of Sherlock Holmes is something that might have troubled readers at the time of publication of The Return of Sherlock Holmes. But as we know today, there are quite some stories to follow and Holmes will not retire for quite some time. Personally, I am happy about this since reading the stories is always enjoyable. I do already dread the point when I will have read every Sherlock Holmes story that has ever been written. But then again, there is always the option of re-reads.I know that this review does not focus too much on the content of the single stories, but as I see it this is not really necessary. I would think that readers of Sherlock Holmes would usually start with the more famous works, the novels, that is, and not with this collection of short stories. So, whoever reads this collection is probably already well acquainted with the literary figure of Sherlock Holmes. Nonetheless, it is worth mentioning that the stories in this volume do not lack in quality and are a pleasure to read.On the whole, four stars for The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
    • 4/5
      Sherlock Holmes is back from the dead. There are some good mysteries here. I liked The Six Napoleons best as I worked out what was going on. There's also some very fine writing; The Solitary Cyclist in particular. Check out the alliteration and the patterned variations on C, S and their combinations. My friend Ed says they're pure chance, but I don't think so.

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    The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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