Being a medical student, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired by his professor’s skill for observing every single detail of a patient’s condition. The adept professor then became his model for the literary creation, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes is set in the late 1870s and told from the perspective of his partner, John H. Watson, an army surgeon who served and was injured in the Afghan war. Both volumes consist of short tales from their adventures of sleuthing and deducing crimes plus mysteries. Sherlock is described as a reserved man, tall and lanky but is active. He is always busy with his own affairs such as his interest in chemistry and physics and does not accept the request to solve mysteries unless it piques his curiosity. On the other hand, Watson is skittish and humble, a strongly built man but not as athletic. He is always pitying others and gets nervous when Holmes is not there to help him.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Volume II) consists of 60 short novels which are all equally riveting and unique in their own ways as some are murders, scandals, and burglaries. The case that displayed Holmes and Watson’s dexterity is “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.” This conundrum is presented by Lestrade, an acquainted police detective, who shares it to Holmes and Watson. The problem is that someone has been destroying statues of Napoleon, randomly, for no known reason. Holmes proposes that the statues are of the same bust, meaning that the perpetrator is after a particular model of Napoleon sculptures rather than the subject of Napoleon himself. The next day it is revealed that another bust had been broken alongside with a dead body. The deceased possessed a photograph of a man named Beppo, an Italian sculptor who had worked at the company who made the busts. Watson and Sherlock then tracked the industry down and had figured out where the last figure was. They waited for Beppo and brought him and the sculpture for interrogation. Holmes shattered it, and revealed a pearl within, a pearl that was the black pearl of Borgias, the illustrious Italian Renaissance family. The reason the person was murdered, can be found from reading the book itself.
The most interesting case to me, is “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” as it flips the roles, making Watson and Sherlock the antagonists. It starts with Milverton, a socialite who is known as the king of blackmailing innocent women to give him enormous sums of money. A selfish pig who’s despised by Holmes. Milverton visits Baker St. (Holmes & Watson’s office) and announces that he is ruining a marriage. Holmes insists that he cannot, for the lady he is blackmailing is quite poor and will be drained if she has to pay just £2,000. Milverton denies it and leaves. To stop him, Holmes and Watson prepare to infiltrate his house. They look around for an envelope which will be used to blackmail the fiancée so they can get rid of it. Unexpectedly, Milverton was still awake, meaning they had to hide behind curtains in his own room. Milverton takes out prints and starts working hinting that they will have to hide for a while. Then, a woman appears, apparently for an appointment with Milverton. She was a beautiful person and was threatening Milverton. She then took out a weapon and the inevitable happened. Milverton was dead. She had left, then Holmes swiftly burned the letter, took Watson and darted out of the room. The following morning, Lestrade came to tell Holmes about the news. He tells that there were two criminals that had practically turned themselves in as they gave the police their footprints and description which consisted of an active fellow and the other is not as such, as he was a middle-sized, strongly built man–square jaw, thick neck, moustache, and a mask over his eyes. Holmes responds, “That’s rather vague… Why that might be a description of Watson!” (Doyle 125).
I would recommend this book for people who have read the first volume and are interested in mystery genres as this book not only gives you a chance to solve it for yourself, but to solve it alongside the characters. Unfortunately, I’m very biased, as this is one of my favorite series, but there are some downsides to this book that may not be for you. For example, the final mystery is a few… hundred pages longer than the shorter ten to fifteen paged cases, which causes me to lose interest, but the ending is always worth it to know what’s going on than to spoil it yourself.
Lebron Lessard • Sep 17, 2024 at 9:22 am
I love Sherlock Holmes! I remember reading one of his stories in 8th grade. He should be voiced by Daniel Radcliffe, some day.