Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #893372 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

Customer Reviews

brilliant holmes!
This is probably my favourite Holmes yarn. It is a book of two halves . The first concerns the few days either side of a murder and is full of masterful clue cracking - as is our heroes speciality! The second explains the "murderous event" as having it's genesis far back in time and far away from sleepy English countryside it occured in. A wonderful intertwining of the macro and the micro!

Second best Holmes novel
I liked this book a lot and it's right up there behind The Sign of Four as the second best Sherlock Holmes novel. Though it's well known that Conan Doyle was growing tired of the character by this point.

The story is of a brutal murder in a mansion house in the English countryside. There's not much sense-making evidence to work on so Holmes and Watson go down to investigate along with Scotland Yard and the local police. Sure enough, Holmes solves the case rather quickly and all is revealed. But it's here that Conan Doyle uses the same split narrative he used in A Study in Scarlet. The story jumps far back in time and details the long, sinister plot leading up to the murder in the mansion. It's a good story and quite addictive. But I'm afraid I saw the plot twist coming (though it's an imaginative surprise) and only because there were no small revalations at any point, therefor I knew I big 'un was coming and deduced the logical conclusion.

And is it just me or is there a major anachronism in the story? Holmes speaks of Moriarty as if he is still alive. But didn't he chuck him of the Reichenbach falls and watch him fall to his death? Unless this story is set before then. And who is this mysterious Porlock? It was never cleared up. Perhaps in a future story eh?

Good but not as a Holmes story
This book is very interesting reading but it is not very good as a Sherlock Holmes story. The book is written in the same format as "A Study in Scarlet". The first part is about Holmes and Watson invesetigating a crime and the second part tells the story of the people involved in the crime. Part II is very good. It is one of the best stories that I have ever read. However, the part with Holmes is weak and Part II completely overshadows it. Overall, it is a good book and I would recommend reading it, but just don't expect a good Sherlock Holmes story.