The Extraordinary Cases of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I should start this review with a confession.  I was put off Sherlock Holmes at an early age by my year 7 English teacher ( I was 11).  We studied some of the short stories in class and the teacher was the kind of teacher that would randomly pick you to read aloud, and then force you to do the appropriate accent.  If your accent wasn't good enough, he would make you re-read it as many times as it took until he was satisfied it was acceptable.  I clearly remember that I had to read the part of Abe Slaney in an American gangster accent and I was a shy thing at 11 and somewhat traumatised, which does ruin your reading experience.  The same teacher has also put me off Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn for the same reason.  Imagine a bunch of middle class English kids attempting Southern American accents...

Anyway, I decided it was high time I tried again, with no accents required.  Sherlock Holmes is a freelance detective who uses logic and a scientific method to solve a number of cases from the smallest of clues that others might overlook.  His friend Watson records them.  This collection contains eight short stories, including "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "The Reigate Puzzle" and "The Musgrave Ritual".

Score: 3 out of 5

I don't think I am the kind of reader that will ever get the most out of detective stories or mysteries.  I know that you are supposed to be trying to solve each case as you go along, and that you're supposed to see if you can outwit Holmes and notice something from the clues, but I'm just not that kind of reader.  I'm content just to read and see what happens, so in that sense I didn't solve any of the mysteries for myself.  I am impressed with Conan Doyle's construction of the stories though, and how he buries the clues subtly throughout each.  I can see why this is regarded as detective writing at it's best.

One problem I had whilst reading the collection was that I found Sherlock Holmes himself to be insufferably smug.  At one point, he introduces himself as "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know" and generally gives off an air of 'I know everything and would tell it to you but your brain is so under-developed you wouldn't be able to understand.'  He constantly reminds Watson that he's already solved it, but he doesn't feel like telling Watson about it yet.  How annoying would that be in a friend? 

Despite all that, I found each story to be engagingly written and I enjoyed the content of the mysteries.  My favourite was probably "Speckled Band" because I loved the idea of the crazy step-father preventing his young step-daughters from marrying with a selection of wild animals roaming the grounds.  I also liked "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" because I enjoyed how Holmes decoded the new 'language'.  In general, each story was action packed, full of old-fasioned things like diamonds, bizarre rituals, snakes, gentleman killers, rubies and chivalrous doctors. 

So whilst my opinion of the book has improved since the age of 11, I don't think I'll be hunting down any more Sherlock Holmes as the detective genre maybe just isn't for me.   I actually preferred Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" to his Sherlock Holmes mysteries.