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Jul 16, 2018Andrew Kyle Bacon rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Well-told short fiction is one of the greatest pleasures in life, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is certainly well-told short fiction. Some of the stories are less interesting (I don't find The Redheaded League quite as interesting as the author, Doyle, did), and some are rather easily figured out (The Adventure of the Copper Beeches being the prime example of this), but they are all fantastic in their own individual ways. Each takes up "those incidents which have been trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I [Holmes] have made my special province." The point being that the stories need not always amaze you with their incredible mysterious quality, but rather with the central character who can so quickly deduce the truth in everything he sees. This a man for whom a smudge of ink on the left hand thumb can reveal so much about his job, and for whom worn patches on the sleeves of a woman's blouse reveal she works at a typewriter. Sometimes these details are sensational and silly, but other times they simply fit and the logic is sound and there's no arguing with it. At the end of it all, Sherlock Holmes stories ask us what we might be capable of were we simply to pay attention. Throughout Holmes reminds Watson that they see the same things, but Holmes knows how to look. If Watson could simply learn how to look at things, then he too could be like Holmes. The same is true for us in a way. Holmes is not the deepest of literary characters, yet he is one of the most cherished and well-loved. Not only can Doyle create interesting stories and situations, but he can create interesting characters to put in them. In the last story in this collection there is a short exchange between Sherlock and Watson as they travel by carriage through the countryside. The street is lined with cute country homes, quaint and harmless looking. Watson remarks how lovely they are, and how he thinks they would be very relaxing. Sherlock says he doesn't see it that way. To him, such places are merely future crime scenes, places for murder and mischief. There is a sad quality to what he says, and ultimately that's what we find in the character of Sherlock Holmes: yes, he is wonderfully brilliant, but this brilliance comes at a painful price.