Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes »

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was both a doctor and a believer in spirits, which may partly explain why his Sherlock Holmes is one of literature's most beloved detectives: Holmes always approaches his cases with the gentility and logic of a scientist, but the stories are suffused with an aura of the supernatural. Narrated by devoted assistant Dr. John H. Watson, Holmes's adventures were so addictive that fans protested the master deducer's "death" in 1893 and Doyle had to resurrect him.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including 'The Red-Headed League', 'The Blue Carbuncle', and 'The Speckled Band'. Although, Holmes gained a reputation for infallibility, Conan Doyle showed his own realism and feminism by having the great detective defeated by Irene Adler - the woman - in the very first story, 'A Scandal in Bohemia'.

Library Journal

This is a continuation of the radio plays produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Clive Merrison is an excellent Holmes, and Michael Williams portrays an intelligent and amiable Watson. BBC Radio has dramatized all 56 of Conan Doyle's Holmes stories and two of the novels; they are working on the two remaining novels. In this volume, "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Red-Headed League," "A Case of Identity," and "The Bascombe Valley Mystery" are presented as 45-minute radio plays. The plays are "imaginatively faithful" to the original works, according to one of the producers, with changes added as needed to clarify the stories. A must for most public libraries. - Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville