Sherlock Holmes, the original detective.
351715
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes. It's easy to understand how so many people thought this fictional character was a real person.  The intellect of Holmes and his faithful companion Watson take the reader on some very interesting and exciting adventures.
2536551
A fabulous treasure dogged by murder.  A trans-racial oath of loyalty.  A greedy major, a cannibal pigmy, and a peg-legged convict.  Mix in a pig-headed police investigator and a brilliant-but-flawed amateur detective, and you have the makings of a first-class mystery.
Miss Mary Morstan, the recipient of yearly gifts of pearls from an anonymous benefactor, receives a summons declaring her a wronged woman and promising riches if she replies.  She enlists the aid of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, and finds herself in the middle of a locked-room murder mystery.  If the mystery can only be solved, she will become the richest woman in England.
Holmes, in a virtuoso performance, solves the murder, finds the missing treasure, brings the killer to justice, and learns the strange tale of "The Four."  Did I mention that Dr. Watson winds up married to Miss Morstan?
The format of this sequel to "A Study in Scarlet" follows basically the same pattern as the original Sherlock Holmes story.  Holmes visits the scene of a baffling murder, draws amazing conclusions from his inspection of the scene, and relentlessly tracks down the villian, who then tells his story and turns out to be not such a bad guy after all.
I first read "Scarlet" and "Sign" as a pre-teenager, and they made an indelible impression on me.  In my job I frequently visit murder scenes, and I believe that these two books are what have influenced me to perform inspections outside the crimescene tape.
Merrison once again gives an admirable rendition of Holmes, and Michael Williams turns in a creditable Watson.  Brian Blessed is a treat as Jonathan Small.  The radio play is enhanced by the fact that it gives greater attention to the Morstan-Watson romance than Conan Doyle did in the book.  The BBC productions of the Holmes stories always seem to pay more attention to Watson's romances, and it works quite well to make the stories more enjoyable.
4366768
I bought this for my grandson.  Sherlock Holmes is an old friend, and he likes mysteries.  Great book.
3683743
Bringing Holmes and Watson together with Jack. The Ripper has been done before, but never with such original results. Brilliant!
339289
Like it or not, it is inevitable that anyone who reads a new Sherlock Holmes story will compare it to the originals by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Writers of new Holmes pastiches run the gamut from being absolutely faithful to the originals to serious revisions of the canon.  Ill admit up front that I have a strong preference for the former, so others might find this review to be heavily biased.

The basic idea for Whitechapel is good  take one of the more plausible theories for the Identity of Jack the Ripper, expand on the background and bring in Sherlock Holmes to help resolve the case.  But the style of writing and characterization are worlds away from the Conan Doyle stories.

One of the most jarring contrasts was the downright adversarial relationship between Holmes and Watson, brought on mainly by Watsons efforts to wean Holmes from cocaine.  In the originals, Watson applied firm but calmly directed pressure that eventually succeeded.  This book has the two screaming at each other like characters in one of those dysfunctional friendship movies that are so popular these days.  Also in the originals, Holmes was always his own master and used cocaine only when he was bored, rather than being uncontrollably addicted, as in Whitechapel.  Other people in this book, including Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes and Irene Adler, were similarly out of character, as in highly emotional and contentious rather than tightly reserved as in the originals.

But never fear, the story is engrossing, Holmes eventually comes through, and the case is resolved, at least within the context of the book.  In the real world, the identity of Jack the Ripper has so far not been solved conclusively, at least to most serious students of the case.

So if you buy this book,  be prepared, as the back cover says, for  . . . Sherlock Holmes as you have never seen him . . .
1593665
Simply the best Holmes available.  Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes.  Very entertaining and well thought out.
1778495
It wouldn't be right to say much about the plot of a detective murder mystery. So I won't. The short, non-spoiler synopsis is: Holmes and Watson solve the crime behind the mysterious death of a man with the surname Baskervilles, circumstances being complicated by a curse. The characters were well-developed, descriptions good, plot non-figure-out-able. I'd only take issue with statements that seem true, but turn out to false or vice-versa. Then again, I guess that the way it goes the genre.

This being my first Sherlock Holmes story, I was surprised to learn that this particular book is (p vii) "the most popular Holmes story and perhaps Doyle's most acclaimed work." Also interesting is the fact that (p vi, vii) Doyle killed off Holmes (in a book published in 1894), but brought him back for this book, published in 1901. Although a helpful explanatory Notes section was provided to clarify some of the terminology, the book was, in general, a short, easy, enjoyable read. I preferred it to The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, another author I read recently for the first time. Even better: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
4915124
Undeniably, Arthur Conan Doyle was a pivotal figure in the origination of an incomparable sleuth and his associate, that is, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. In this book, attention is paid to the days of Conan Doyle's life, from 1850 to 1930, along with photos (including the snooker-playing author), burial info, story info, and a welter of interesting facts--all of which instant data will lead you to the solution, for it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.
1085551
Sherlock Holmes, according to Dr. Watson, is an enigma.  He finds answers where there doesn't seem to be any.  A book worth reading at least 2 or 3 times in you life time.
2992772
The facts were presented well in this Sherlock mystery. Much was revealed, plots thickened and were resolved in the manner that only Mr Holmes can do.
3735907
Each mystery is unique and exciting to read.  We are always the Watson in the story:  waiting for the brilliant Holmes to fill us in on the whys and who.  For mysteries, these are uncharacteristically well written and give an excellent picture of Victorian times. Though the volume is immense (over 1000 pages), it was missing six stories, so I had to resort to a "real book" rather than my kindle edition to read all of Doyle's masterpieces.  If you enjoy the PBS Sherlock Holmes series, these story details are lurking ever in the background and certainly enhance the viewing.
3407485
I have always been a fan of detective stories and Sherlock Holmes has always been one of my favorites.  The problem is that once you have read all of the works written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, you have to start looking else where for more stories about The First Consulting Detective.  And Derrick Belanger has given me another source for great Sherlock Stories.
Derrick does an excellent job staying true to Dr John Watson's original stories while bringing a new adventure to life.  His descriptive writing really does make you feel like you are in Victorian England.
And the story The Adventure of the Peculiar Provenance Delivers on all the points I love about a Sherlock Holmes story.  It starts with a very interesting case of stolen art and murder.  But quickly you find yourself following Holmes and Watson deeper and deeper into a well-crafted conspiracy.  Plus not everyone is what he or she seems, as each character has his or her own plans in the background.
But in the end Holmes ferrets them all out.
I would say more but I don't want to give anything about the story away.  Enjoy this story.
2402440
I couldn't have asked for a better new Sherlock Holmes book. I will read it again and again. Check it out.
388764
Sherlock Holmes is a very interesting character.  It is funny to see him learning the deductive skills he will master so completely by later in his life.  I found this teenager to be true to the older Sherlock and I will be adding this book and the first two of the series to my middle school classroom library.  It is a high interest YA novel, a rare one that will appeal to males and females.

It's a classic story for a classic detective: the locked room and two men inside - one dead and one alive holding the knife.  Only this time, it is Sherlock's brother who is holding the knife and who is accused.  Thus begins an adventure of the two brothers, one seeking answers, one seeking...his brother?

I was curious about the uses of Sherlock Holmes in contemporary culture. Was it possible that Sherlock Holmes finally lost all his copyright protections, given his recent appearances on television, the show Elementary, the BBC show Sherlock, the Star Trek use, and now as a teenager?  I don't know how this could be as the Conan Doyle Estate has always claimed that Sherlock Holmes as a character was copyrighted even though the character first appeared before 1923.  Their rights would be protected for at least 10 more years.

Anyway, the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd website clarifies that all of these have been given permission.  It was interesting to see the things that they have done to protect the image and character of Sherlock Holmes. Very interesting.
737311
Since it seems that anyone nowadays can write a story or book featuring "Sherlock Holmes" there are a dizzying number of choices out there. To me, most of these copycats and knockoffs suffer from trying way too hard to capture and copy the lightning in a bottle that was Doyle's actual Sherlock Holmes character.

This book follows a different and wiser course. It is set in modern times, (well, the 1990's, when the book was originally written). It features a character who more or less falls into a marketing scheme to set up a Holmes-style detective agency. (His middle name is Sherlock and his Dad was an obsessive fan.) Allied with his pal Mo, this Sherlock adopts Victorian era clothing and starts to play detective. The fun here is that as the action progresses our Sherlock develops more Holmesian characteristics, and the cases taken on by the duo begin to feel more and more like legit Holmes casebook cases, (murder, deception, fraud, blackmail, sometimes a red herring hint of the weird or occult).

This is all worked on a few complementary levels. Each case is a fair enough mystery, with suspects, clues, sometimes a bit of action or a twisty touch. Sherlock and Mo work well as a Holmes/Watson team, or at least their version of such a team. The supporting characters feel very much like the sorts you would find in an original Conan Doyle story. Even the reliance on the deductive method, (which is a bit shaky in the earlier cases), gets better over time.

So, these ended up being tasty morsels, (there are five cases in the book). The lead characters were engaging and the Holmes part was fun without being tedious, heavy-handed or false-feeling. The writing was fine, and served well the generally fast pace. Touches of humor some clever banter spiced things up. All in all this was a fun find.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
644688
Being the first book of the series, it gave me a feeling of freshness that's a bit lacking in other of the Sherlock Holmes series which seem a bit too dark for me.
Of course, the mystery and the crime solving part of the book is as great as ever.
4770941
You can still feel the atmosphere of the original Sherlock Holmes story even though it's translated in Chinese. So I'd say it's a good translation and easy to read to learn Chinese. Good purchase!