’’The game is afoot...’’
It happened by chance! During my school days, on a rainy Sunday afternoon I was relaxing (read that as trapped at home) reading the Sunday newspaper when a rather singularly titled narrative, in the Magazine section, caught my eye. I would have probably missed it by a long shot, but for the title “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” that riveted my attention. Not averse to reading long boring articles, I gave it a try to see what goes.
I had read many stories of suspense before, but this was something different. The story was so fast paced and engrossing that I read it three times just to understand every sentence and every dialogue (I was only 14 at that time and so couldn’t grasp the mystery solving stuff in one attempt). This was, also, the first time I was introduced to the fictional character “Sherlock Holmes” and was impressed by the methods adopted by him in mystery solving. After that, it was a non-stop mad attempt at grabbing every Sherlock Holmes mystery that was available, and it only fueled my hunger for more making me a die-hard fan, which I am till this day.
It was difficult to get hold of further SH Mysteries, but ultimately my diligence paid off and I was able to acquire the full set of books. Then, one day I happened to chance on “The Complete Illustrated Sherlock Holmes” and bought that one too. It is always useful to have the entire SH stories in one book; in addition it had lovely illustrations reproduced from the Strand Magazine.
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional amateur detective, a figment of imagination created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose initial profession was ‘Medicine’. But, it was through his writings that he rose to dizzy heights, and ultimately received the Knighthood. His first mystery “A Study in Scarlet, ” appeared in the Strand Magazine, London in the year 1887. It drew such rave criticism that Sir Arthur was encouraged to write another one “The Sign of Four” which appeared in 1890. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (a series of short mysteries) in 1891 firmly put Sir Arthur in the top bracket of mystery writers of that era.
Tall, thin, and bony features, that became a trade mark of Sherlock Holmes, which you see on the covers of the books, were the result of the illustrator Sydney Paget’s rendering of the image of his own brother, Walter, who was originally commissioned to give the fictional detective a suitable face. After Sydney’s death, ironically it was Walter who continued to do the drawings and lend his facial features to, arguably, the most famous fictional detective of all time.
Even the selection of the name “Sherlock Holmes” was a result of an experiment in names. Initially, Sir Arthur was toying with the name ‘Sherinnford Holmes’ and later ‘Sherrington Hope’ and ultimately settled for Sherlock Holmes.
At times, Sir Doyle was disgusted with the character of Holmes because this fictional detective was demanding too much of his time, attention and imagination. He also had another grouse; Sherlock Holmes had become a more popular entity than Sir Doyle himself. Also, Sir Doyle wasn’t getting the same kind of recognition for his more serious writings (The adventures of Brigadier Gerard, The Lost World, The American Tale, Captain of the Pole Star, and many other writings).
“The Complete Illustrated Sherlock Holmes” contains all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries just as they appeared in chronological order:
- A Study in Scarlet, and The Sign of Four (2 novel type mysteries).
2 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (12 short mysteries).
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (12 short mysteries).
The Hound of Baskervilles (novel type mystery).
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (13 short mysteries).
Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes (6 short mysteries).
The Valley of Fear (novel type mystery).
His Last Bow (1 short mystery).
The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (12 short mysteries)
My advice to a person reading SH mysteries for the first time is not to start from “A Study in Scarlet, ” instead go for “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” or “The Hound of Baskervilles’ and then proceed to the others. This is because Sir Doyle hadn’t come to terms with his fictional character and was still experimenting which you will notice in the first set of novels. Also, it is a general consensus among critics that “The Hound of Baskervilles” is by far Sir Doyle’s best work.
Among the short stories, I found the “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”, “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, and “The Problem of Thor Bridge” highly imaginative and engrossing, But, every one of them is a ‘must read.’
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle employs a clipped ‘Victorian’ English in his narratives which perfectly suits the witty, sarcastic, and ‘blunt to the point’ style of speech and idiosyncrasies that have become a trademark of Sherlock Holmes.
It’s a tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that even after more than a century his creation, Sherlock Holmes, remains to this date the most popular detective, fiction or other wise. Even most readers of the present generation brought up on computers, gadgets, and television; lacking in good reading habits do read these mysteries and hold Sherlock Holmes in awe, and that’s saying a lot about ‘this’ most remarkable writer of any era.
Interestingly, when Sir Doyle decided, against public opinion, to lay the character of Sherlock Holmes to rest by scheming his death during an encounter with Prof. Moriarty, more than 20 thousand readers of the prestigious Strand Magazine cancelled their subscription. In those days of limited readership, it was catastrophic. Hence, the “Return of Sherlock Holmes!”
There are bound to be critics, and there are, as any great man would have, but then, I would like to remind you of an old saying “When nature made great men, it made critics out of the chips that were left over.” Be as it is, most critics agree on one point – Sherlock Holmes is the greatest ‘fictional’ detective of all time.
Concluding this review on a personal note I wish to add that when I visited England the first thing on my mind was to visit No.221b Baker Street, London to experience first hand the atmosphere and settings of an address more famous than No. 10 Downing Street or White House.
I came back with an experience I will be cherishing forever.
© M B Farookh. Nov. 2004.